It is often assumed that a greater level of accountability will positively affect the performance of public organizations; however, this relationship has not been studied extensively in public administration. This study provides quantitative evidence regarding the impact of accountability on organizational performance in the U.S. federal government. Specifically, we examine the association between the levels of organizational performance and accountability in three functions of human resource management (HRM)—staffing, performance evaluation, and compensation—as perceived by employees of public organizations. Further, we test whether the level of autonomy perceived by the employees influences the association between accountability and performance. The findings suggest that the levels of accountability manifested in staffing, performance evaluation, and compensation all positively and significantly affect organizational performance. Moreover, employee autonomy tends to amplify the positive impact of accountability on performance in two HRM functions—staffing and compensation.
This article examines the causal effects of telework eligibility and participation on employee attitudes, including perceived fairness, job satisfaction, and intention to stay, in the U.S. federal government. Drawing on the literatures on social exchange and organizational justice, we investigate how telework eligibility and participation influence employee attitudes and whether different reasons for nonparticipation have varying impacts. Our findings show that those employees who are eligible to telework report higher levels of perceived fairness, job satisfaction, and intention to stay than do those employees who are ineligible. On the other hand, the effects of telework participation on employee attitudes depend upon the reasons why nonparticipants do not telework. Specifically, when employees do not telework because of insufficient technical or managerial support, they report significantly lower levels of perceived fairness, job satisfaction, and intention to stay than do teleworkers. However, nontelework due to job requirements or personal choice does not have significant, negative effects on work attitudes.
Facing the potential leadership deficit and mounting pressures for performance and accountability, government and nonprofit organizations have become more interested in providing training and development programs for their executives. However, existing research falls short in explaining the utility of managerial development programs in achieving performance and accountability in public and nonprofit contexts. This study examines how executives’ participation in various managerial development programs is associated with the adoption of organizational practices for financial, client-service, and performance accountability, using a survey of nonprofit human services organizations. The results reveal that organizations whose executives participated in managerial development programs are more likely to have such practices. In particular, the results show that participation in general management and administration training and regular mentoring is positively associated with accountability practices in all three areas. Overall, the findings suggest that providing incumbent executives with training and development opportunities is as important as recruiting qualified individuals in ensuring organizational accountability and performance.
What defines a good civil servant is not self-evident. In fact, when you ask civil servants what it means "to be a good civil servant" and "to do a good job," you receive differing responses based on the various values that guide the way each individual approaches their job. The differing values can be traced to well-established perspectives in the literatures of public administration, governance, and political science. Each perspective defines "good government" and "being a good civil servant" in different ways, elevating differing values in the process. These perspectives are institutionalized and internalized in the present-day reality of public administration. Therefore, a present-day civil servant works amid a variety of competing perspectives about what "good government" and "being a good civil servant" mean. It is interesting how various perspectives on "good governance" and "being a good civil servant" play out in the working-practice of civil servants: How do values from the various governance perspectives guide the practical actions of civil servants? To answer this question, we conducted a research project to look for patterns in the values that guide the work of civil servants. We distinguished four governance perspectives from literature on governance. We translated these four governance perspectives into typical value statements that guide practical action, and used Q-methodology to survey civil servants with these perspectives as options. We found four distinct profiles of combined values that apparently guide the practical actions of civil servants. The profiles help us better understand the variety of values that guide practical actions of civil servants.
Have state and local governments (SLGs) achieved pay parity with the private sector? The answer depends on how one defines parity. Using a standard labor economics model on U.S. Census data from 1990 to 2014, we find different patterns if we focus on pay, on pay plus benefits, or on total compensation within an occupation. All approaches indicate that pay is higher in local than in state governments and that Blacks, Hispanics, and employees without college diplomas earn higher pay in SLGs than in the private sector. In contrast, Whites, Asians, and college graduates are less likely to enjoy higher pay working in SLGs than in the private sector. Unsurprisingly, states with more liberal and Democratic legislatures pay public employees better, relative to workers in the private sector.
Vitality refers to the experience of having energy available to one’s self. Vital employees are full of positive energy when they work, and feel mentally and physically strong. Such employees often show higher job performance and lower stress than their less vital colleagues. Despite the importance of vitality, few public administration studies have studied vitality. More generally, by focusing on vitality, we aim to bring a "positive psychology" perspective into the domain of public administration. We analyze whether two important job characteristics (leader’s task communication and job autonomy) affect vitality. We use a multi-method design. A large-scale survey (N = 1,502) shows that leader’s task communication and job autonomy are positively related to vitality. A lab experiment (N = 102) replicated these findings, showing cause-and-effect relationships. In conclusion, public organizations can potentially increase employee vitality (a) by increased task communication from leaders and (b) by providing employees with greater job autonomy.
To this day, the question what motivates public sector employees is central in public administration research. This exploratory study aims to delve into this question, arguing that different types of motives coexist and that different groups of individuals might be motivated by different motivational profiles. We use cluster analysis among public servants (N = 475) working at two municipalities in the Netherlands to explore these notions. Our findings show that different clusters of employees with different motivation profiles are indeed present in the data. In addition, they provide some indications about who the individuals in the clusters are in terms of demographic characteristics. These findings help, among other things, to explain the mixed findings of previous studies investigating sectional differences between public and private employees’ work motivation, and to identify specific human research activities tailored at individuals’ reward preferences.
Diversity is an important facet of public administration, thus it is important to take stock and examine how the discipline has evolved in response to questions of representative democracy, social equity, and diversity. This article assesses the state-of-the-field by addressing the following question: How has research on diversity in the field of public administration progressed over time? Specifically, we seek to examine how the focus of diversity has transformed over time and the way the field has responded to half a century of legislation and policies aimed at both promoting equality and embracing difference. We utilize a conceptual content analysis approach to examine articles published on diversity in seven key public administration journals since 1940. The implications of this study are of great importance given that diversity in the workplace is a central issue for modern public management.
