Media, trust, and the influence of urban/rural context and education on public sector worker stereotypes

Gabriela Szydlowski*, Etienne Charbonneau

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Public employees often face pervasive negative stereotypes. Despite a growing body of research, the factors contributing to such stereotypes remain underexplored. We present a pre-registered study with two population-based survey experiments using video vignettes—on teachers and police officers. Both investigate the impact of mediatized events, trust, and personal characteristics on stereotyping (n = 3,502). Our results show that news reports affect stereotyping of both professions. High and low trust are linked to positive and negative stereotyping, respectively. Lastly, urban/rural setting and education yield mixed effects. Our findings offer theoretical and practical implications for understanding factors shaping public employee stereotyping.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages26
JournalPublic Management Review
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 27 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

NWO VIDI VIDI.185.017 Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [NWO VIDI VIDI.185.017]

FundersFunder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [NWO VIDI]VIDI.185.017

    Keywords

    • police
    • population-based survey experiment
    • Public sector stereotype
    • teachers
    • trust

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