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.     

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 hour congruence: the effect on job satisfaction and absenteeism

This study examines the effect of work hour congruence on employee job satisfaction and absenteeism using a large, longitudinal sample from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey (WES). An employee is said to have work hour congruence when they actually work the number of hours that they desire. Results indicate a difference between employees who desire more hours and those who desire fewer hours: employee desire for and receipt of more hours was related to positive changes in job satisfaction, while employee desire for and receipt of fewer hours was related to reduced absenteeism. In addition, the results suggest that employees respond to employers who at least try to meet their needs, those who desired more hours and received some, but not all of these additional hours showed a positive increase in job satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by using of a precise measure of work hour preference and change, differentiating employees who desire fewer hours from those who desire more and examining both full and partial work hour congruence.     

Work engagement,psychological contract breach and job satisfaction

This study extends both Social Exchange Theory and the Job Demands–Resources model by examining the link between psychological contract breach (PCB) and work engagement, and by integrating job satisfaction into this exchange relationship. We argue that PCB reflects employees' feelings of resource loss, and that these feelings impact work engagement through their impact on job satisfaction. Levels of employee work engagement can therefore be viewed as reciprocation for the exchange content provided by employers. We conduct structural equation modeling on longitudinal survey data from 191 employees, and our results suggest that the negative effect of PCB on work engagement is mediated by job satisfaction.     

Behind the influence of job crafting on citizen value co-creation with the public organization: joint effects of paternalistic leadership and public service motivation

This research seeks to investigate the role of paternalistic leadership in fostering job crafting among public employees, which may in turn foster citizen value co-creation with the public organization. The data were collated from public employees working in public legal service agencies in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and citizens whom they served. The data analyses verified the negative association between authoritarian leadership behavior and job crafting, as well as the positive associations between benevolent and moral behaviors and job crafting. The results also revealed the positive effect of job crafting on citizen value co-creation via citizen-organization identification as a mediator.     

Relative deprivation of temporary agency workers in the public sector: The role of public service motivation and the possibility of standard employment

Although public service organisations have increasingly relied on nonstandard employees, little research has investigated their work experiences and job attitudes. This paper examines the mechanism by which temporary agency workers' experience of relative deprivation affects their organisational attachment toward their client firm in the public sector. Based on data collected from temporary help agencies working with an international airport in Korea, we found that the perceived likelihood of standard employment mediated the negative relationship of relative deprivation to organisational attachment. Moreover, the indirect relationship of relative deprivation with organisational attachment via perceived likelihood of standard employment was strong and significant among those with high public service motivation but was not significant for those with low public service motivation. We discuss the implications of this study in building a better understanding of relative deprivation and nonstandard work arrangements in the public sector.     

Demographic determinants of public service motivation: a meta-analysis of PSM-age and -gender relationships

ABSTRACT

Although age and gender are among the most analysed determinants of public service motivation (PSM), their effects on PSM development remain unclear due to contradictory findings among studies. To address this issue, we carried out a meta-analysis of PSM-age and -gender correlations, synthesizing findings from 30 independent samples, with pooled sample sizes as large as N = 86,958. Moreover, we considered the role of cultural context as a moderator of these relationships. Overall, we found that age and gender are indeed antecedents of PSM, but importantly, that these effects differ across cultural contexts. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

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.     

The mediating role of leader–member exchange: a study of job satisfaction and turnover intentions in temporary work

This paper focuses on turnover intentions in temporary work. Specifically, we analyse whether job satisfaction and leader–member exchange (LMX) play the same role as antecedents of turnover intentions for both temporary and permanent employees. Results from a total‐effects moderation model based on a survey of 593 individuals placed by a temporary work agency suggest that temporary work lessens the impact that high job satisfaction has in terms of reducing turnover intentions. Furthermore, while for permanent employees, high‐quality LMX relationships play a central role in the link between job satisfaction and turnover intentions; for temporary employees, job satisfaction is less important in the formation of high‐quality LMX relationships. Therefore, we contribute to knowledge on turnover intentions in temporary work by showing that within this context, turnover intentions cannot be directly remedied by high job satisfaction and that temporary work inhibits LMX's reinforcing role in the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intentions.     

