All Outputs (24)

Performance Rewards and Job Satisfaction in More and Less Developed Countries: Multi‐Level Evidence From Bureaucrats in 10 Countries (2025)
Journal Article
Cantarelli, P., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Schuster, C. (2025). Performance Rewards and Job Satisfaction in More and Less Developed Countries: Multi‐Level Evidence From Bureaucrats in 10 Countries. Public Administration, https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.13069

Do the same management practices lead to greater job satisfaction in poorer and richer countries? Despite the centrality of this question, prior research has not statistically assessed it through multi-country studies. We address this omission for on... Read More about Performance Rewards and Job Satisfaction in More and Less Developed Countries: Multi‐Level Evidence From Bureaucrats in 10 Countries.

Does Political Corruption Reduce Pro-Social Behavior by Bureaucrats? Lab Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh (2024)
Journal Article
Woodhouse, E. F., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Sass Mikkelsen, K., Schuster, C., Maruful Islam, K., & Rahman, T. (2025). Does Political Corruption Reduce Pro-Social Behavior by Bureaucrats? Lab Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh. Governance, 38(2), Article e12900. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12900

Numerous studies assess how politicians control and shape bureaucracy. Yet, how politicians’ behavior affects the norms and behaviors of bureaucrats through role modeling has not been studied. This is a curious omission, in light of evidence that soc... Read More about Does Political Corruption Reduce Pro-Social Behavior by Bureaucrats? Lab Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh.

Unethical leadership, moral compensation, and ethical followership: Evidence from a survey experiment with Chilean public servants (2024)
Journal Article
Schuster, C., Fuenzalida, J., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Meyer‐Sahling, J. (2024). Unethical leadership, moral compensation, and ethical followership: Evidence from a survey experiment with Chilean public servants. Public Administration Review, 84(5), 848-869. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13815

Numerous studies associate ethical leadership with ethical behavior in the public sector. By contrast, the effects of unethical leadership in the public sector have largely not been explored. Yet, unethical leadership need not beget unethical followe... Read More about Unethical leadership, moral compensation, and ethical followership: Evidence from a survey experiment with Chilean public servants.

Does citizen participation make public servants more satisfied with their jobs? It depends on whether they are Spectators or Participants (2023)
Journal Article
Islam, K. M., Meyer‐Sahling, J., Mikkelsen, K. S., Rahman, T., & Schuster, C. (2023). Does citizen participation make public servants more satisfied with their jobs? It depends on whether they are Spectators or Participants. Public Administration and Development, 43(5), 381-392. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.2031

Is citizen participation in policymaking and implementation desirable? Numerous studies have explored its effects on policy outcomes and citizen attitudes. We, instead, examine its effects on public servants. Citizen participation changes public sect... Read More about Does citizen participation make public servants more satisfied with their jobs? It depends on whether they are Spectators or Participants.

The Global Survey of Public Servants: Evidence from 1,300,000 Public Servants in 1,300 Government Institutions in 23 Countries (2023)
Journal Article
Schuster, C., Mikkelsen, K. S., Rogger, D., Fukuyama, F., Hasnain, Z., Mistree, D., Meyer‐Sahling, J., Bersch, K., & Kay, K. (2023). The Global Survey of Public Servants: Evidence from 1,300,000 Public Servants in 1,300 Government Institutions in 23 Countries. Public Administration Review, 83(4), 982-993. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13611

Understanding how public administrations around the world function and differ is crucial for strengthening their effectiveness. Most comparative measures of bureaucracy rely on surveys of experts, households, or firms, rather than directly questionin... Read More about The Global Survey of Public Servants: Evidence from 1,300,000 Public Servants in 1,300 Government Institutions in 23 Countries.

Varieties of connections, varieties of corruption: Evidence from bureaucrats in five countries (2022)
Journal Article
Harris, A., Meyer-Sahling, J. H., Sass, K., Schuster, C., & Sigman, R. (2023). Varieties of connections, varieties of corruption: Evidence from bureaucrats in five countries. Governance, 36(3), 953-972. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12714

Why do some bureaucrats engage in corruption for personal gain, yet others for political gain? We show that these forms of corruption frequently do not coincide and offer an explanation: bureaucrats hired based on political and personal connections h... Read More about Varieties of connections, varieties of corruption: Evidence from bureaucrats in five countries.

