Examining public service motivation in the voluntary sector: implications for public management

Building on research about the nature of public service motivation (PSM) and its application outside the public sector, the authors provide a qualitative-based examination of PSM’s relevance to voluntary sector employees. In doing so, they explore how far their motivations extend beyond those encompassed within current conceptualizations of PSM and whether PSM research can be enriched through the adoption of qualitative methodologies. The findings suggest that PSM accounts for some, but not all, of the motives of voluntary sector employees and indicate that public sector managers involved in outsourcing public services need to be sensitive to their distinctive features.     

Work motivation and public service motivation: disentangling varieties of motivation and job satisfaction

Research on motivation in the public sector has used public service motivation (PSM) and self-determination theory (SDT) interchangeably. This paper compares both theories, develops hypotheses pertaining to their assumptions, and empirically tests them in two public offices in Switzerland. We then explore their relationship with job satisfaction as an indicator of predictive validity. We find that SDT and PSM display conceptual differentiation and SDT has a strongest relationship to job satisfaction. However, moderation analysis suggests that employees with high levels of PSM have more stable job satisfaction compared to their low-PSM counterparts.     

Does corporatisation improve organisational commitment? Evidence from public hospitals in Indonesia

This study aims to investigate the consequences of corporatisation on organisational commitment and to explain the relationship between work values, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The research was carried out in 54 public hospitals in East Java, Indonesia, applying a multilevel structural equation model to survey data on 1282 workers in those hospitals. Analysis suggests that the longer a hospital has been corporatised, the greater the organisational commitment of its employees. Incentives have positive and substantive association with organisational commitment, while training and resource availability do not. We found that employees in larger hospitals are more committed than those in smaller hospitals and that work values and job satisfaction have a positive and significant relationship with organisational commitment. Our findings shed light on the debate on corporatisation as a lever for improving organisational commitment in public hospitals in developing countries.     

New public management and organisational commitment in the public sector: testing a mediation model

This paper focuses on the attitudes of learning professionals towards New Public Management (NPM). In a survey of the UK further education sector (n = 433), NPM beliefs were found to be positively associated with both affective and normative organisational commitment. However, as expected, NPM beliefs were not found to be related to continuance organisational commitment. The results also show that although perceived organisational support mediates the relationship between NPM beliefs and affective organisational comment, it is only a partial mediator of the relationship between NPM beliefs and normative organisational commitment. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and potential directions for future research, are discussed.     

Exploring the structure and meaning of public service motivation in the Turkish public sector: a test of the mediating effects of job characteristics

Using a data set consisting of 315 middle-managers at the district level in the Turkish public sector, we develop a structural equation model (SEM) for assessing the impact of empowerment and stewardship on public service motivation (PSM) through job characteristics. The results demonstrate that stewardship and empowerment are distinct ‘levers’ that managers can use in novel ways to influence PSM; and cultural context may factor into the manipulation of these levers. We find that job-based mediators may not compliment leadership styles and self-generating rewards, but, rather work separately in their appeal to PSM.     

Perceived investment in employee development,intrinsic motivation and work performance

The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development, intrinsic motivation and different facets of work performance. Three cross‐sectional surveys of a total of 826 respondents from organisations located in Norway showed that the relationship between perceived investment in employee development and work effort was mediated by intrinsic motivation. In addition, intrinsic motivation was found to moderate the relationship between perceived investment in employee development and organisational citizenship behaviour. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship only for employees with high levels of intrinsic motivation.     

Mind the context gap: a critical review of engagement within the public sector and an agenda for future research

Abstract

In this review paper, we critically examine the evidence base relating to engagement within the public sector given a wide range of public services have faced acute human resource challenges over recent years. Our review of 188 empirical studies reveals that much of the evidence focuses attention on individual and job level factors, such that specific public sector contextual contingencies have rarely been considered. Through identifying significant ‘context gaps’, we present a future research agenda addressing the following key areas: i) clarifying the relationship between engagement and public service motivation, ii) further contextualizing general engagement models, iii) exploring cultural, socio-political, and institutional factors in more depth, iv) encouraging a more critical perspective on engagement, v) understanding the variation in the experience of engagement across different public services/delivery models, and vi) connecting more strongly with practical concerns and initiatives within public organizations. In presenting this agenda, we highlight how engagement and HRM scholars can more strongly embed their research within a sectoral context.     

