Shared Values for a European Administrative Identity? A comparative exploration of public servants’ value orientation in France, Germany, Sweden, and the United States

The roots of different administrative approaches may not lie exclusively in the inherited structures of national systems of administration, but also in the motivational value orientation of public servants. The acknowledgment and mutual recognition of shared values could be a prerequisite for the development of a European administrative identity. This study investigates how far public servants’ values differ within and between administrative traditions in order to explore the potential foundations for a European administrative identity. The first step is to contrast public servants’ value orientation with the value orientation of private sector employees from a within-country perspective. Taking into account that public servants’ recruitment rules and career paths can differ substantially from those in the private sector, applicants holding certain values could have a predisposition towards working in the public sector (Person-Organization Fit). We integrate two sources of variation that are expected to condition the fit between public servants’ motivational values and sector employment; namely the type of public sector work experience and the administrative tradition. The second step is to explore the degree of public servants’ value congruence from a between-country perspective. The central question is whether public servants in the three European countries (France, Germany, and Sweden) do hold common motivational values compared to their colleagues from the United States. These ideas are tested by applying multinomial regressions to the World Values Survey 2005-2006, covering four countries (France, Germany, Sweden, and the United States). For the explorative purpose of this study each country sample serves as a representative for one of four administrative traditions. Preliminary empirical findings can be summarized in three points: First, from the within-country analysis we find that low values of Power and Stimulation and high values of Benevolence increase the likelihood to work as a public servant, whereas the positive association with Benevolence is driven by public servants in public goods provision. Second, the effect of Power and Benevolence on types of public servants is partially conditioned by the administrative tradition. Third, from the between-country analysis we find that public servants from France, Germany, and Sweden hold systematically stronger views of Universalism when they are compared to their US colleagues. In sum, this study indicates that public servants’ motivational value orientation is highly dependent on occupational experience and national context. In terms of the European countries, this finding could be regarded positively as it might help keeping the European Administrative Space (EAS) flexible and comprehensive towards national particularities. On the other hand, the between-country analysis reveals a set of Basic Human Values that provide a promising basis for the development of a European administrative identity. Keywords: public servants, European administrative identity, public service motivation, person-organization fit, basic human values, administrative tradition, multinomial regression