Learning effects of anti-corruption reform in public organisations: explanations from social psychological theory (2022)
Journal Article
Lee, D. S., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., & Park, S. (2022). Learning effects of anti-corruption reform in public organisations: explanations from social psychological theory. Public Management Review, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2022.2051064

Existing studies based on institutional or rationalist approaches have limitations in explaining changes in individual ethical behaviour and thus propose social psychological models that can offer alternative explanations. We conduct surveys of over... Read More about Learning effects of anti-corruption reform in public organisations: explanations from social psychological theory.

(Extreme) political polarization and party patronage (2022)
Journal Article
Kopecký, P., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., & Spirova, M. (2022). (Extreme) political polarization and party patronage. Irish Political Studies, 37(2), 218-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2022.2045143

The contemporary literature on political parties has identified their gradual but consistent shift away from civil society and towards the state. As parties are becoming ever increasingly dependent on state resources and exclusively interested in gov... Read More about (Extreme) political polarization and party patronage.

Activating the "Big Man": Social Status, Patronage Networks and Pro-Social Behavior in African Bureaucracies (2022)
Journal Article
Harris, A. S., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., & Sass Mikkelsen, K. (2022). Activating the "Big Man": Social Status, Patronage Networks and Pro-Social Behavior in African Bureaucracies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muac009/6532599

Public service delivery by African states is often characterized as particularist, favoring ethnic, personal or political networks of those inside the state over universalist, pro-social services to citizens. One explanation for particularist service... Read More about Activating the "Big Man": Social Status, Patronage Networks and Pro-Social Behavior in African Bureaucracies.

Do Bureaucrats Contribute to the Resource Curse? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in New Oil States (2022)
Journal Article
Sigman, R., Harris, A. S., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Schuster, C. (2022). Do Bureaucrats Contribute to the Resource Curse? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in New Oil States. Journal of Development Studies, 58(4), 639-655. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2021.2013468

The resource curse literature argues that oil production reshapes the fiscal contract between citizens and the state: politicians become less responsive to citizen taxpayers and more likely to use public revenues for their own benefit. This paper exa... Read More about Do Bureaucrats Contribute to the Resource Curse? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in New Oil States.

Bureaucratic Professionalization is a Contagious Process Inside Government: Evidence from a Priming Experiment with 3,000 Chilean Civil Servants (2021)
Journal Article
Sass Mikkelsen, K., Schuster, C., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., & Rojas, M. (2022). Bureaucratic Professionalization is a Contagious Process Inside Government: Evidence from a Priming Experiment with 3,000 Chilean Civil Servants. Public Administration Review, 82(2), 290-302. https://doi.org/10.1002/puar.13446

Education is at the centre of theories of how bureaucracies professionalize. Going back to Weber, the process towards a capable and professional bureaucracy has been viewed as driven by the entry of well-educated, professional recruits. We argue that... Read More about Bureaucratic Professionalization is a Contagious Process Inside Government: Evidence from a Priming Experiment with 3,000 Chilean Civil Servants.

Exit, Voice, and Sabotage: Public Service Motivation and Guerrilla Bureaucracy in Times of Unprincipled Political Principals (2021)
Journal Article
Schuster, C., Mikkelsen, K. S., Correa, I., & Meyer-Sahling, J. H. (2022). Exit, Voice, and Sabotage: Public Service Motivation and Guerrilla Bureaucracy in Times of Unprincipled Political Principals. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 32(2), 416-435. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muab028

Democratic backsliding has multiplied "unprincipled"political principals: governments with weak commitment to the public interest. Why do some bureaucrats engage in voice and guerrilla sabotage to thwart policies against the public interest under "un... Read More about Exit, Voice, and Sabotage: Public Service Motivation and Guerrilla Bureaucracy in Times of Unprincipled Political Principals.

Merit recruitment, tenure protections and public service motivation: Evidence from a conjoint experiment with 7,300 public servants in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe (2020)
Journal Article
Meyer-Sahling, J., Mikkelsen, K., & Schuster, C. (2021). Merit recruitment, tenure protections and public service motivation: Evidence from a conjoint experiment with 7,300 public servants in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Public Administration, 99(4), 740-757. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12708

How can governments manage civil servants to enhance public service motivation (PSM)? Despite the centrality of PSM in public administration research, the effects of management practices on PSM remain understudied. We address this gap through a conjo... Read More about Merit recruitment, tenure protections and public service motivation: Evidence from a conjoint experiment with 7,300 public servants in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe.

