Bureau-Bashing and Employee Work Attitudes: The Case of the 2014 VA Scandal

• In Event: Why They Do What They Do? Influences on Bureaucratic Leadership and Management

Abstract

While the bashing of government agencies is a mainstay of American culture, limited research exists that examines how such bashing impacts the morale of government employees. We use data from the federal employee viewpoint survey to estimate the impact of bureau bashing on employees within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) following the department’s highly publicized scandal in 2014. We use difference in difference (DID) estimation and find that bashing of the VA had a negative effect on employee morale with the Department and that the effect was statistically and substantially significant. Furthermore, we find that the effects were long-lasting.

Authors

• Shinwoo Lee, Incheon National University

• Gordon Abner, Univeristy of Texas at Austin