Experiments on the Effects of Positive and Negative Perceptions of A Public Sector Profession

Abstract

Despite an increase in research on how performance information regarding public agencies affects citizens’ evaluations of public agencies, we know very little about how performance information regarding public employees affects citizens’ evaluations of public employees and public employees themselves. This represents an important gap in the literature, given that judgments are made about whole public sector professions−not just about government bureaucracies. This article features two experiments. The first experiment assesses the effects of positive and negative perceptions regarding teacher performance on citizens’ support for public school teachers along five dimensions. The second experiment assesses the effects of negative perceptions regarding teacher performance on the morale of public school teachers themselves along six dimensions. We find that positive perceptions regarding teacher performance does not affect the attitudes of citizens or public school teachers along the dimensions that we studied. Negative perceptions regarding teacher performance, however, affected citizens’ attitudes toward three outcomes: support for teacher tenure, the likelihood that respondents' would recommend a career as a public school teacher, and respondents perceived prestige of a career as a public school teacher. Negative perceptions regarding teacher performance affected one outcome for public school teachers; their perceptions regarding the prestige of the profession.