Distortions of incentive to performance and reduction of motivation in the federal public service in Brazil (2020)
Journal Article
Corrêa, I., Camões, M., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Mikkelsen, K., & Schuster, C. (2020). Distortions of incentive to performance and reduction of motivation in the federal public service in Brazil. Revista de Saúde Pública, 71(3), 476-503. https://doi.org/10.21874/rsp.v71i3.3408

In the current structure of careers in the Brazilian Federal Government, public officials who do not hold a DAS position have two predominant ways of reaching a higher salary level: years of service and passing a written examination for a higher paid... Read More about Distortions of incentive to performance and reduction of motivation in the federal public service in Brazil.

(Un)principled principals, (un)principled agents: The differential effects of managerial civil service reforms on corruption in developing and OECD countries (2020)
Journal Article
Meyer‐Sahling, J., Schuster, C., & Mikkelsen, . K. S. (2020). (Un)principled principals, (un)principled agents: The differential effects of managerial civil service reforms on corruption in developing and OECD countries. Governance, 33(4), 829-848. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12461

Do management practices have similar anti-corruption eects in OECD and developing countries? Despite prominent cautions against 'New Zealand' reforms which enhance managerial discretion in developing countries, scholars have not assessed this questio... Read More about (Un)principled principals, (un)principled agents: The differential effects of managerial civil service reforms on corruption in developing and OECD countries.

Stepping out of the shadow of the past: how career attributes shape ministerial stability in post-communist democracies (2020)
Journal Article
Morgan-Collins, M., & Meyer-Sahling, J.-H. (2020). Stepping out of the shadow of the past: how career attributes shape ministerial stability in post-communist democracies. East European Politics, 37(2), 311-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2020.1781096

How do career attributes affect the survival of post-communist ministers? We theorise that career attributes determine “desirability” of ministers, and therefore the length of their tenure. While political career attributes provide superior expertise... Read More about Stepping out of the shadow of the past: how career attributes shape ministerial stability in post-communist democracies.

Oiling the bureaucracy? political spending, bureaucrats and the resource curse (2019)
Journal Article
Harris, A. S., Sigman, R., Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Schuster, C. (2020). Oiling the bureaucracy? political spending, bureaucrats and the resource curse. World Development, 127, Article 104745. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104745

What role do bureaucrats play in the development of the resource curse in countries that have recently discovered oil? Much of the resource curse literature argues that political leaders spend natural resource revenue in ways that entrench their poli... Read More about Oiling the bureaucracy? political spending, bureaucrats and the resource curse.

The Causal Effect of Public Service Motivation on Ethical Behavior in the Public Sector: Evidence from a Large-Scale Survey Experiment (2018)
Journal Article
Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Schuster, C. (2019). The Causal Effect of Public Service Motivation on Ethical Behavior in the Public Sector: Evidence from a Large-Scale Survey Experiment. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 29(3), 445–459. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muy071

Public service motivation (PSM) and ethical behavior are central concerns in public administration. Yet, experimental evidence on the causes of ethical behavior and the causal effects of PSM remains scarce, curtailing our understanding of both. This... Read More about The Causal Effect of Public Service Motivation on Ethical Behavior in the Public Sector: Evidence from a Large-Scale Survey Experiment.

Civil service management and corruption: what we know and what we don't (2018)
Journal Article
Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Schuster, C. (2018). Civil service management and corruption: what we know and what we don't. Public Administration, 96(2), 276-285. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12404

Numerous studies have linked a range of economic, social, and institutional variables with corruption in government. Yet, most of this literature overlooks the management of public officials themselves. This is a relevant omission: almost all corrupt... Read More about Civil service management and corruption: what we know and what we don't.

Hidden costs of cuts: austerity, civil service management and the motivation of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe after the crisis (2016)
Journal Article
Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., Janta, B., Reinholde, I., & Van Stolk, C. (2016). Hidden costs of cuts: austerity, civil service management and the motivation of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe after the crisis. European Journal of Government and Economics, 5(2),

The implementation of austerity measures presents a dilemma for governments. While austerity measures such as cutbacks aim to reduce costs and enhance public sector efficiency, the same measures might undermine the motivation of employees and, conseq... Read More about Hidden costs of cuts: austerity, civil service management and the motivation of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe after the crisis.