Research

My research focuses broadly on public administration, policy, and human resource management in the public sector. My research has been published in various academic journals including the Journal for Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, Behavioural Public Policy, and others. It has also been cited in policy documents (e.g., Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, OECD, World Bank, Danish Government Commission on Healthcare) and highlighted in both German and Danish media outlets including prime time TV news (e.g., ARD, ZDF) and national newspapers (e.g., Süddeutsche, Zeit, Jyllands-Posten).

I am particularly interested in the following topics:

  • Recruiting, selecting, and retaining the public workforce
  • Human machine interaction and AI in the public sector
  • Field experimental research on public administration and public policy

Selected publications and working papers

Recruiting, selecting, and retaining the public workforce

  • Jakobsen, M., Løkke, A.-K., & Keppeler, F. (2023). Facing the Human Capital Crisis: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda on Recruitment and Selection in the Public Sector. Public Administration Review, https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13733 [Download open access] 
  • Jakobsen, M., Keppeler, F., Gøtzsche-Astrup, O., & Villadsen, A. (2024): Recruiters’ Discriminatory Behavior and Job Applicants’ Counteracting Behavior at the Intersection of Gender, Age, and Nationality, Working Paper, under review.
  • Keppeler, F., Pedersen, A. T., Noer, V. R., Jacobsen, C. B. (2023): Why Do Public-sector Job Advertisements Fail? Exploring Discrepancies between Public Managers Predictions and Preferences of Recruits, Working Paper, under review.
  • Keppeler, F., & Papenfuß, U. (2022). Employer Value Propositions for Different Target Groups and Organizational Types in the Public Sector: Theory and Evidence From Field Experiments. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 43(4), 701–726. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X221121050 [Download free postprint]
  • Keppeler, F., & Papenfuß, U. (2022). Understanding Vertical Pay Dispersion in the Public Sector: The Role of Publicness for Manager-to-Worker Pay Ratios and Interdisciplinary Agenda for Future Research, Public Management Review, 24 (11), 1846–1871. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2021.1942531
  • Papenfuß, U., & Keppeler, F. (2020): Does Performance-Related Pay and Public Service Motivation Research Treat State-Owned Enterprises Like a Neglected Cinderella? A Systematic Literature Review and Agenda for Future Research on Performance Effects, Public Management Review, 22 (7), 1119-1145. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2020.1740300

Human machine interaction and AI in the public sector

  • Keppeler, F. (2023): No Thanks, Dear AI! Understanding the Effects of Disclosure and Deployment of Artificial Intelligence in Public Sector Recruitment, in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muad009. [Download free preprint]
  • Borchert, J., Keppeler, F., Nielsen, V. L., & Pedersen, M. J. (2023): The Role of AI Applications in Personnel Selection: Effects on Recruiters’ Decision and Biases at the Intersection of Ethnicity and Gender. Annual Conference of the European Group of Public Administration, Zagreb.

Field experimental research on public administration and public policy

  • Ternovski, J., Jilke, S., Keppeler, F., Vogel, D. (2023). Scaling Behavioral Interventions in the Presence of Spillover: Implications for Randomized Controlled Trials and Evidence-Based Policy Making, Working Paper. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/k5uap [Download free preprint]
  • Jilke, S., Keppeler, F., Ternovski, J., Vogel, D., & Yoeli, E. (2024). Policy Makers Believe Money Motivates More Than It Does. Nature Scientific Reports, 14(1), 1901. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-51590-x [Download open access]
  • Keppeler, F., Sievert, M., & Jilke, S. (2022): How Local Government Vaccination Campaigns Can Increase Intention to Get Vaccinated Against Covid-19: A Field Experiment on Psychological Ownership, in Behavioural Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2022.16 [Download open access]
  • Schwoerer, K., Keppeler, F., Mussagulova, A., & Puello, S. (2022): CO-DESIGN-ing a More Context-Based, Pluralistic, and Participatory Future for Public Administration, in Public Administration, 100 (1), 72-97. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12828 [Download open access]