Public Opinion and Public Sector Performance: Are Individuals’ Beliefs About Performance Evidence-Based or the Product of Anti–Public Sector Bias?

Public management scholars have long observed that Americans’ attitudes about public sector performance are negative, even though public sector organizations often perform at a high level. We use a survey experiment to test whether this negativity is a product of anti-public sector bias, using package delivery as our context. We also test whether objective performance information can correct this bias. Our results suggest that individuals expect a lower level of performance from the United States Postal Service (USPS) than Federal Express (FedEx), a prominent private sector shipping organization. Moreover, our results suggest that objective performance information does not completely override this “expectation bias”—individuals rate USPS and FedEx differently, even when their ratings are based on identical favorable performance updates.