Work motivation and social communication among public managers

This article tests hypotheses about the effects of two types of work motivation (i.e. intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation) and four types of social communication on three important work dispositions (i.e. job involvement, red tape, and perceived organizational effectiveness) among 790 managers employed in public agencies in the states of Illinois and Georgia. The results show that intrinsic motivation is significantly associated with public managers' job involvement, perceptions of red tape, and organizational effectiveness. Also, certain types of organizational communication and mentoring socialization are closely related to the outcomes. The results of cross-interaction effects between motivation and communications on outcome variables support the SDT prediction that when public managers are more involved with different types of social communication behaviors, the relationship between extrinsic motivation and three outcome variables becomes more pronounced. That is, communication in public agencies provides more autonomy and discretion for extrinsically motivated public managers, thus leading to more positive organizational dispositions.     

At their wits’ end? Economic stress,motivation and unethical judgement of public servants

ABSTRACT

Through an interdisciplinary approach, this paper addresses the scarcity of research that assesses economic stressors, public service motivation (PSM), work motivations, and unethical judgement in the public square. We argue that motivations have a direct relationship with the acceptance of unethical behaviour, but that economic stress (defined as financial stress and job insecurity) may influence this relationship both direct and indirectly. Using data from the European Social Survey, we develop a path model to test these hypotheses. We find that PSM and work motivation influence unethical judgements, and perceived economic stressors play an indirect role through their relationship with work motivations. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

A slow burning flame? Organisational change and industrial relations in the fire service

The process of organisational change in the public sector has led to a restructuring of the employment relationship in a context of budgetary constraints, the introduction of performance indicators and the development of new management strategies. The pace of change has been uneven and mediated by service cultures that have been resistant to innovation. Our case study of a metropolitan fire brigade explores these issues and suggests that financially driven organisational change has a major impact on industrial relations and that trade union organisation rooted in workplace culture can provide a significant challenge to restructuring.     

Happy together,or not? Balanced perceived investment in standard and nonstandard employees

This study investigated whether the relationship between temporary employees' perceived investment in employee development and work outcomes was moderated by temporary employees' perceived investment in standard employee development (PISED). A study among 2022 Norwegian temporary employees showed that the relationship between perceived investment in temporary employee development and in-role and contextual performance was moderated by the temporary employees' PISED. These results suggest that client organizations that invest more in standard employee development will get the most of their investments in temporary employee development. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Employee isolation and support for change in the public sector: a study of the internal audit profession

ABSTRACT

We investigate the preferences of public sector internal auditors for changes in their work practices. Informed by the literature, we posit that feelings of trust in the workplace and/or frustrations arising from perceived organizational ‘isolation’—a dimension of work alienation—motivate support and acceptance of change. We also argue that professional bodies directly and indirectly influence these relationships. These conjectures are tested using structural equation modelling and a survey of Canadian public sector internal auditors. The findings provide valuable insights into the process of adaptation and transformation in public sector settings across countries, jurisdictions, and accountability functions.     

Antecedents and outcomes of acceptance of performance appraisal system in Korean non-profit organizations

This study identifies the antecedents of non-profit public service motivation (NPSM) and employee outcomes using Korean non-profit acceptance of performance appraisal system (APAS) survey data. We test an NPSM model and examine the concept through public service motivation (PSM) in the non-profit sector. We then apply findings on work motivation, PSM, and performance appraisal systems to quantitative research and test several hypotheses concerning how (1) the non-profit sector’s APAS affects and uniquely shapes non-profit workers’ motivation, (2) NPSM relates to organizational trust, and (3) organizational characteristics affect Korean non-profit employees. We discuss our findings’ implications for non-profit theory and practice.     

Joining the Dutch Civil Service

Abstract

This article focuses on the work motivation of employees who joined the Dutch civil service between 2000 and 2006. It relates changes in five distinct motives to the changing economic context and the recruitment campaign run by the Dutch civil service. Results show that both extrinsic and public service motivations of employees were greater when unemployment was higher. Surprisingly, the intensity of the recruitment campaign correlated with both intrinsic and extrinsic motives, and the campaign appears to have attracted workers with a higher level of public service motivation and with a greater attraction to the public sector.     