This study examines the relationship between individual dissimilarity and perceptions of organizational inclusion. Data from a national survey of public agencies conducted in Florida and Texas show that gender dissimilarity is negatively associated with perceptions of inclusion and the negative relationship is more acute for men than for women. In contrast, tenure dissimilarity is positively related to perceptions of inclusion and this positive association is more acute for those with longer tenure than for those with shorter tenure. These results suggest that the effect of dissimilarity on the perception of inclusion depends on both the observability of individual-level characteristics and the status of the demographic group. In particular, dissimilarity along characteristics that are easily observable (such as gender) is more likely to influence perceptions of inclusion and dissimilarity is more influential for higher status groups (such as men or long-tenured employees).
The public service motivation (PSM) of public employees matters to their performance at work. Yet research on how context factors moderate the PSM–performance relationship is sparse. This article shows how the PSM–performance relationship may depend on two context factors: (a) the extent of work autonomy that a public organization provides its employees and (b) the service users’ capacity to affect the organization’s service provision. We test a set of moderation hypotheses using school data (teacher survey data with administrative data on schools and student). Using within-student between-teachers fixed effects regression, we find a stronger PSM–performance relationship in organizational contexts involving greater regulation of employee work autonomy for users with low to moderate user capacity.
A growth in organizational justice research is evident in the field of public administration. This present study asks whether the relationship between key justice perceptions and attitudinal and performance outcomes vary as a function of occupational status. Building on the extant literature on social status, this study hypothesizes that employees in a higher status occupation will respond more strongly to justice perceptions than those in a lower status occupation by exhibiting lower levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, task performance, and citizenship behaviors. Based on a sample of employees in a large public agency in Thailand, our findings indicate that although employees in the two occupational groups do not differ significantly in their perceived justice levels, those in a higher status occupation are more strongly affected by perceptions of procedural and interpersonal justice. This study underscores the importance of accounting for occupational differences when it comes to implementing justice-related policies and practices.
This study examines the mediating role of employee followership and job satisfaction in the relationship between person–organization (P-O) fit and turnover intention. Understanding the mechanisms that link P-O fit and turnover intention may provide useful intervention strategies for leaders and human resource professionals to effectively manage and interact with their followers. Using Hobfoll’s conservation of resources theory, we explore a three-step mediation model in which high P-O fit is related to turnover intention through employee followership and job satisfaction. This model is tested using cross-sectional survey responses from 692 faculty at an urban public university. The authors discuss the implications of the results as well as the limitations of the study for future research.
Workforce diversity has been depicted as a double-edged sword that leads to both positive and negative work-related outcomes. As a result, the critical issue in diversity research is concerned with enhancing the benefits and reducing the detriments of heterogeneity within organizations on work behaviors. By combining theories on diversity and inclusiveness, this article examines inclusive management at the federal subagency level as a moderator of the relationships between demographic diversity (gender and race) and work behaviors (innovative and turnover behavior). Using survey and personnel data drawn from federal subagencies, inclusive management—a set of policies aimed at recognizing all employees as valued organizational insiders with unique identities—not only strengthens the positive relationship between racial diversity and innovative behavior but also attenuates the positive relationship between gender diversity and turnover behavior. These findings suggest that inclusive management is a key strategy for effectively managing diversity.
Why do government employees work long hours, and what are the consequences? Although there is generally little scope for extra pay in return for extra hours in the Australian Public Service (APS), a significant proportion of its employees work long hours. This study draws from the organizational citizenship behavior literature in an attempt to understand why APS employees work extra hours. It uses the 2015 APS Employee Census to examine the APS employees’ patterns of working hours and the links between working extra hours and three outcomes: job performance, personal well-being, and intention to leave one’s agency. Several organizational factors are found to be positively associated with working extra hours. Many who work extra hours also believe that their job performance is high, but they report poor well-being and are thinking of leaving their agency.
Organization theory suggests that the strength of the ties between employees is likely to be weaker in large organizations, but that decentralization of decision making can help generate norms of collaboration, trust, and shared mission. This article explores the separate and combined effects of size and decentralization on perceptions of organizational social capital in central government agencies in Europe. The statistical results suggest that there is a negative relationship between organization size and organizational social capital and a contrasting positive relationship between decentralized decision making and social capital. Further analysis revealed that decentralization of key decisions can overcome the internal social dysfunctions associated with being a big organization. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Many studies find positive associations between public service motivation (PSM) and performance, but much of this literature is based on cross-sectional data prone to endogeneity and common method bias. Moreover, we know little about potential moderators. In this study, we test the moderating role of societal impact potential (SIP)—the degree to which the job is perceived to provide opportunities to contribute to society. We use cross-sectional data from 13,967 employees in 2010 and 2012 aggregated to construct longitudinal data for 42 organizations. As expected, the association between PSM and individual perceived performance is positive when SIP is high. However, when SIP is low, PSM is only weakly or not at all related to performance. This is an important insight for organizations that try to enhance performance through PSM. Our findings suggest that this can only be done when the employees think that their jobs allow them to contribute to society.
The swelling wave of federal retirements heightens the importance of understanding the factors that influence retirement decisions. We examine both behavior and intentions to retire using two large data sets on federal white-collar employees aged 50 and above. Analysis of personnel records for 1979-2009 shows that several of the usual factors—in particular, age, federal experience, and pension design—have strong effects on when employees retire. Perhaps more revealing is our analysis of the 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), which indicates that satisfaction with agency leadership and with one’s own job appear to encourage postponing retirement plans, whereas satisfaction with supervisors and with recognition received on the job do not. These relationships—especially those for pension design, satisfaction with leadership, and satisfaction with one’s job—produce interesting implications for both theory and practice.
