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Public service motivation, particularly prosocial behaviors that contribute to the social good, has become a growing focus of my research as part of my broader goal to promote educational equity and opportunity. This interest is rooted in my belief that student success, especially in higher education, should be closely aligned with addressing societal needs and justice. My research employs nudging experiments, natural language processing techniques, and quasi-experimental designs to explore the factors in existing policies and higher education practices that foster this motivation, and examines its importance by linking it to long-term outcomes.
Below are some of my preliminary explorations in this area.
How Information about Educational Inequality Shapes Student Teachers’ Prosocial Preference and Intentions for Hard-to-Staff Schools?
How Information about Educational Inequality Shapes Student Teachers’ Prosocial Preference and Intentions for Hard-to-Staff Schools?
This study provides experimental evidence on how information about educational inequality affects the intentions of 4,763 teacher candidates to work in hard-to-staff schools. Participants were randomly exposed to accurate, yet commonly underestimated, details about the country’s educational disparities. Surprisingly, exposure to this information did not enhance prosocial preferences but instead reduced intentions to enter the teaching profession and work in hard-to-staff schools. The negative effect was mainly driven by service scholarship recipients, suggesting that financial incentives alone are insufficient to motivate individuals to address the challenge of teacher sorting.
Zheng, Q∗ . (revise & resubmit requested). How Information about Educational Inequality Shapes Student Teachers’ Prosocial Preference and Intentions for Hard-to-Staff Schools? Evidence from a Survey Experiment. American Educational Research Journal.
Sociology Courses and Their Impacts on Public Sector Employment Outcomes
Sociology Courses and Their Impacts on Public Sector Employment Outcomes
As part of my research into how core college courses and activities influence students’ prosocial behaviors, this study identifies sociology courses using NLP techniques from the transcript data in the College & Beyond II dataset. It further explores the relationships between these courses and students’ job market decisions, as well as their long-term career development. Preliminary analysis reveals positive associations between both the number and performance in sociology courses and students’ decisions to work in the public sector.
Working paper in preparation with Yitong Hu at New York University.
Prosocial Preference, Decision for Hard-to-Staff Schools, and Teacher Effectiveness
Prosocial Preference, Decision for Hard-to-Staff Schools, and Teacher Effectiveness
To explore whether prosociality deserves further development in education, I collected data from over 700 middle school teachers and more than 10,000 students in China. Preliminary analysis indicates that teachers with stronger prosocial beliefs—those who acknowledge educational inequalities in achievement, resource allocation, and support for affirmative action—demonstrate higher value-added on student test scores. These teachers are also more likely to work in hard-to-staff rural and township schools and exhibit lower burnout risks.
Working paper with Yu Cui and Yan Shi at Northeast Normal University.
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