Are Asian public affairs students different? Comparing job sector attitudes and sector preference between public affairs students at an Asian and Dutch University

ABSTRACT

Public affairs programs aim to prepare students for public service roles by teaching certain skills and reinforcing prosocial motivations. Studies provide mixed results as to whether these aims are met. What we do not know is whether public administration and public affairs programs in Asia attract students different in their job sector attitudes and sector preferences from those in Western Europe. To this end, we analyze survey data on 247 students from public affairs programs in the Netherlands and Singapore. We find no significant difference in job sector preference. However, Singaporean students display a higher level of public service motivation (PSM) and a higher preference for pecuniary rewards. This implies that public affairs programs in Asia should take into account students’ distinct motivations when designing curricula, and public affairs programs in both countries should leverage the prosocial motivation of students by enhancing their PSM through socialization during their educational experience.

KEYWORDS:

• Asia
• public administration
• motivation
• MPA

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zeger van der Wal

Zeger van der Wal is Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Affiliate Chair Professor at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, the Netherlands. Professor Van der Wal is a globally recognized public management expert, and recipient of various teaching and research awards. He has (co)authored over 100 publications in academic journals, books, professional magazines and newspapers, and serves on various editorial boards of leading journals. He manages an active consulting and executive education portfolio, with recent clients including the World Economic Forum, VISA, Toyota, GIZ, UNDP, Civil service College Singapore, and Hungary National Bank. He regularly keynotes at major conferences and events.

Assel Mussagulova

Assel Mussagulova is a PhD student at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore pursuing a public policy and global affairs track. Her research focus is on human resource management and organizational behavior in the public sector, bureaucratic institutions, especially in the post-communist context. Previously, Assel worked as a civil servant in the area of HR management in Kazakhstan, and as a research associate at the UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence (GCPSE) in Singapore. She was one of the contributors to the GCPSE’s Global study on intrinsic motivation. She also works as a consultant on various civil service reform-related projects with the UNDP in Kazakhstan and Myanmar.