Public service motivation (PSM) has a documented, positive effect on job satisfaction—especially in the public sector. However, organizational characteristics such as red tape, hierarchical authority, and the absence of organizational goal specificity, which are often more present in public sector organizations, may have negative influences on the PSM–job satisfaction relationship. This study explores the impact of these organizational characteristics on sector differences in the PSM–job satisfaction relationship in a "hard case" setting. Using survey data with low-level, white-collar employees, we confirm a positive PSM–job satisfaction association in the public sector compared with the private sector, where we see a negative association. Furthermore, perceived red tape and the absence of organizational goal specificity have negative influences on job satisfaction; nevertheless, sector differences remain in the PSM–job satisfaction relationship when controlled for these organizational characteristics. This suggests that public or private sector status is more important for the PSM–job satisfaction relationship than other organizational characteristics.
In the past decades, scholarship has recognized the potential of human resource management (HRM) to contribute to organizational performance in the public sector. Even so, the issue of how HRM activities are organized to achieve superior performance is still in largely unknown territory. De-centering and re-centering dynamics for the organization of HRM have been recognized, but insufficiently analyzed in terms of theoretical and analytical integration. This study investigates the specifics of how the public sector organizes a variety of HRM activities, including the questions of where and why.We find that a complementary use of a rational design perspective and a constraining drift perspective is crucial in order to fully understand the complexities of organizing HRM activities in the public sector. Public organizations generally intend to seek the most optimal arrangement but are sometimes constrained from doing so. Institutional constraints sometimes result in more optimal arrangements, but they can also lead to unintended side-effects. This calls for more research on how design and drift factors intertwine.
In June of 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas that threatened the continued use of affirmative action to promote diversity in university admissions. It vacated the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which upheld its use, and remanded the case back to the appellate court. This legal brief examines the implications of the Fifth Circuit’s decision on remand. It examines the appellate court’s response to the High Court on remand, where it once again upheld the affirmative action program at the University of Texas.
The structural approaches of workforce diversity note that the racial composition of work groups may affect work attitudes of racial/ethnic minority and White employees in different ways. Analyzing the data from the federal workforce, this study examines how the racial mixture of the agency affects job satisfaction of racial/ethnic minority and White employees. To do so, three models for all employees, Whites, and racial/ethnic minorities were tested using ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions with agency-fixed effects. The results suggest that holding a minority status in their agency may bring lower job satisfaction to both racial/ethnic minority and White employees. Racial/ethnic minorities reported the lowest job satisfaction in predominantly White settings, while Whites expressed the lowest job satisfaction in minority–majority settings. In contrast, racial/ethnic minorities reported the highest job satisfaction when they hold a majority status in their agency (minority–majority settings). Interestingly, Whites seem to be most satisfied in White-majorities settings, which are less homogeneous than predominantly White settings. The finding for all employees showed that federal employees stated higher satisfaction in White-majorities settings than in others.
Collaborative leadership has been widely discussed in the theory of public-sector leadership and public collaborative governance studies. Based on the survey data of a public service agency in Taipei City Government, Taiwan, this study used path analysis to test the effect of four dimensions of collaborative leadership on the perceived organizational performance, and applied multidimensional scaling (MDS) method to estimate the dimensions of collaborative leadership and their structural relations. Findings of the empirical analyses support our hypotheses about the dimensions and influence of collaborative leadership and contribute to the theories of public-sector leadership. Public employees’ collaborative leadership skills facilitate their acceptance of organizational rules and their perceived organizational performance. Implications of these findings are presented in the discussion and conclusion.
Pioneering work on competencies provided evidence that traits, motives, and self-concepts predict success in a particular job context. Research furthered this line of investigation by identifying competencies that apply across jobs. Together, these competency studies introduced a question that endures today: "Are competencies situational or universal?" This research examines this question in the context of collaborative competencies. Given the contemporary emphasis on working effectively across boundaries, this state-level investigation identifies differentiating competencies and behavioral indicators that both support and expand existing federal-level research findings on collaborative competencies. This study’s answer to the enduring question is yes: There are universal collaborative competency dimensions and context matters in terms of application and interpretation.
This article reports the results of a survey designed to assess the extent to which public administrators are knowledgeable of federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) law. Findings suggest that there is significant variation among county administrators and department heads in their levels of knowledge, and that they are more familiar with Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 than they are with other laws examined. Those who have had employment law training, who hold a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree, and who serve as human resources directors are more knowledgeable than others. Female administrators are more knowledgeable in some aspects of the law than their male counterparts.
Many studies on cutback management have suggested that cutbacks may have negative consequences for employee well-being in the public sector. However, the relationship between cutbacks and the work-related attitudes of top-level managers has received little attention. In this study, we assess the relationships between five commonly used cutback measures and the job satisfaction of top-level public managers in 12 European countries. We propose and test a model in which autonomy serves as an explanatory variable for the relationship between cutbacks and job satisfaction. The results indicate that cutback measures have little direct effect on the job satisfaction of managers. However, as cutback measures are related negatively to the perceived managerial autonomy of public managers and positively to the degree in which politicians interfere in the affairs of managers, autonomy may function as a mechanism to explain decreased job satisfaction as a result of cutback implementation.
This study investigated the effect of moral hazard on the reporting of health problems in the public sector. Moral hazard was demonstrated by a comparison between public and private employees of self-reporting hard-to-diagnose health problems. Data for the analysis were taken from a sample of over 120,000 workers from the U.K. 2010 Labour Force Survey. Results revealed that, against the posited hypotheses, the opportunistic behavior was equal between public employees and permanent workers from the private sector. However, differences were found in reporting behavior between public employees and personnel with contractual positions where the risk of unemployment was higher.
The purpose of this study was to examine paid sick leave (PSL) practices among large municipal governments in the United States. Results of a national survey suggest that over 90% of these governments offer PSL. Few reported making any post-recession changes, and in fact, most governments continue to allow employees to rollover unused sick leave from year to year, cash out unused sick leave upon termination, and/or include unused sick leave in pension calculations despite the sometimes significant cost of such policies. Documentation is required in 70% of governments, but formal auditing of PSL occurs in less than one third of responding governments. Type of government, employee classification (e.g., public safety vs. general staff), collective bargaining, and whether the government requires public hearings for public employee benefit changes were significant factors in determining certain PSL practices.