The influences of internal service quality and job standardization on job satisfaction with supports as mediators: flight attendants at branch workplace

Service organizations commonly achieve job satisfaction through internal service quality (ISQ), job standardization, and enhanced customer orientation. However, unlike employees working at headquarters, branch employees do not have access to timely responses and organizational support. This study, using flight attendants working offsite as research samples, looked at how workplace supervisor and co-worker support mediate ISQ and job standardization that contribute to job satisfaction. The results indicated that ISQ and job standardization in branch offices may, directly or indirectly, affect job satisfaction through support from supervisors and co-workers, which strengthened customer orientation. ISQ had a higher impact on supervisor support than on co-worker support, and job standardization had a higher impact on co-worker support than on supervisor support. Based on these findings, a customer-oriented model was established for the branches, and a number of suggestions on theory and managerial implementation were proposed.     

Accounting for personal disposition and organizational context: connecting role ambiguity,public service motivation,and whistle-blowing in federal agencies

Abstract

Organizational psychologists and HRM scholars have long argued that prosocial organizational behaviors enhance organizational performance. However, prosocial behaviors are motivated by both self-interested and altruistic intent. Moreover, some have recognized that the factors that encourage shifts between egoistically and altruistically motivated prosocial behaviors may result from inherent tensions between individual disposition and situational contexts. As such, this study draws from literature examining prosocial behavior to evaluate whether work situations with clear task expectations dampen the extent to which prosocial personal dispositions diminish egoistically motivated prosocial behavior. Findings from a series of structural equation models reveal that altruistic dispositional traits diminish egoistic motives for engaging in one specific prosocial behavior, whistle-blowing. However, findings also reveal that work situations characterized by clear task expectations dampen the negative effect of altruistic dispositions on egoistically motivated whistle-blowing. Our findings imply that managers can adjust organizational contexts to capitalize on the enhanced benefits resulting from altruistically motivated prosocial behaviors.     

Effects of job stress on self-esteem,job satisfaction,and turnover intention

ABSTRACT

This study is focused on female inbound call center counselors who are easily exposed to emotional labor when customers express anger and hostility and use swear words toward invisible targets on the phone. Our study is based on 244 responses from female inbound call center counselors. Job stress has a significantly negative effect on job satisfaction and self-esteem. It was shown that self-esteem has a partially mediating effect, and turnover experience had a moderating effect. It is important to shed new light on the roles of self-esteem among determinants of job satisfaction.     

Social expectations,gender and job satisfaction: Front‐line employees in China's retail sector

This study aims to enhance our understanding of gender and employment in China. Analysing data collected from over 1,800 employees at 22 foreign‐invested and locally owned retail stores in eight Chinese cities, it firstly explores whether, like their counterparts in Western countries, female employees have higher levels of job satisfaction than their male colleagues. Secondly, it distinguishes the key differential predictors of female and male employees' job satisfaction levels. This article extends gender role theory on job satisfaction by showing how traditional values, the structure of work and a nation's dominant gender ideology combine to shape women and men's job satisfaction and work experiences in a transitional context.     

In the eye of the beholder: Employee sexual orientation,perceived supervisory support for life beyond work and job satisfaction

We adopt congruence theory to compare perceptions of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) and heterosexual employees between perceived supervisory support on life beyond work (LBW) and job satisfaction and the effect of life‐to‐work conflict (LWC). Using the 2011 UK WERS data and applying multilevel modelling, we find no incongruence between the two groups of employees on job satisfaction. We find a significant perceptual incongruence in the relation between supervisory support on LBW and job satisfaction. While the relation was positive for both groups, it was stronger for heterosexual than LGB employees. We also find significant perceptual incongruence when we add LWC. Specifically, as LWC increases, the positive relation between supervisory support on LBW and job satisfaction becomes stronger for LGB than heterosexual employees. This last finding may be the most interesting as it may place the concept of identity‐based conflict primarily in the life‐to‐work domain of LGB employees.     

