Revisiting the old debate: citizens’ perceptions of meritocracy in public and private organizations

Abstract

Public management scholars have long debated public and private sector differences. However, the generalizability of empirical results has been limited due to the shortage of cross-national studies. Using a data set including citizens in twenty-one European countries, we compare citizens’ perceptions of meritocracy (i.e. hard work determines success rather than luck or connections) in public and private organizations and test how such sector differences are linked to country-level macro factors. We find that sector differences in meritocracy exist in almost all European regions. However, sector differences are smaller in countries where NPM practices and meritocratic principles are established.