DO EMPLOYEES BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY IN PUBLIC- VS PRIVATE-SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS? A state-of-the-art review

Governmental, public-sector organizations are known to operate differently than private, for-profit organizations. But do sector differences exist at the individual level as well? In this article we review twenty-eight hypothesis-driven empirical studies on this question. Most of the single studies found significant individual-level differences between the two sectors, although not always in the expected direction. After showing the limited available evidence, we criticize this line of inquiry and recommend to: (1) test broader models in which sector is only one of a range of variables; (2) enhance refinement in the use of research methods; and (3) improve the theoretical underpinning.