Rhetoric Versus Reality? A Comparative Study of Public and Non-Public Sector Employees' Perceptions of Discrimination
Date
2025-12-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Public Administration Review
Abstract
How people are treated in the workplace is of increasing concern, with many scholars arguing that the government, as an em-ployer, should set the standard for equitable treatment. While attention to equity in public administration has grown in researchand practice, minimal work has comparatively explored discrimination in the public and non-public sectors. Drawing on datafrom the 2018 European Social Survey, this study explores possible differences in how public and non-public employees perceivediscrimination and how perceptions vary across countries. In most countries, the differences between the sectors were not signif-icant, but the findings show that the country, administrative culture, and sociodemographic variables play a role in perceptionsof discrimination. This exploratory study makes an important empirical contribution by accumulating evidence of perceptions ofdiscrimination across countries and has practical implications for human resource management practitioners.
Description
This article was originally published in Public Administration Review. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70058
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivs License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non- commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.© 2025 The Author(s). Public Administration Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Public Administration.
Keywords
administrative culture, comparative, discrimination, perceptions, public sector
Citation
Lahat, L., C. Sharony, and J. E. Sowa. 2025. “ Rhetoric Versus Reality? A Comparative Study of Public and Non-Public Sector Employees' Perceptions of Discrimination.” Public Administration Review 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70058.