Research in public administration generally has found that religiosity promotes public service motivation. Although all major religions include components that encompass work-relevant values, little research has focused on how religiosity influences work motives more generally. This study draws on self-determination theory and identity theory to hypothesise that religiosity is positively related to a public service motive but generally not to other work motives. The hypotheses are tested using multilevel logistic regression models that are estimated using public employee respondents to a cross-national survey administered in 35 countries. The findings indicate that religion has a more substantial impact on a public service motive (which is an autonomous extrinsic motive) than on controlled extrinsic or intrinsic motives. The study points to the importance of studying the role of religion in public administration.

Public servants in the United States are more religious than their non-public service counterparts. The objective of this article is to determine whether this distinction holds cross-nationally. Using ISSP data from 37 nations, this research shows that the United States is not unique; government workers in most countries examined more frequently attended religious services than workers in the other sectors. The implications of this finding are examined. Religion is associated with several work-related attitudes and behaviors. Including public service motivation. Potential adverse effects include discrimination and increased conflict.

Religion continues to play a role in public policy debate in the United States. The Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage, the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act, and questions regarding the accommodation of religious views of traditionalists who oppose LGBT cultures continue. Publicized controversies, as well as survey research, indicate there is considerable disagreement regarding the church-state relationship.1 The appropriate role of religion in the political arena has been the subject of debate since the nation’s founding.2 Nevertheless, knowledge is limited regarding public opinion surrounding this issue.3 Using data from the 1991, 1998, and 2008 General Social Survey (GSS), we focus on attitudes toward the behavior of religious leaders, specifically whether it is appropriate for religious leaders to try to influence how people vote and whether religious leaders should try to influence government decisions. We suspect a change in attitudes towards clergy because there was considerable public debate regarding the relationship between religion and politics during the administration of these three GSS surveys. Christian conservatives were highly visible, mobilizing voters and distributing millions of voter guides and congressional scorecards.4 Scholars and the popular press both gave credit to the Christian conservative movement for some electoral victories, including the 1994 mid-term election when Republicans won both chambers of Congress.5 During the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, many were disturbed by what they viewed as overt sectarianism. Bush developed the Faith-Based Initiative, and his perspective on science and social policies reflected the views of conservative Christians.6 Critics contended that evangelical and fundamentalist Christians exerted too much influence on foreign policy decisions. Indeed, some argued that the decision to invade Iraq resulted from Bush’s belief that he must act as God’s agent during the end of time prophesized by the Christian Bible.7 At the local level, Christian conservatives elected to school boards faced controversy when they attempted to bring back prayer into schools and change the curriculum to reflect their religious values.8 In the states, opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and end-of-life legislation was primarily fueled by religious groups. Also, beginning in the mid-1990s there was a significant increase in the number of states adopting Religious Freedom Restoration Acts.9 Critics contended that these laws blur the boundary between church and state.10

Most empirical research has shown that people working in the public sector perceive job security as more important than people working in the private sector, while the inverse is the case for job income. However, it is not known if these relationships hold globally while controlling for occupation and national context. We combine ISSP data from respondents in 25 countries with Hofstede's cultural dimensions and World Bank data to examine whether the previous generally accepted claims hold while taking into account workers' occupation, as well as national, cultural, and economic conditions. We find evidence that even when taking into account all these factors, government workers place a higher value on job security than private workers, but contrary to the generally accepted claim, we find no statistically significant difference between government and private workers in their high-income motives when taking the occupation and national context into the models.

How trusting of civil servants are citizens in North America and Europe? What individual-level and national-level attributes correlate with trust in civil servants? To answer these questions, data from national samples across 21 countries are taken from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2006 Role of Government module and are analyzed by estimating multilevel binary logistic regression models. Trust is correlated with both subjective (at the individual-level) and objective (at the national-level) indicators of performance. The quality of institutions also matters as countries with lower levels of public sector corruption experience higher levels of trust in the civil service.