Public service motivation (PSM) research heavily relies on self-report measures that are often susceptible to social desirability bias (SDB). Cultural orientation is also correlated with SDB. This study explores the ethnic differences in socially desirable responding when measuring PSM and job satisfaction in a multicultural but individualistic society like the United States. It tests the magnitude and pattern of SDB in measurements of PSM in this society as a whole, as well as the influence of ethnicity on SDB. The results of our experimental survey research show that SDB is significantly correlated with PSM measures, as well as job satisfaction. We therefore expect a spurious effect to occur in the correlational analysis. This implies that the correlation between job satisfaction and PSM is at least partly spurious due to measurement artifacts. Alternative ways to measure PSM need to be explored to control SDB.
Various scholars have put forth frameworks for interpreting how public sector human resource management (HRM) policies and practices have tracked shifts in societal values. Although such frameworks serve important heuristic purposes, the empirical support offered for the interpretations made is generally thin. This study employs content analysis techniques to assess the relative validity of these different schemes with a focus on the priority assigned to the different values by members of Congress in debates over the federal civil service. According to the results, among the most dominant HRM-related values for the 122-year period (1883-2004) are efficiency, morality, and progress.
There is an increasing interest in the public management literature in questions related to street-level bureaucrats’ (SLBs) behaviors and attitudes and how these can be influenced. Complex and ambiguous working environments require SLBs to exercise discretion, and thereby bend rules to perform their daily tasks. This study identifies factors influencing SLBs’ rule-bending behaviors for procedural improvements. The concept of unbureaucratic behavior, defined as a rule-bending behavior for procedural improvements, serves as a theoretical basis. Relying on data of 1,003 enforcement officers from the German state police, this study’s findings indicate that SLBs’ unbureaucratic behavior can be influenced by stimulating employees’ voice behavior and their readiness for strategy. Surprisingly, SLBs’ access to resources does not significantly affect their exercise of unbureaucratic behavior.
The competence of public servants has a direct impact on a country’s administrative performance, for which governments provide considerable funding and training. Therefore, their behaviors toward e-government learning are worth examining. This study investigated the factors influencing the behavioral intention of public servants toward adopting e-government learning. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was adopted as the theoretical basis for analysis, and three constructs, behavioral attitude, barrier factor, and policy factor were added to obtain a more complete perspective and to enhance explanatory power. The results indicated that the research model, apart from fully demonstrating the characteristics of the research subject, identified the key factors to facilitate the policy-making processes of the government agency in charge of e-government learning.
Empirical studies have found a positive relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and individual performance. However, it is unclear what public service motivated employees are doing in terms of behavior that makes them perform. Moreover, it is uncertain whether PSM inspires similar behaviors among employees in different contexts. Conceptualizing performance as a multidimensional construct, this study investigates the relationship between PSM and self-reported output, service outcome, responsiveness, and democratic outcome behaviors. Using structural equation modeling on survey data from 459 employees in people-changing (service production, aimed at changing the user) and 461 employees in people-processing (service regulation, categorizing, and processing users) organizations, the results show that PSM is related to all performance-related behaviors in the people-changing group, but neither to output nor responsiveness in the people-processing group. PSM’s relationship to behavior may thus differ between contexts.
In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act were signed into law. These Acts include a provision governing "reasonable break time for nursing mothers" for those employers and employees covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act. However, neither these Acts, nor the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, nor Title VII, nor the Americans with Disabilities Act expressly protect women from discrimination resulting from her choice to lactate at work (to include either feeding a child directly from the breast or by expressing milk to be used at a later time). Accordingly, this article examines how federal courts have treated claims of breastfeeding discrimination at work. Although courts have generally been unsympathetic to these claims, employers should consider proactive accommodation measures because recent cases indicate that courts may be willing to entertain these claims.
The nonprofit sector has become increasingly reliant on paid professional staff and now faces competition from the private and public sectors, which often pay higher to attract and retain workers. Although Millennials are attracted to nonprofit work, there are concerns that they will not remain committed to the nonprofit workforce due to low pay. We analyzed data from the 2011 Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Survey to examine the relationship between pay, perceptions of equitable pay, and sector-switching intentions among Millennial nonprofit workers. Although two thirds of the respondents indicate sector-switching intentions, we found no evidence that Millennial nonprofit workers, who are purported to value extrinsic and materialistic rewards, expressed sector-switching intentions on account of pay. However, pay influences the sector-switching intentions of Millennial nonprofit managers and those with advanced education. Our results suggest that the nonprofit sector may be facing challenges in attracting and retaining Millennial managers because of low pay.
We examine incidents of workplace bullying by using an Internet-based survey. Our unique sample consists of 1,072 public-sector employees working in 12 Finnish ministries. Of those surveyed, 20.3% reported experiencing work task–related bullying multiple times per month, whereas 11.3% reported experiencing personal-level bullying. Supervisors were less likely to be bullied than subordinates, and women were more likely to experience bullying than men. Among victims who had experienced bullying during the past 12 months, nearly 60% reported that their problem had yet to be solved. To combat workplace bullying in public-sector organizations, we propose a proactive punitive strategy that includes stricter rules and severe administrative penalties to those who breach them.
Public administration theory suggests that building mission coherence within an organization is important for its effectiveness. Personnel policies may influence the capacity to foster mission coherence. Through hiring or dismissal, managers could compose a staff of workers who match with the organizational mission and abide by its associated norms and values. Policies that limit the manager’s influence over personnel may have the opposite effect. This article empirically tests this link between personnel policies and mission coherence within the U.S. public schools system. Ordinary least squares regression is used to analyze a nationally representative sample of nearly 6,500 schools. Results indicate that schools where administrators have greater influence over hiring decisions or face fewer formal barriers against dismissing teachers tend to have teachers who report greater mission coherence. Implications for theory and practice as well as study limitations are also discussed.
