Whose Services Put People at Ease? An Analysis of Public Preferences for Demographic Characteristics of Civil Servants in Indigenous Regions
Wen-Hsueh Chen
Abstract
Based on the theory of representative bureaucracy, this study looks into 55 indigenous regions. Through a telephone survey, it collects public preferences for the demographic characteristics of civil servants. Furthermore, taking ethnicity preferences as the dependent variable, the study uses multinomial logistic regression analysis to investigate the influence of public preferences for indigenous or Han civil servants. The survey respondents include both indigenous people and the Han people. The study finds that, firstly, there are different public preferences for the gender, age, household, and ethnicity of civil servants. The public particularly emphasizes the place of household registration of civil servants. Secondly, female respondents tend to prefer female civil servants, the public prefer civil servants from the same townships (cities, and districts), and indigenous people prefer indigenous civil servants. These findings demonstrate the consistency of preferences between the public and civil servants. In addition, the objective environment and social contact also influence the public preferences for civil servant characteristics. Finally, the study presents the implications of these research findings for the representative bureaucracy theory, while offering some suggestions for public human resources management in indigenous regions.
Keywords: representative bureaucracy, public preferences, demographic characteristics, indigenous region, social contact