Unequal gender‐based attraction toward public sector employment in China: The role of perceived discrimination and public service motivation

Yan Yang, Bo Wen and Lei Tao

Public Administration & Development, 2025, vol. 45, issue 1, 3-15

Abstract: Promoting demographic diversity and representation in the public sector workforce is a critical prerequisite for achieving social equity. This study investigates gender differences in public sectoral preference in China, subsequently exploring the underlying mechanisms that cause such a gender gap. Based on social psychological theories, this study develops and tests a moderated mediation model that examines public service motivation (PSM) as the mediating mechanism and perceived discrimination as the moderator. Utilizing the nationally representative China Education Panel Survey, our findings suggest a strong gender effect regarding the attractiveness of public sector employment in China. In terms of the specific mechanism whereby gender helps predict public sectoral preference, PSM indeed plays a mediating role. Specifically, the gender gap in public sector employment will be further widened by PSM when perceived discrimination is high. Overall, this study contributes to the extant literature by exploring the effects of gender on public sector preferences and to the practice by helping policymakers ideate solutions to enhance diversity effectively. 提高公务员队伍中的多样性和代表性是实现社会公平的重要前提。本研究旨在考察调查中国公共部门就业偏好中的性别差异，并深入探讨了影响此类性别差异的潜在机制。基于社会心理学的相关理论，本研究构建并验证了一个调节中介模型。该模型将公共服务动机（PSM）作为中介变量，将感知到的歧视作为调节变量。通过分析具有全国代表性的中国教育追踪调查（CEPS）数据，本研究发现：个体在中国公共部门就业的选择偏好上存在显著的性别效应。就性别预测公共部门偏好的具体机制而言，公共服务动机确实发挥了中介作用。尤为值得关注的是，当感知到较高程度的歧视时，公共服务动机会进一步扩大公共部门就业偏好中的性别差异。总体而言，本研究通过探讨性别对公共部门就业偏好的影响，不仅丰富了现有文献，也为政策制定者提供了增强公职人员队伍多样性的一些思路，具有重要的理论和实践意义。

Date: 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.2070

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:45:y:2025:i:1:p:3-15

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