Turnover research has traditionally examined intention to turnover rather than actual turnover. Such studies assume that leave intent serves equally well as both a proxy for and predictor of employees’ actual turnover behavior. The purpose of this study is to provide an agency-level evaluation of the usefulness of turnover intention as a reliable proxy and predictor of actual turnover across 180 U.S. federal agencies, using hierarchical (stepwise) multiple regression. Our findings suggest that, at the organizational level, turnover intention and actual turnover are distinct concepts, predicted by different sets of variables. Based on these findings, we conclude that public managers tasked with retention might have better foresight concentrating on their agencies’ unique demographic characteristics and specific management practices, rather than on their employees’ self-reported aggregated turnover intention rate.
Not all employees contribute equally to the performance of their organizations, and the highest performers may have a disproportionate impact on organizational success. It is thus crucial for public organizations to retain top performers. Public service motivation (PSM) has been shown to be a differentiator of various types of individual job performance, and has also been linked to reduced turnover intention. This study examines the relationship between PSM, change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO-OCB), and turnover intention using survey data from 16 central government ministries in South Korea. Analysis results suggest that CO-OCB plays a mediating role in the relationship between PSM and turnover intention, providing a creative outlet for the most intrinsically motivated employees that in turn strengthens their commitment to their organization. A number of implications of these findings are discussed.
Research on public service motivation (PSM) has paid attention to the concept of fit to identify underlying mechanisms of the relationship between PSM and beneficial outcomes such as higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Nonetheless, there have been rare studies aimed at theoretically comparing PSM with the person–environment (P–E) fit. In this article, PSM is reviewed from the perspective of P–E fit, not only because PSM and P–E fit share some theoretical perspectives, such as job attraction, employee rewards, and individual performance, but also because incorporating the concept of PSM into the fit framework may allow us to better understand PSM and enhance its theoretical development. This article concludes that PSM has a complementary relationship with P–E fit as the two provide more concrete and valid explanations for job applications, outcomes, and rewards when they are incorporated.
The dramatically increased costs of maintaining many public pension systems after the recent economic downturn have spurred a number of state and local governments to reassess the sustainability of traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans and to explore reforms. To relieve this fiscal burden, some municipalities have considered implementing defined contribution (DC) plans for some portions of their workforce. This article explores critical issues attendant to implementing this paradigm shift. Utilizing a survey, the authors examine the perceptions of municipal finance and human resource managers regarding this potential transition. Findings indicate that these groups hold virtually identical positions on these issues. Reforms undertaken to bolster sustainability of the DB-centered model may bear unanticipated consequences—both positive and negative—that are largely unexplored given their recentness. Practitioners should prepare for these eventualities.
Despite an upsurge of red tape research, a central issue remains unresolved. The most widely used red tape measures draw on key informant reports about red tape. The starkest objection to such measures is that key informant reports are mere perceptions—perceptions that are subject to distortion. We assess the validity of key informant perception-based measures of personnel red tape by using "anchoring vignettes." Findings suggest that anchoring vignettes can be used to improve the accuracy of survey measures of red tape. Implications of findings for red tape scholarship and survey measurement in public management are discussed.
Previous studies have produced significant distinctions between public- and private-sector employees with respect to public service motivation (PSM) and PSM-related variables. Little, however, is known about whether those variables are associated with employment choice at a pre-entry level. This article will address this gap in the literature by exploring the effect of PSM on college students’ sector choice in Korea. In previous research on PSM, three types of PSM measures—Perry’s PSM scale, work values, and prosocial behaviors—were utilized as a PSM variable. In exploring the association between PSM and sector choice, we employed the three measures. The empirical model showed that PSM and prosocial behaviors were not associated with public-sector choice. Only job security was found to be a main reason why college students intended to enter the public sector in Korea. We will discuss the implications of our findings in this article.
Citizen coproduction of public services can be a powerful force that influences employee work motivation. However, little research has been conducted to explore what kind of coproductive behaviors can motivate public employees in a positive direction. The two purposes of this article are to explore whether taxpayers would behave as tax collectors’ supervisors during their participation in the production and delivery processes of tax services, and whether such taxpayers’ supervisory behaviors would impact the job involvement of tax collectors. Drawing on the tax collectors of the tax collection agencies in Taipei, Taiwan, the authors first develop a coproductive-taxpayer-as-supervisor measure through focus group interviews and accepted psychometric testing procedures. The measure reveals that tax collectors would perceive taxpayers as their supervisors if taxpayers provide challenges and support to tax collectors. A mail survey further indicates that both taxpayers’ challenge and supportive behaviors are positively related to tax collectors’ job involvement.
What effects do financial incentives have on the effort made by public managers? How do different types of work motivation (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic, and public service motivation) moderate this effect? We addressed these questions using experimental data from a sample of executives working for the Italian central government and found that monetary rewards had no significant effect on the intended effort of the study participants. Furthermore, the relationship between financial incentives and intended effort, which was insignificant overall, was negatively moderated by the intrinsic motivation of the participants, positively moderated by extrinsic motivation, and unaffected by public service motivation.
Many studies have recently been devoted to transformational leadership in public sector organizations. However, these seldom address the relationship between transformational leadership and work motivation. By combining separate findings in the public administration literature about transformational leadership style and goal setting and about the work motivation of public employees, we construct hypotheses on how transformational leadership style and work motivation are related in a public sector context. Building on this, our analysis, based on a survey in a Dutch municipality, shows several linkages between this leadership style and work motivation. In addition to a direct effect, we anticipated and indeed found two indirect ones. First, goal setting mediates this relationship, with transformational leaders able to set more challenging and more specific goals. Second, transformational leaders seem able to reduce perceptions of procedural constraints among their employees. This is especially important as such constraints can hamper the use of goal setting.
