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Individual Risk Aversion and Public Sector Socialization: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study

Ivan P. Lee et al.

Review of Public Personnel Administration2026https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x251400695article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Does working in the public sector make people more risk averse? Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 2008–2018), this study examines whether public sector work experience influences individual risk aversion over time. Fixed-effects and supplementary within-person analyses were conducted to test the socialization hypotheses. The results show that while public sector work experience per se does not affect individuals’ risk aversion once overall work experience is controlled for, an interaction between public and total work experience suggests that risk aversion may gradually increase among long-term public employees. However, the effect size is small, and additional within-person analyses indicate that individual risk aversion remains stable over time. These findings suggest that, rather than being substantially reshaped by public sector workplace context, individual risk aversion functions as a relatively stable personal disposition that interacts modestly with institutional experience. Implications for public employee socialization are discussed.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x251400695

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@article{ivan2026,
  title        = {{Individual Risk Aversion and Public Sector Socialization: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study}},
  author       = {Ivan P. Lee et al.},
  journal      = {Review of Public Personnel Administration},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x251400695},
}

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Individual Risk Aversion and Public Sector Socialization: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.