Public Servants or Simply (Government) Employees? : Job Advertisements in Two Scandalized Swedish Government Agencies

• Swedish central government is usually described as dualistic, where ministries are few and small and where the bulk of government activities are handled by a large number of semiautonomous agencies at the national level. Consequently, the Swedish model has been particularly receptive to increasing agencification associated with modern public management reforms, such as the separation of policy formation and policy implementation whereby new agencies are created, and existing agencies are given more autonomy. Since 1994 each government agency is, for example, responsible for developing state employer policies. Unlike many other countries, civil servants have not been recruited through designated elite schools but via the open labor market in competition with other private and public employers. Job advertisements are the most common channel for recruitment, and within are an arena for different institutional logics in which the organization is embedded, such as the logic of the organization, the democratic state, the market, the community, and the profession. Based on these institutional logics, job advertisements for non-stereotypical bureaucrats in two Swedish government agencies are scrutinized. Both agencies were recently involved in scandals in which IT and data security issues were at the center of events, forcing members of staff to emerge as public servants. Job ads for such positions do, however, rather emphasize organizational, professional, and market values, while public values are toned down or presented indirectly.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Studier av offentlig förvaltning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Public Administration Studies (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)