Individuals with high levels of Public Service Motivation (PSM) are assumed to be a good fit for public organizations due to their commitment to service-orientated values. However, public organizations vary in terms of performance, leadership, and other qualities, and some organizations may be a better fit for PSM-driven employees than others. This study examines whether organizational characteristics influence the relationship between PSM and affective organizational commitment. The findings indicate that perception of organizational performance and transformational leadership strengthen the relationship between PSM and commitment. On the other hand, climate for innovation is shown to have a strong direct influence on organizational commitment for all employees regardless of their PSM level. A number of theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.
Most public service jobs involve emotionally intense work demands. For this reason, the terms emotional intelligence and emotional labor have entered the lexicon of public service. The former refers to the ability to sense and regulate one’s own emotions as well as to sense others’ emotional state, while the latter refers to the exercise of emotive skills to get the job done. This study examines how emotional intelligence mediates emotional labor in the performance of work duties by using job satisfaction and burnout as criterion variables. Although findings are mixed with regard to job satisfaction, a statistically significant relationship exists in the mediation between emotional labor and burnout. Specifically, the ability to regulate one’s own emotions decreases burnout. Implications for training and development are discussed.
The past decades have witnessed an upsurge in governments’ use of contracting out as a means of reforming and privatizing public service delivery. This development has to a large extent been driven by efficiency and cost-effectiveness concerns, but may also result in important changes in the working conditions and work environment for the personnel in public organizations. In this article, we present the findings from a systematic review of studies documenting the consequences of contracting out for employees. The review is based on 26 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2012. We find both positive and negative effects for employees documented in the literature, although with a predominance of negative effects, including reductions in the workforce and other changes in the workforce composition such as the replacement of experienced employees with younger workers, poorer working conditions, lower salaries, fewer benefits, and reduced job satisfaction. We conclude that poorer conditions for the public service personnel are well documented as a short-term consequence of contracting out, while more studies covering a longer time-span are needed to assess whether the predominantly negative effects are transitory or will persist over time.
The purpose of this article is to explore the link between diversity management in public organizations and employees’ affective commitment by testing hypotheses on the mediating roles of transformational leadership and inclusive organizational culture. By combining theories on human resource management and performance with theories on diversity and inclusiveness, a theoretical model is built explaining when and why diversity management should positively affect employees’ affective commitment. Survey data from a representative sample of 10,976 Dutch public sector employees were used in testing our hypotheses using structural equation modeling techniques. Results show that the effect of diversity management on employees’ affective commitment can partially be explained by its impact on the inclusiveness of the organizational culture. In addition, the impact is influenced through the transformational leadership shown by supervisors who can be considered as the implementers of diversity management and as agents in creating inclusiveness. The implications for future research and management practice are further discussed.
We examine the effect of red tape on resigned satisfaction, Public Service Motivation (PSM), and negative employee attitudes and behaviors. Based on responses of 217 public servants, this study demonstrates the role of resigned satisfaction as a mediating mechanism for transferring the effect of red tape on negative employee outcomes. PSM was hypothesized as an individual difference variable that can either mitigate or exacerbate the indirect effect of red tape on employee attitudes and behaviors. Our study is among the first few that demonstrate the dark side of PSM. We found that PSM exacerbates the adverse effects of red tape on negative employee attitudes and behaviors and that these effects are transmitted through the mechanism of resigned satisfaction. These findings are at odds with the dominant conception that employees having higher levels of PSM tend to pursue their motivations of public service despite excessive formalization and procedural constraints.
Public administrators engage all aspects of a community and need to be skillful in working with elected officials, citizens, business groups, and government employees who make things happen. Minimum qualifications, which act as a primary screening device for applicants and hiring agencies, are based in part on assumptions of the value of education and experience, but those assumptions deserve more consideration given their role in agency staffing. This paper sheds light on the value of hiring new employees with substantial public sector experience versus those with little or no work history. We use a two-stage qualitative study that asks managers what benefits and characteristics they expect when hiring experienced individuals. We subsequently test those assumptions by giving in-service and preservice public affairs graduate students a realistic problem to solve in an area where none have experience. Their responses highlight the validity of assumptions behind minimum qualifications and differences one might expect when hiring experienced individuals or novices.
The Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) of 1989 was enacted to provide protection to employees who report wrongdoing on the part of their employers. This study analyzed whether the provisions in the WPA actually protect federal government employees from retaliation by their federal government employers. The research focused on a legal analysis of federal employee WPA claims litigated in federal court. Furthermore, within those cases, the claims were separated by issues—national security, environmental issues, and government ethics—to get a fuller understanding of WPA issues. The findings of the analysis suggested that the WPA did not provide adequate protections for employees. Out of 151 appellate cases that were identified and reviewed in the study, 79% of cases were ruled in favor of defendants—federal agencies. Out of 142 cases involving government ethics and administration issues, 79% of cases were lost by employees. In issues involving the environment, 100% of cases resulted in a loss for employees. Out of four cases involving national security, 75% were lost by federal employees. The results lead to the conclusion that either the WPA as written or the manner in which courts are interpreting the WPA is not consistent with the intent of the legislation—to protect employees. The article further analyses the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) of 2012 and whether it cures the defects in the WPA. The analysis shows that the WPEA may not live up to its promise.
Drawing on qualitative data from 40 counties in New York and North Carolina, this article examines the adoption of strategic human capital management (SHCM) principles and practices at the county level and presents a typology of five levels of SHCM adoption. The level of SHCM implementation in a county depends on the view of the HR function by executive county leadership, the capacity of the county to engage in strategic planning and management, and the capacity of the HR director to think strategically about the role of HR in the government. The article concludes with recommendations for practice, which focus on educating a diverse set of actors about SHCM, building executive-level support, developing HR skill and competencies, and applying basic change management practices.
