Discretionary Provision of Government Jobs/Services

Anchoring Vignettes for Discretionary Provision Of Government Jobs/Services

Questions:

1. How important is political party affiliation in your obtaining a job in the government sector?

Response categories:

1. Essential
2. Very Important
3. Moderately Important
4. Slightly Important
5. Unimportant

Vignettes:

1. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. He files the official application, which asks only for his education and experience. Although he's been active in the opposition party, no one asks him about this during the application process, and he gets the job.

2. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. X is a member of the governing party, which gave him a recommendation for the job. He scores as well as the other candidate on the difficult qualifying exam. X gets the job.

3. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. The job application requires five years of experience. X is less qualified than the other applicants: he has three years of experience as an accountant. But he is active in the ruling party, and he gets the job.

4. [X] wants a job as an accountant in a government office. Other applicants are far more qualified, but do not belong to the ruling party, and the official application asks for party affiliation. X is a long-standing governing party activist, and he gets the job.

Potential variants: clerk in a court of justice, state health inspector, tax collector.