Branding without Unique Brands: Managing similarity and difference in a public sector context

Abstract

Corporate branding requires organizations to focus on uniqueness and differentiation. At the same time, public institutions must provide equal services in order to gain legitimacy. Hence, corporate branding in the public sector organizations has to handle two concerns simultaneously – securing legitimacy and building reputation. We examine this tension through interviews with communication managers in Norwegian hospitals. Despite large investments in techniques borrowed from corporate branding, the informants were reluctant to talk about branding. Instead, they were more oriented towards the universal character of their hospitals. Four explanations are put forward for why branding has an ambiguous position in Norwegian hospitals.     

Role overload,knowledge acquisition and job satisfaction: An ambidexterity perspective on boundary-spanning activities of IT employees

Abstract

Building upon the ambidexterity perspective, this study conceptualizes boundary-spanning activities as both transactional and learning to illuminate their different effects on IT employees’ job satisfaction. Specifically, we offer an overarching theoretical framework rooted in ambidexterity by connecting the role theory and knowledge acquisition perspective to reconcile the inconsistency of extant findings. Role overload has a mediating effect on the relationship between boundary-spanning activities (both transactional and learning) and job satisfaction, whereas knowledge acquisition mediates the relationship between learning boundary-spanning activities and job satisfaction. Furthermore, high achievement motivation and learning goal orientation moderate the positive effect of learning boundary-spanning activities on job satisfaction. The quantitative analysis of IT employees in Chinese state-owned enterprises largely supports our hypotheses. We conclude this paper by discussing theoretical and managerial implications for ambidexterity, boundary spanning, and job satisfaction.     

Injury-related absenteeism and job satisfaction: insights from Greek and UK data

Most of the literature on absenteeism suggest that absence from work is a complex issue influenced by multiple causes, both of personal and of organizational nature. Job satisfaction has also been identified as one of the factors affecting an employee's motivation to work attendance. There is no universal agreement concerning the relationship between absenteeism and job satisfaction. Some research have found no correlation between these two variables, whereas other studies indicate a weak relationship between these two variables. It has also been suggested that absence and job satisfaction might be more strongly related under some conditions, for instance in the case of blue-collar workers. There is a lack of attention in the literature, however, to injury-related absenteeism, which is a particular type of absenteeism. This paper attempts to fill this gap and examines the effect of job satisfaction on injury-related absenteeism by using Greek and UK data. The empirical results suggest that there is a negative relationship between injury-related absenteeism and job satisfaction. The paper also discusses possible policy measures towards reducing injury-related absenteeism.     

Dispositional and organizational sources of job satisfaction: a cross-national study

ABSTRACT

Job satisfaction has proven to be a resilient contributor to employee motivation, productivity, organizational commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Utilizing cross-national data from five Asian countries/settings and the United States we examine the impact of organizational and psychological factors on job satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by showing that while organizational factors, such as performance appraisals and leadership behaviours are important sources of job satisfaction, what matters most is whether individuals perceive themselves to be efficacious in their jobs. Self-efficacy was found to be the strongest determinant of job satisfaction in both, the U.S., and the Asian contexts. Based on cultural characteristics of power-distance and collectivism, this study also examines cross-national differences in the level of public employee job satisfaction.     

Linking high performance organizational culture and talent management: satisfaction/motivation and organizational commitment as mediators

Relying on strategic human resource management and organization development systemic principles, this theory-building study tested the validity of a new talent attraction and retention model which focused on the under-researched effects of organizational culture and employee attitudes. The analysis was based on data gathered from two large organizations representing two different countries and industries. Structural equation modeling results ascertained that talent attraction and retention were predicted by high performance organizational culture. This effect was also found to be mediated by the employee attitudes of satisfaction/motivation and organizational commitment. More specifically, this study found talent attraction and retention to be highly associated with the extent to which the organization is perceived to have a change-, quality-, and technology-driven culture, and characterized by support for creativity, open communications, effective knowledge management, and the core values of respect and integrity. This study concluded that strategically aligned and ethical high performance organizational cultures have strong effects on talent attraction and retention and are also highly conducive to the development of high commitment and motivating work systems.