Understanding the mobility of public leaders: switching between sectors and governmental levels

Despite growing attention to public leader recruitment, mobility patterns remain understudied. To address this gap, we analyse motives for three distinct forms of public leader mobility: within-level (same government tier), between-level (across central and local tiers), and between-sector (from private to public sector). Utilizing unique survey and register data, we find that proximity between past and current roles is a valuable lens for understanding mobility motives. Career ambition is more important for high-proximity transitions, while low job satisfaction fuels low-proximity transitions. The desire to serve citizens is an important driver of transitions from the private to the public sector.