# **Box 4:  Exploring Civil Servants’ Incentives through Qualitative Research**

<mark>An important objective of the Lao study was to capture the scale, perceived importance and impact of noncompensation-related benefits and incentives tied to civil service employment. These benefits and incentives ranged from work-related monetary incentives (such as daily subsistence allowances for travel, sitting allowances from donors for attending meetings) and additional income sources (e.g., informal payments, secondary employment) to non-monetary advantages such as social status and employment stability (the latter being particularly important in terms of diversifying a family job portfolio in a heavily subsistence-based economy).</mark><sup>21</sup> <mark>In light of the sensitive nature of the topic, and the need to move beyond mere anecdote, a qualitative research study was commissioned. The work was undertaken by a domestic research firm with an established record in this field, guided by an international consultant with expertise in social research and</mark> previous experience working in Laos.

<mark>A semi-structured qualitative approach was chosen with the intent of allowing respondents to have some</mark> freedom in discussing aspects of interest within a defined number of domains. The six key questions were:

- <mark>What are perceptions on current and future earnings?</mark>

- <mark>What are the monetary and non-monetary reasons for career choice?</mark>

- <mark>How do civil servants cope with apparent low formal compensation levels?</mark>

- <mark>What are the perceived reasons for not entering or leaving the public sector?</mark>

- <mark>What are advancement prospects in the public sector?</mark>

- Are there perceived alternative career paths for civil servants?

<mark>Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and In-Depth-Interviews (IDI) were selected in order to be able to capture normative aspects (such as what a fair compensation structure looks like) as well as individual details (such as career choices and challenges). FGDs and IDIs were carried out following guides that were pre-tested and revised. Discussions in some groups revealed unexpected association among the selected domains, which were then pursued in discussion. This is one of the strengths of semi-structured research instruments, offering</mark> respondents the opportunity to identify and discuss lesser known practices and views.

<mark>Data were collected in four different locations: the capital city, its surrounding province, a northern province and a southern province. In each location civil servants representing the sectors of interest (education, health, agriculture, industry and commerce, planning and investment) were invited to participate in FGDs and/or IDIs. For each FGD a list of screening criteria for eligible respondents was developed in order to secure external heterogeneity in terms of sectors, and internal heterogeneity related to contract type (i.e., permanent civil servant versus limited-term hire), number of years in the civil service, and gender. Civil servants in senior positions were interviewed separately to minimize large differences in social and political status within FGDs. To shed light on future expectations on labor market preferences, five FGDs were carried out with students</mark> from these sectors in the capital city, who were facing impending labor market choices <mark>Most of the focus groups and interviews were recorded and translated from Lao to English; on the few occasions where interviews were not recorded (so as not to impede frank discussion of unofficial practices), note-taking was in more detail. A conventional content-based analysis was made in which quotes from respondents were categorized in broad themes. Each theme was subsequently summarized, including a comparison of any contrasting views. For most topics, a general point of view crystallized rather clearly, but an</mark> understanding of the relative importance of some practices was more difficult to assess.

<mark>Although the study was formally about earnings, moderators and respondents understood that in reality it was also about human resource management more broadly. The scale and composition of the data collection made it possible to convey a good sense of the meanings and values attached to working as a civil servant and more specifically the attitudes and experiences related to compensation and incentives. Some formal responses were</mark> <u><mark>provided that likely did not capture actual dynamics but, for the majority of respondents, the questions seemed</mark></u> 21 We are indebted to Jennifer Widner for this observation.

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