An applied stochastic model of the quality–quantity trade-off in the public health care sector

It is a striking feature of the many of the developing country public service sectors that the sectors in question often overproduce the quantity of services but underproduce the quality. This feature, which is exemplified in this paper, is rooted in a wide spectrum of economic and sociological factors ranging from the economic and sociological profile of the service receiving people to the asymmetric density of service-receiving population across their regions. This feature, we conjecture, is a source of a considerable degree of suboptimality in some of the developing countries. If our conjecture is correct, correcting such suboptimalities is likely to yield significant welfare improvements that could help speed up the process of development in the underdeveloped regions of the world. To analyze the supoopimalites in question, we will first develop a concept (and a model) of optimal quality in the public service sector, which indicates the level of quality that maximizes expected public satisfaction subject to available resources. Resources are used in an efficient manner to produce the service in question. The concept and the model in the paper make a needed contribution to the quality discourse by presenting a way of determining the quality improvements (or adjustments) necessary to achieve optimum in the public service sector. The paper presents an application (a case study) of this new concept in the public healthcare sector in Turkey, and explores the differences between the actual and optimal quality in the sector in question. It turns out that there is a considerable difference between the actual and optimal levels of quality (as well as those of quantity) in the Turkish public healthcare sector in an overpopulated city (Istanbul), indicating a significant overproduction of quantity and underproduction of quality. Thus, to achieve the optimal levels, the sector should increase quality and reduce quantity by a considerable margin. The quantified differences (gaps) between actual and optimal levels point out a considerable room for welfare improvement. Optimum-seeking adjustments closing these gaps could be shown to lead to considerable satisfaction and welfare gains, the measurement of which is worthy of future research.     

Equality and diversity in the public services: moving forward on lesbian,gay and bisexual equality?

A key change for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people in the European Union has been the prohibition by the Employment Equality Directive (2000) of discrimination in employment on grounds of sexual orientation. This article focuses on the UK, which in 2003 introduced legislation making it unlawful to discriminate on these grounds. It explores the factors encouraging ‘good practice’ in sexual orientation equality work. It considers progress within the public services that have ‘pioneered’ sexual orientation equalities work, drawing on the views of LGB employees, management and trade union stakeholders. The recent legislation is considered to have provided a major impetus for change; however, an emerging ‘business case’ within the public service modernisation agenda is considered to have provided both opportunities and barriers to progress. A challenge for HR practitioners is getting organisational commitment to sexual orientation work, which is still perceived within organisations as a ‘sensitive’ area.     

Validating the Construct of Public Service Motivation in For-profit Organizations: A preliminary study

Delineating the theoretical link between individuals’ discretion and motivations in the private sector and their public service behaviours in Chinese society, this study explored public service motivation (PSM) in for-profit organizations. A survey of 348 employees from three engineering consulting organizations in China validated the construct of PSM in for-profit organizations. Besides the positive correlation between conscientiousness and PSM, the current study demonstrated that a positive correlation exists between PSM and community citizenship behaviour (CCB) with love of money (LOM) as a marginal moderator: the positive relationship between PSM and CCB is marginally stronger when LOM is higher, vice versa.     

Perceived competence mobilization: an explorative study of predictors and impact on turnover intentions

The present study explores predictors of perceived competence mobilization, as well as their direct and indirect impact on turnover intentions. Findings from a survey of 840 employees of a public civil service organization support the predictions that perceived competence mobilization is positively related to intrinsic motivation, peer support and supervisor support, career system satisfaction, and pay system satisfaction. Moreover, findings indicate that there is a curvilinear relationship between self-efficiacy and perceived competence mobilization, and that medium levels of self-efficiacy are associated with higher levels of perceived competence mobilization compared to very low or very high levels of self-efficiacy. Furthermore, findings indicate that turnover intention is best predicted by intrinsic motivation followed by career system satisfaction, followed intrinsic motivation, and that perceived competence mobilization partly mediate the effects of some predictors.     

The link between perceived HRM practices,performance and well‐being: the moderating effect of trust in the employer

The present study examines the interaction between perceived HRM practices and trust in the employer on employee performance and well‐being. Specifically, the study tests whether trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceptions of HRM practices and task performance (as rated by employees’ supervisors), organisational citizenship behaviour, turnover intentions and employee well‐being. Support was found for the majority of the hypotheses using data from 613 employees and their line managers in a service sector organisation in the UK. Trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceived HRM practices and task performance, turnover intentions and individual well‐being, but not organisational citizenship behaviour. Implications of the findings for organisations and future research are discussed.