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

Gabriela Szydlowski; Etienne Charbonneau

doi:10.1080/14719037.2024.2419898

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

École nationale d'administration publique

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-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 language	English
Pages (from-to)	2214-2239
Number of pages	26
Journal	Public Management Review
Volume	27
Issue number	9
Early online date	27 Oct 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2024.2419898
Publication status	Published - 2025

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]

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

Keywords

police
population-based survey experiment
Public sector stereotype
teachers
trust

Access to Document

10.1080/14719037.2024.2419898Licence: CC BY

Media trust and the influence of urban rural context and education on public sector worker stereotypesFinal published version, 1.24 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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

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.",

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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KW - trust

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ER -

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

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