How well does public service motivation apply to occupational locus and focus in the post-communist state? Survey data from the ISSP 2005 Work Orientations module gathered in five post-communist Central and Eastern European countries and Russia are examined using multilevel binary logistic regression analysis. It is found that occupational focus is a more important correlate of public service motivation than is occupational locus in these post-communist countries. Because the relative importance of work motives varies across countries, it is important to account for national context when developing a theory of public service motivation.

How much trust do citizens have in government administrators, and what explains the variation in their attitudes? As measured by responses in the General Social Survey, it is found that attitudes about the trustworthiness of administrators are more positive than what might be generally thought, and that substantial variation characterizes all trusting attitudes. Perceptions of trustworthiness are influenced by sociodemographic background and interpersonal trust, whereas competence is influenced by political party affiliation. External political efficacy and general assessments of government are significant correlates of both. Thus, perceptions of competence correlate with whether government is doing what citizens want, while perceptions of trustworthiness are influenced by experiences with bureaucrats. Efforts to reform the public bureaucracy with an eye toward increasing trust require strategies to increase the competence and trustworthiness of the public service.

How much trust do citizens have in government administrators, and what explains the variation in their attitudes? As measured by responses in the General Social Survey, it is found that attitudes about the trustworthiness of administrators are more positive than what might be generally thought, and that substantial variation characterizes all trusting attitudes. Perceptions of trustworthiness are influenced by sociodemographic background and interpersonal trust, whereas competence is influenced by political party affiliation. External political efficacy and general assessments of government are significant correlates of both. Thus, perceptions of competence correlate with whether government is doing what citizens want, while perceptions of trustworthiness are influenced by experiences with bureaucrats. Efforts to reform the public bureaucracy with an eye toward increasing trust require strategies to increase the competence and trustworthiness of the public service. Keywords: bureaucratic reformcompetencegovernment administratorspublic trusttrustworthiness

How do levels of trust in the civil service differ across countries? Are these attitudes about the civil service determined by similar individual-level attributes across nations? Do national-level correlates explain variation between nations in citizen attitudes toward the civil service? Data from the 2009 World Values Survey for 20 North American and European nations, in addition to aggregate-level measures of national context, are analyzed using multilevel binary logistic regression. At the individual-level, it is reported that interpersonal trust, political ideology, confidence towards other public institutions, and participation in voluntary organizations are positively correlated with trust in the civil service. At the aggregate-level, variation in trust across nations is correlated with the extent of corruption and the quality of governmental institutions.

Is occupational locus or focus important for public service motivation? Does national context influence public service motivation? To answer both questions, the author examines attitudes toward work motives from national samples in 11 North American and Western European nations using multilevel binary logistic regression analysis. The findings demonstrate that the locus of an occupation in government and its focus on a public service activity both are important in shaping preferences for work motives related to public service motivation. Also, the preference for work motives held by citizens is correlated with the type of welfare regime in a nation. Although it is less pronounced, some evidence suggests that the type of welfare regime influences preferences toward work motives among government employees.

ObjectiveExamine variables relating to support for science in the United States to determine whether a rejection of Darwinian evolution is related to support for government funding of science.MethodsOrdinal logistic regression using questions from the 2006 General Social Survey.ResultsA rejection of human evolution is significantly related to support for science even after controlling for a variety of variables.ConclusionBeliefs regarding human evolution have a unique effect on attitudes regarding government support for scientific research that do not merely channel religion and/or politics. Debate today over evolutionary theory revolves around what constitutes good science. Those who reject Darwinian evolution may do so because of the messages critical of scientists and the scientific method. A possible consequence of this controversy is lower support for science.

