Game of Loans: The Relationship Between Education Debt, Social Responsibility Concerns, and Making a Career Choice in the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors

The public and nonprofit sectors generally pay less than the private sector, and individuals are willing to forgo higher salaries in exchange for greater intrinsic satisfaction derived from making a contribution to society. However, personal financial considerations, such as education debt, may discourage individuals from pursuing careers in lower paying sectors even if they are predisposed to public service motivation (PSM). We surveyed a sample of graduating students to investigate if (a) education debt discourages students from pursuing lower paying public or nonprofit careers and (b) whether PSM overrides the considerations students might make about entering lower paying sectors as their education debt rises. First, we find that education debt has a marginal effect on initially selecting private over public and nonprofit careers. Rising education debt may discourage students from public sector careers after controlling for PSM. We also find that rising education debt may discourage students from nonprofit careers even with high levels of PSM. The present study enhances our understanding of how financial considerations, in the form of education debt, may influence a student’s initial choice in pursuing public, private, and nonprofit careers

Education debt and making a career choice in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors

We surveyed a sample of Millennial college seniors who are job seekers to investigate if: (1) education debt discourages students from pursuing (lower paying) public or nonprofit careers, and (2) whether PSM overrides the considerations students might make about entering lower paying sectors (i.e., public and nonprofit sectors) as their education debt rises. To our surprise, we find that education debt is related to a greater propensity to select lower paying public sector careers but not lower paying nonprofit jobs (except for those with high debt loads). Moderate levels of PSM are required for students to select public sector careers and high levels of PSM are required for students to select nonprofit careers with rising education debt. We conclude that individuals with a high debt load may be attracted to public policy setting and select public sector careers, while those who display empathy and compassion are attracted to nonprofit work in service to others

Money talks or Millennials walk: the effect of compensation on nonprofit Millennial workers sector-switching intentions

The nonprofit sector has become increasingly reliant on paid professional staff and now faces competition from the private and public sectors, which often pay higher to attract and retain workers. Although Millennials are attracted to nonprofit work, there are concerns that they will not remain committed to the nonprofit workforce due to low pay. We analyzed data from the 2011 Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Survey to examine the relationship between pay, perceptions of equitable pay, and sector-switching intentions among Millennial nonprofit workers. Although two thirds of the respondents indicate sector-switching intentions, we found no evidence that Millennial nonprofit workers, who are purported to value extrinsic and materialistic rewards, expressed sector-switching intentions on account of pay. However, pay influences the sector-switching intentions of Millennial nonprofit managers and those with advanced education. Our results suggest that the nonprofit sector may be facing challenges in attracting and retaining Millennial managers because of low pay

Millennials: who are they, how are they different, and why should we care?

Since the publication of Howe and Strauss’s (2000) Millennials Rising, interest in the millennial generation has become widespread, particularly among marketers and employers (Foot, 2001; Hoover, 2009). Companies are eager to tap into a new market that is composed of younger consumers (Nowak et al., 2006), while employers are keen to attract and retain the next generation of workers as the Baby Boomers exit the workforce in large numbers (Burke and Ng, 2006; Perry and Buckwalter, 2010). In the U.S., there are roughly 74.3 million Millennials, representing 23.6 percent of the population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013). Likewise in Canada, there are 9.1 million Millennials, making up 27 percent of the Canadian population (Statistics Canada, 2011a). Although researchers have used different birth-year boundaries to define the Millennial generation (e.g., 1980–95 in Foot and Stoffman, 1998; 1982–99 in Howe and Strauss, 2000; after 1982 in Twenge, 2010), in reality the exact boundaries defining a generation are much less important than shared historical events and experiences accompanied by social changes (Lyons and Kuron, 2014; Parry and Urwin, 2011). Given the historical events that characterized their lives (e.g., post-Gen X, internet, turn of the century), authors have labeled them Gen Y, Gen Me, Net Gen, Nexus Generation, and Millennial Generation (Advertising Age, 1993; Barnard et al., 1998; Burke and Ng, 2006; Howe and Strauss, 2000; Twenge, 2006). For the purpose of this chapter, we will use the term “Millennial” to keep consistent with the literature

Game of loans: the relationship between education debt, social responsibility concerns, and making a career choice in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors

The public and nonprofit sectors generally pay less than the private sector, and individuals are willing to forgo higher salaries in exchange for greater intrinsic satisfaction derived from making a contribution to society. However, personal financial considerations, such as education debt, may discourage individuals from pursuing careers in lower paying sectors even if they are predisposed to public service motivation (PSM). We surveyed a sample of graduating students to investigate if (a) education debt discourages students from pursuing lower paying public or nonprofit careers and (b) whether PSM overrides the considerations students might make about entering lower paying sectors as their education debt rises. First, we find that education debt has a marginal effect on initially selecting private over public and nonprofit careers. Rising education debt may discourage students from public sector careers after controlling for PSM. We also find that rising education debt may discourage students from nonprofit careers even with high levels of PSM. The present study enhances our understanding of how financial considerations, in the form of education debt, may influence a student's initial choice in pursuing public, private, and nonprofit careers

Managing generational differences in nonprofit organizations

Ensuring employees are satisfied with their jobs, committed, and engaged to the organizations for which they work are some of the most salient issues facing managers today. Despite a large amount of research describing the importance of managing all employees with strategic human resource practices, there have been increasing concerns about managing employees across all generations. For example, a number of popular press articles (Alsop, 2008; Lancaster & Stillman, 2009) bemoan the difficulty managers will likely face managing Millennials (individuals born between 1980 and 1995) who have different work values than previous generations, technology preferences, and ideas about work-life balance that are divergent from Baby Boomers (individuals born between 1946 and 1964) and Generation X’ers (individuals born between 1965 and 1979). Yet, many managers continue to grapple with how best to manage employees of all generational groups and many lack knowledge about whether or not learning about generations makes any difference in the workplace. Additionally, very little research on managing across generations is being conducted specific to the nonprofit sector (exceptions include Kunreuther, Kim, & Rodriguez, 2008; McGinnis, 2011; McGinnis Johnson & Ng, 2016; Ng & McGinnis Johnson 2015), and nonprofit managers may believe research on generations does not apply to them because nonprofit employees are inherently different from employees in other sectors

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Temporary Epidemiology Field Assignee program: Supporting state and local preparedness in the wake of Ebola

Objectives: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Temporary Epidemiology Field Assignee (TEFA) Program to help state and local jurisdictions respond to the risk of Ebola virus importation during the 2014–2016 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. We describe steps taken to launch the 2-year program, its outcomes and lessons learned. Methods: State and local health departments submitted proposals for a TEFA to strengthen local capacity in four key public health preparedness areas: 1) epidemiology and surveillance, 2) health systems preparedness, 3) health communications, and 4) incident management. TEFAs and jurisdictions were selected through a competitive process. Descriptions of TEFA activities in their quarterly reports were reviewed to select illustrative examples for each preparedness area. Results: Eleven TEFAs began in the fall of 2015, assigned to 7 states, 2 cities, 1 county and the District of Columbia. TEFAs strengthened epidemiologic capacity, investigating routine and major outbreaks in addition to implementing event-based and syndromic surveillance systems. They supported improvements in health communications, strengthened healthcare coalitions, and enhanced collaboration between local epidemiology and emergency preparedness units. Several TEFAs deployed to United States territories for the 2016 Zika Outbreak response. Conclusion: TEFAs made important contributions to their jurisdictions’ preparedness. We believe the TEFA model can be a significant component of a national strategy for surging state and local capacity in future high-consequence events