Numerous research articles have evaluated the reward preference of public sector employees in terms of the public service motivation (PSM) construct. However, very little research has been done on whether differences in reward preferences exist within a particular sector at the local government level. This research aims to fill this gap by reevaluating the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to employees in local government as several changes in workforce composition, economic conditions, performance, and accountability have challenged traditional public management approaches and techniques. A case study comprising survey responses from 272 employees of a local government in Mississippi provides data for the analyses. Results reveal that both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are important to these individuals in their current positions, and these preferences vary due to demographic variables, the employee’s position within the organization, and the individual’s level of PSM.
This study explores how the gender and racial composition of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) portion of the federal workforce has changed, and how female and minority employees with STEM degrees compare with White majorities and those with degrees in non-STEM fields. Using a series of ordinary least square analyses of a 1% random sample of federal employees for 1983, 1996, and 2009, this study finds that gender and racial pay disparities have decreased over the study period, and that the extant gender pay gap can be explained largely by educational attainment, work experience, and particularly by the changing composition in STEM majors. Despite the decrease in pay disparity, a racial pay gap still remains even after controlling for education level, federal experience, and other major factors.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyzstan went through radical economic reforms to transition from a command to a market-based economy. The governance system had to be rebuilt to reflect the country’s shift from socialist ideology to free-market, democratic regime. Despite numerous reforms undertaken by the Kyrgyz Government to restructure its civil service, these efforts have fallen short in creating such a civil service system. To understand the reasons for the limited results achieved by reforms, this article examines formal rules regulating Kyrgyzstan’s civil service and assesses how they are implemented in practice. Key aspects of Kyrgyzstan’s civil service such as recruitment, selection, promotion, compensation, job security, and performance appraisal are examined. The article juxtaposes formal rules governing key elements of the civil service to the actual practices of the government. In conclusion, I offer an assessment of why civil service reforms produced inadequate results.
This study reports survey results of one state’s county sheriffs’ experiences and attitudes toward employment at will (EAW). We developed a model that tests survey respondents’ attitudes concerning when political interference in the employment process is permissible and when it is prohibited. We find that sheriffs who agree on the "spoils-system" uses of EAW have stronger agreement on when political terminations are permissible and when they are not. Sheriffs who inform job applicants that their employment is at will are knowledgeable about when political appointments and terminations are appropriate and when they are not. County sheriffs who terminate employees for politically based reasons misunderstand when political appointments and terminations are prohibited under EAW principles. We conclude with recommendations for public officials who work in EAW environments to avoid liability associated with EAW.
Drawing on the Job Demands-Control-Support model, we argue that job demands, job control, social support, stress, and employee attitudes differ by ownership sector. Using Random Coefficient/ Hierarchical Linear Modeling, we analyze employee perceptions and attitudes from over 900 employees in for-profit, nonprofit, and public nursing homes. We find that nonprofit employees report higher workloads than their for-profit counterparts, and nonprofit and public employees report higher stress levels than their for-profit counterparts. Overall, few sectoral differences were detected in employee decision-making control, social support, or job satisfaction.
This study empirically tested a conceptual model of the relationships between managerial coaching behavior and employee attitudes as well as performance-related outcomes in public organizations in two different countries through the use of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Analyzing the data collected from United States (N = 534) and South Korean (N = 270) public employees, this study investigated how managerial coaching was mediated by role clarity that contributed to satisfaction with work and job performance. The current comparative study provides initial promise for generalizability of managerial coaching efficacy as well as evidence for potential culture difference in the effect of managerial coaching in the two countries.
Research indicates that women and people of color have made progress in gaining entry-level jobs in government, particularly at the federal level, but still lag behind in gaining positions at the upper levels. But, can the same be said for police and fire departments which have had perhaps the worst history of employment discrimination against women and people of color? This study seeks to answer this question by examining the extent to which race, gender or ethnic discrimination suits are being filed against city fire and police departments across the country, and at what level—entry or senior. The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Ricci v. DeStefano has renewed interest in this issue.
Interestingly enough, while this study expected to find that lawsuits against police and fire departments are being filed by women and people of color in order to improve their representation in the uniformed services, it found just the opposite—the preponderance of the lawsuits filed against police and fire departments are "reverse discrimination" suits, filed by White men.
Globalization, migration, initiatives for social justice, and other developments have made the representation of diverse groups and relations among them an important issue for organizations in many nations. In the United States, government agencies have increasingly invested in managing demographic diversity effectively. This study examines how perceived organizational fairness combined with diversity management relates to employees’ job satisfaction in public organizations. To test these relationships we analyze data drawn from the 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS) using hierarchical regressions—hierarchical ordered logistic regressions and hierarchical linear regressions. The results indicate that in an agency where members perceive higher levels of organizational fairness, and where employees perceive that diversity is more effectively managed, employees report higher satisfaction with their jobs. Interestingly, while high organizational fairness in association with diversity management efforts enhances the overall job satisfaction of employees, its positive impact was smaller for racial/ethnic minorities than Whites. In contrast, women tend to report higher job satisfaction than men when they perceive that their agency manages diversity effectively, and has just and fair procedures, whereas the relationship was not significant in the hierarchical linear regression model.
This study examines data from a 2010 survey of state agency human resource directors in six states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and South Carolina. The survey was designed to obtain data on the impressions these managers have of the impact of at-will employment in civil service systems. Findings reveal that the managers’ attitudes are mixed, but they are more likely to register agreement with positive assessments of at-will employment than negative assessments. Managers who think that employees can trust their organizations to treat them fairly are more likely than others to express positive views and are somewhat less likely to agree with negative statements. Personnel managers who believe that at-will employment is sometimes used to expand the reach of political patronage are much more likely than others to agree with negative statements characterizing the reform. The respondents’ sex, race/ethnicity, political ideology, private sector experience, and years of experience in the public sector exhibit little apparent impact on attitudes toward at-will employment.