This editorial is written to accompany an article that reported that the repeal of the universal helmet law in Texas in 1997 has had a significant adverse effect on motorcyclist fatalities in Texas. In this commentary, the author first briefly outlines the recent trend in motorcyclist fatalities across the United States, noting that the national fatality rate increased from 55.3 fatalities per 100,000 registered motorcycles in 1997 to 72.2 in 2007, a 31% increase. The author stresses that these numbers are particularly distressing because that occur at a time when traffic safety in general is improving. For example, in 2007, the national motor vehicle occupant fatality rate was 12.3 fatalities per 100,000 registered motor vehicles as compared to 16.2 in 1997, a 24% decrease. The editorial considers three factors that increase the risk of motorcyclist fatalities: riders are older, motorcycle engines are more powerful, and helmets are being worn less frequently. The last factor is the one most easily addressed by public health officials. In 2009, only 20 states and the District of Columbia require all motorcyclists to wear a helmet (universal helmet law). The status of state helmet laws is troubling given the evidence that universal laws increase helmet use and reduce fatalities and that partial coverage laws do not provide protection for even the young motorcyclists that they target. However, the author notes that the trend in state laws appears to be moving even further away from universal helmet laws. From a public health perspective, the case for universal motorcycle helmet laws is strong although in many states the political will to adopt these laws is weak.

How do public servants compare to the general public in their religious affiliation, beliefs, and behaviors? Using data from the 2004 General Social Survey, we compare public servants in government and outside government to the general public through a series of logistic regression models. Although there is little difference in terms of denominational affiliation, public servants have a stronger commitment to, and are more active in, their religious communities. The implications of these findings for public administration are discussed.

Participants evaluated two candidates for the U. S. Senate (one a "shared-ideology" candidate with regard to the participant, the other an "opposing-ideology" candidate), each of which engaged in either a positive campaign (provided positive assessments of the candidate's character) or a negative campaign (provided negative assessments of the opposing candidate's character). Each participant read advertisements in which one candidate provided specific evidence to support his character assertions, whereas the other candidate did not provide such evidence. As predicted, evaluations of the shared-ideology candidate were significantly hurt by the failure to specifically support the character assertions. In contrast, evaluations of the opposing-ideology candidate were not damaged by the failure of the candidate to supply supporting evidence for the character assertions. In addition, effects extending and qualifying the synergistic interaction of the valence of competing campaigns were demonstrated. The roles of message valence, supporting evidence, and the in-group/out-group relationship between communicator and recipient in political communication are discussed.

AbstractIs the origins of life debate occurring in the United States an illustration of the culture wars? To address this question we examine attitudes toward evolution using data from the 2006 General Social Survey. Multinomial logistic regression models indicate that attitudes about whether humans today evolved from earlier species of life are more fully explained by orthodox Christian doctrine, not religious tradition, as the culture wars thesis suggests. However, an isomorphism between orthodox Christine doctrine and conservative political ideology has not occurred. While a liberal political ideology is strongly related to acceptance of evolution, these data suggest that only a certain group of political conservatives, those who accept orthodox Christian doctrine, reject evolution as sound scientific theory. Additionally, respondents who “don't know” if evolution is “true” or “false” differ from both the believers and skeptics in that they appear to lack the exposure to either science or orthodox Christian doctrine that would give them clear guidance about what to think in regards to evolution.

Safety on Americas highways has long been an important state policy issue, but since the 1960s Congress has used incentive grants, crossover sanctions that threaten to withhold federal highway funds, and diversionary sanctions that force states to use highway funds for safety purposes as a means of compelling states to adopt traffic safety policies. In an effort to promote public health, Congress has, at times, pushed states to adopt lower speed limits, mandatory motorcycle helmet laws, occupant protection laws, and laws designed to deter impaired driving. This article examines which fiscal tools have been effective in getting states to adopt traffic safety policies, how states have responded to changes in federal priorities on public health goals, and the implications of these policy efforts for public health.

Using cross-sectional time series data for the 50 states and Washington, DC, covering the period 1975-2004, we estimate fixed effects regression models that examine the effects of universal and partial helmet laws on three different motorcyclist fatality rates, while controlling for other state policies and characteristics. Depending on the particular measure that is employed, states with universal helmet laws have motorcyclist fatality rates that are on average 22-33% lower in comparison to the experience with no helmet law. Additionally, partial coverage helmet laws are associated with reductions in motorcyclist fatality rates of 7-10%, on average.