Bureau Bashing and Public Service Motivation: A Case for the Civil Service of Bangladesh

Jahan, Ferdous; Shahan, Asif M.

doi:10.1080/01900692.2012.651407

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…According to World Bank governance indicators, the efficiency of BCS is low and declining (Khan, 2015). This is believed to be because the quality of the civil servants is not high, particularly due to a low salary (Jahan & Sahan, 2012). In July 2015, the Bangladesh government doubled the civil service pay scales (Rhaman & Al-Hasan, 2018), 4 after which the number of applicants increased dramatically (Hossain, 2019a;Islam, 2019).…”

Section: Jobsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can a Higher Wage Attract Better Quality Applicants without Deteriorating Public Service Motivation? Evidence from the Bangladesh Civil Service

Alam

Kijima

2020

International Journal of Public Administration

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Although the civil service plays a critical role in economic development, it performs poorly in many countries, partly due to civil servants' low salaries. Therefore, in 2015, the Bangladesh government doubled the salary of civil servants. However, the reform may worsen public service delivery by attracting those who have lower public service motivation (PSM). Using the data of applicants to the Bangladesh civil service (BCS), this study examines the effect of the 2015 pay-scale reform on PSM. Taking a difference-indifferences approach, this study finds that the BCS officers hired after the reform are both academically smarter and more motivated to public service than those hired before the reform. Our results suggest that salary increases can be an effective for recruiting higher-quality officers.

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Section: Jobsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can a Higher Wage Attract Better Quality Applicants without Deteriorating Public Service Motivation? Evidence from the Bangladesh Civil Service

Alam

Kijima

2020

International Journal of Public Administration

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“…Introducing SCT to public administration has at least two important contributions. First, although distrust of government has long been an academic research topic (Butler et al ; Jahan and Shahan ) and a public discourse (Zeleny and Thee‐Brenan ) in the United States and in many other countries, scholars seldom empirically examine public managers' sector perceptions under the influence of the public's cynicism. Although descriptive statistics in the current study prohibit us from drawing a clear causation between bureaucratic criticism and public managers' sector perceptions, our preliminary analysis shows that the way public managers perceive their own sector and their work peers is generally in line with the public's opinions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They perceive the inferiority of worker abilities in their sector and accordingly lose their confidence perhaps only because of the public's negative image imposed on them. Therefore, we call for more constructive policy suggestions and less destructive rhetoric (Jahan and Shahan ), and we also urge more useful training and mentoring programmes that help enhance practitioners' career motivation and rebuild practitioners' confidence as civil servants (Bozeman and Feeney ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Am I a Public Servant or Am I a Pathogen? Public Managers' Sector Comparison of Worker Abilities

Chen

Bozeman

2014

Public Administration

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Political rhetoric in the United States is rife with condemnations of public sector workers. The assertion that public sector workers are less creative, talented, or autonomous than those working in businesses pervades in both academic studies and public opinions. Facing constant criticisms, do public managers also perceive that government workers are less able than their private sector peers? If so, and more importantly, does the perceived inferiority of worker abilities shake their confidence, thereby undermining their work attitudes? The present study employs social comparison theory to answer these questions. Based on state government managers' responses in the United States, the results indicate that a clear majority of public managers perceive public sector inferiority with respect to worker creativity, talent, and autonomy. The findings also show that perceived inferiority is related to lower job satisfaction, job involvement, and pride in working for the current organization. Based on the findings, we provide suggestions to both researchers and practitioners.

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“…Often, these transfers, justified as an administrative necessity, are arbitrary or politically motivated with adverse effects on ethics, administrative morale, and professional competence. Pre-election "politicized" transfers in Bangladesh to aid the incumbent government win elections have been rampant, while in both India and Pakistan with every new government, such transfers are common (Banik 2001;Cyan and Pasha 2017;Jahan and Shahan 2012). A recent study found that in Bangladesh, senior bureaucrats' rotation is persistent and that, on average, they serve in 3.45 institutions during their career in the civil service (Meyer-Sahling et al 2018).…”

Section: Job Rotationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary Issues in Civil Service Management in South Asia: Principles and Practice in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

Zafarullah¹,

Sarker²

2020

The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant

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This chapter focuses on civil service management (CSM) in the three countries of South Asia-India, Pakistan, and Bangladeshfrom a broad comparative perspective. The trajectory of the development of the civil services since colonial times is traced to illustrate how the structural, functional, and behavioral patterns were adopted or adapted after independence and to understand the impact of this inherited legacy on their CSM approaches. Premised on the social, cultural, and

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Bureau Bashing and Public Service Motivation: A Case for the Civil Service of Bangladesh

Cited by 23 publications

References 24 publications

Can a Higher Wage Attract Better Quality Applicants without Deteriorating Public Service Motivation? Evidence from the Bangladesh Civil Service

Can a Higher Wage Attract Better Quality Applicants without Deteriorating Public Service Motivation? Evidence from the Bangladesh Civil Service

Am I a Public Servant or Am I a Pathogen? Public Managers' Sector Comparison of Worker Abilities

Contemporary Issues in Civil Service Management in South Asia: Principles and Practice in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

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