The Impacts of Private Experience on the Employment of Different Public Job Positions

• Date: 01 June 2017
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Author: Ping Zhang
• DOI: 10.1177/0091026017702611
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026017702611

Public Personnel Management

2017, Vol. 46(2) 144 –169

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0091026017702611

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Article

The Impacts of Private

Experience on the

Employment of Different

Public Job Positions

Ping Zhang1

Abstract

There have been many studies on the differences between the public and private

sectors; yet, these studies often do not address differences within the public

sector. This article investigates the impacts of the private sector experience on

the employment of different categories of public employees: public budgeting and

finance (PBF) employees, professionals, and managers. It also compares the different

impacts among mixed categories of PBF professionals, non-PBF professionals,

PBF managers, and non-PBF managers. The results suggest that the private sector

experience increases the likelihood of a public sector employee being in a PBF or

professional position, while it decreases the propensity of a public sector employee

to be in a managerial position. Moreover, while private sector experience negatively

correlates with public employees’ job satisfaction, the results are not significant for

PBF employees and professionals, and the negative effects are much higher for non-

PBF employees and nonprofessionals.

Keywords

private sector experience, public job positions, PBF employees, job satisfaction

Introduction

Private and public workers are said to be motivated by different things; recent litera-

ture has suggested that the private sector experience is significant, particularly for job

satisfaction within the public sector (Boardman, Bozeman, & Ponomariov, 2010;

1Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author:

Ping Zhang, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, 220 Handan Rd.,

Shanghai, China 200433.

Email: zhangp@fudan.edu.cn

702611PPMXXX10.1177/0091026017702611Public Personnel ManagementZhang

research-article2017

Zhang 145

Brewer & Brewer, 2011; Hall, 1996; Perry & Wise, 1990; Rainey, 2014; Rainey &

Bozeman, 2000), yet these studies often do not address the differences within the pub-

lic sector, for example, public budgeting and finance (PBF) or more welfare-oriented

areas, and lack consideration of differences with job positions, for example, front-line

staff, managerial, professional roles. Therefore, it is important to consider variation

within the public sector and the influence of private sector experience, in relation to

job satisfaction taking into account job content (PBF, non-PBF) and job roles (mana-

gerial, professional).

With increased professionalization in the workforce, some research has tried to

address the conflict between professionals and bureaucratic organizations (Abernethy

& Stoelwinder, 1995; Hall, 1968; Morrissey & Gillespie, 1975; Sorensen & Sorensen,

1974). Most of these studies find an incompatibility between professionalism and

bureaucracy. Hall (1968) suggested that there is generally an inverse relationship

between professionalization and bureaucratization. Moore (1970) focused on the spe-

cific roles and rules in professions. Morrissey and Gillespie (1975) found that the

relationships between them vary by “organizational technology and the nature of the

professional tasks,” and Ponomariov and Boardman (2011) concluded that profession-

als are less likely to perceive organizational rules and procedures as red tape. Instead

of sector differences, this study focuses on the individual differences, that is, different

categories of job positions, within public (and nonprofit) organizations.1 Specifically,

it investigates how the private sector experience will influence the tendency of work-

ing in different public job positions.

The motivation question is one of the three big questions of public management

(Behn, 1995). Public service motivation (PSM) is defined as “an individual’s predis-

position to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions

and organizations” (Perry & Wise, 1990, p. 368), or “a general altruistic motivation to

serve the interests of a community of people, a state, a nation, or humankind” (Rainey

& Steinbauer, 1999, p. 23). There are also many other definitions of PSM from differ-

ent perspectives (Perry & Hondeghem, 2008; Simeone, 2004; Vandenabeele, 2007).

This motivation can inspire people to devote themselves to the public services and

constantly improve their enthusiasm (Knapp & Mclean, 2003). PSM has been regarded

as an important stream of research explaining both sector choice and job position

choice (Christensen & Wright, 2011; Moynihan & Pandey, 2007; Perry, Brudney,

Coursey, & Littlepage, 2008; Wright, 2001). In terms of the relationship between pri-

vate sector experience and public job employees, the research about the effect of pri-

vate sector experience on public employees’ work attitudes has also been accessible

for a period of time, such as the impacts on sector switching (Bozeman & Ponomariov,

2008; Light, 1999) and on job satisfaction and job involvement (Boardman et al.,

2010). Private sector experience could also increase one’s ability to accommodate

organizational values. Following the wave of these research, we briefly summarize the

public–private difference literature into three streams: (a) sector differences between

public and private organizations, (b) the (negative) effect of private sector experience

on public employee’s work attitudes to further emphasize the differences, (c) job dif-

ference focusing on specific job content rather than broad sector characteristics (from