Several U.S. Supreme Court rulings have substantially narrowed the coverage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since its passage in 1990. Congress amended the ADA in 2008 to restore the original congressional intent of providing broad coverage for people with disabilities. This article seeks to determine whether the 2008 amendments are a mere technical adjustment of the ADA, or constitute significant legislation in their own right. A review of existing law, resulting regulations, and federal cases reveals that the amendments may promise much but deliver more of the same. Nevertheless, employers are well-advised to renew their efforts to cooperate with applicants and employees with disabilities, if for no other reason than to avoid a costly lawsuit that employers are perhaps now more likely to lose.
The purpose of the current study was to investigate antecedents of job involvement of professional employees working in government work settings. In that effort, this study examined whether four key characteristics of professional employees’ jobs: variety, significance, autonomy, and feedback, as well as their perceptions regarding their agency’s mission, rewards system, and the extent of their participation in decision-making process determine the level of their job involvement. These linkages were examined with data collected through an organizational survey from 764 professional employees working in geographically distributed offices in a large state agency. The analysis indicated that more than half of the total variance in professional employees’ job involvement could be predicted reliably by perceptions regarding the characteristics of their jobs and agency’s reward system. The results also showed that perception of an attractive and worthwhile agency mission accentuated the positive effect of task significance on professional employees’ job involvement. Implications of these findings for managing professional employees in government agencies are discussed.
Current literature remains inconclusive regarding the adverse impact of emotional labor requirements on burnout. To address the discrepancy, this study revisited this relationship as well as investigated the potential additive and interactive effects of job resources, namely job control, social support, and rewards. In the sample of 208 public service workers, regression results revealed that display rules that require expression of positive emotions did not account for variance in emotional exhaustion whereas display rules that require suppression of negative emotions were emotionally taxing. Job resources were uniformly associated with decreased emotional exhaustion. Moreover, coworker support significantly attenuated the harmful impact of emotional demands. Based on these findings, this study suggests, rather than emphasizing negative display rules, it is more favorable for organizations to specify appropriate expressions of job-related emotions. When workers are at risk of burnout, provision of job resources can help ease the burden and reduce job stress.
This study examines whether public sector unionization encourages members to perceive more red tape in the work organization. Using the concepts of union socialization, commitment to union values, and stakeholder red tape, I develop and test a theoretical model that accounts for the direct and indirect effects of union socialization on member perceptions of red tape. The results from a series of structural equation models suggest that more socialized members perceive more red tape and are more likely to commit to union values. However, more committed union members perceive less red tape within the work organization. As such, the increase in perceived red tape because of union socialization is partially mitigated by member commitment to union values. Although interaction between union members may alert employees to negative components of the work environment, commitment to union values encourages members to perceive organizational rules as necessary protections of employee rights.
In this article, the authors theoretically propose that the perceived fairness of merit pay substantially influences leader-member exchange (LMX) and which in turn influences job engagement. Data from 581 Chinese compulsory school teachers show that the perceived procedural fairness of merit pay policy significantly and positively affects LMX and job engagement. That LMX partially mediates the relationship between procedural fairness perception and job engagement. The results indicate that procedural fairness plays more important role to motivate the public service employees in the merit pay implementation than the distributive fairness. The emphasis of procedural fairness may reflect the respect and dignity of the individual, which therefore promote teachers’ acceptance of leadership management styles and further stimulate greater job engagement among employees.
This article examines the level of support for the integration of paid work and personal life (work–life balance [WLB] support) in public sector organizations in Europe. Data of the Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance 2004-2005 (ESWT) is used to analyze the supportiveness of public sector organizations within and between countries. So far, little attention has been paid to variation within the public sector and whether and to what degree this is related to institutional and economic drivers. The results suggest that institutional pressure is the most important driver for public sector organizations to offer WLB support to their employees: State support in a country has a positive relationship with WLB support in public organizations, in particular for public administration organizations. Little evidence for the relevance of economic drivers was found despite the introduction of new public management (NPM)-style reforms in the public sector.
Given that an employee’s personal responsibilities can have an effect on their work, one method increasingly used by government agencies to improve performance has been to offer programs that assist workers in balancing work and personal obligations. Employee demand for such work-life programs is also increasing due to the growing amount of women in the workplace, two-career families, and workers wanting a greater ability to manage work and life. Yet despite the increase in supply and demand for work-life programs, empirical examinations regarding the benefits of these programs in government agencies are scarce. As a result, this article examines the association between employee satisfaction with work-life programs and two important factors that drive work motivation: organizational commitment and job involvement. Data was obtained from the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint survey, and the results from the analysis extended previous literature in several important ways. First, work motivation was not consistently affected by employee levels of satisfaction with work-life benefits in federal agencies. More specifically, employee satisfaction with most work-life benefits (i.e., telework, health and wellness programs, child care, and older adult care) were positively associated to organizational commitment, and none were associated to job involvement. Next, organizational commitment was influenced more by family-friendly programs and health and wellness programs than by flexible working arrangements. The implications of these findings are detailed in the study.
Diversity among civil service employees, affirmativeaction, and workplace discrimination continue to be salient and potentially dynamic issues for public sector human resource managers. In an effort to better understand a fast-growing but rarely studied subgroup of the public workforce, this study compares Mexican American managers’ perceptions of affirmative action and workplace discrimination to those of their White and Black, non-Hispanic peers. Data for this study come from two large Southwestern U.S. cities, Phoenix, Arizona, and San Antonio, Texas. Results from bivariate and multivariate analyses show that managers, as a collective group, do not believe affirmative action policies and workplace discrimination have affected advancement. However, when the data are disaggregated and reexamined by race or ethnicity, significant differences of opinion emerge. The authors find evidence that Mexican American managers perceive affirmative action policies and workplace discrimination differently than their peers.