Effects of Public Service Motivation on Turnover and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Teacher Labor Market

A substantial body of research has addressed the importance of the match between the person and the organization, or jobs for individuals and organizational outcomes across diverse fields. Despite growing attention to the role of the person–environment (P–E) fit, there are few studies incorporating the characteristics of jobs in the relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and job satisfaction. Drawing on the growing literature concerning PSM and teacher recruitment and retention, this study investigates whether altruistic work values, such as a strong altruistic desire and a preference for correcting social inequity, affect job satisfaction and teacher turnover.     

Turnover Intentions of Volunteer Resource Managers: The Roles of Work Motivations,Person–Organization Fit,and Emotional Labor

Volunteer management careers and the influence of workplace factors on volunteer manager turnover intentions have received relatively little attention in the empirical research literature. This study uses original survey data collected from over 400 volunteer managers to examine relationships between turnover intention and work motivation factors, person–organization fit (P-O fit), and emotional labor. Work motivation factors includes perceptions of advancement opportunities, task significance, autonomy, and pay satisfaction. P-O fit reflects the degree of congruence between an individual’s values and goals, and the characteristics of their workplace. Emotional labor reflects the degree to which employees are engaged in the management of emotions to adhere to the emotional expectations of their jobs. Results emphasize a lack of advancement opportunities as the primary driver of turnover, and P-O fit as a main factor for retention. In addition, the ability to regulate emotions was found to result in reduced quit intentions.     

Public Service Motivation: A Cross-Country Study

This article addresses the relevance of public sector motivation (PSM) among unemployed workers. Despite the growing research interest among many public management and human resource management (HRM) scholars in employment choice, efforts to understand the “working minds” and motivational factors among the unemployed in their pursuit of a future career choice have been almost non-existent in HR scholarship in the public sector, which is critical considering the growing number of unemployed workers both domestically and internationally. Using data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) on Work Orientation modules in 1997 and 2005, this article examines the effects of public service motivation and rewards-based motivation on career decisions among the unemployed in seven countries. Findings indicate that while PSM and extrinsic rewards are positive and significant predictors of choosing to work in the public sector, intrinsic rewards were shown to be in a reversed relationship. Results also indicated that respondents whose previous jobs ended either in dismissal or due to family responsibilities were less likely to choose employment in the public sector compared to those whose previous job ended primarily due to retirement. Implications are discussed.     

Relational job characteristics and job satisfaction of public sector employees: When prosocial motivation and red tape collide

Recent studies suggested that the relationship between prosocial motivation and job satisfaction is mediated by relational job characteristics (e.g., job impact and job content). Based on a study of Dutch child welfare professionals, we theorize and empirically assess how red tape negatively impacts the relational job characteristics and job satisfaction of public professionals. Our study shows that the relationship between red tape and job satisfaction is partially mediated by relational job characteristics. Red tape thus decreases the job impact and job contact of professionals, thereby decreasing their job satisfaction. In addition, our study provides additional insight into how prosocial motivation and red tape are jointly related to job impact and job satisfaction. This provides support for the point of view that highly motivated public professionals are more sensitive to burdensome rules and procedures. In this respect, red tape acts as a hindrance stressor that thwarts the realization of prosocial aspirations.     

An examination of job attitudes of white,black, and hispanic nurses in a public hospital

This paper reviews the literature on racial differences in job satisfaction and examines differences among whites, blacks and hispanics in job-related attitudes for a sample of nurses employed in a public hospital. Levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and job burnout were compared among the three race categories. Results indicated that significant differences existed for levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job burnout among whites, blacks and hispanics. Hispanics reported significantly higher job satisfaction than whites and blacks, and whites reported less organizational commitment and higher levels of job burnout than blacks.     

The Mediating role of Job Satisfaction in the Relationship between Organizational Justice and Employee Outcomes

Grounded in Social Exchange Theory and Equity Theory, this study examined the mediating role of job satisfaction on the relationships between organizational justice and employee’s outcomes. The study applied PLS-SEM to analyze data obtained from 142 employees. The results show significant relationships exist between organizational justice dimensions and job satisfaction and between job satisfaction and employee’s outcomes. Furthermore, the study found the mediating effect of job satisfaction on the hypothesized relationships. This paper contributes to the existing human resources literature on employees’ outcomes and guides management on how to improved employees’ job satisfaction and employee outcomes.     

Job Satisfaction Among Swedish Mental Health Nursing Staff: A Cross-Sectional Survey

There is limited amount of empirical studies concerning job satisfaction in inpatient psychiatric care. However, job satisfaction has several implications on public administration and management. The objective of this study is to identify factors having positive impact on job satisfaction among Swedish psychiatric nursing staff in an inpatient psychiatric clinic. The cross-sectional study is based on Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory. The survey was distributed among nursing staff at a psychiatric university hospital clinic in Western Sweden. Overall, job satisfaction was rated relatively high, and salary was rated the lowest of all factors investigated. Unlike the premises in Herzberg’s theory, salary showed a positive correlation with job satisfaction and not only in preventing dissatisfaction. Hospital managers must be attentive to salary levels and staff turnover. Psychiatric nursing personnel in Sweden lack competitive salaries, and hospital administrators should encourage nursing staff to improve relationships between staff and managers and establish good relationships among colleagues.     

Linking anticorruption threats,performance pay,administrative outputs,and policy outcomes in China

Little is known about the effects of two prominent public sector reforms—anticorruption efforts and high‐powered incentive systems—on the accomplishment of policy goals in the absence of the rule of law and in the presence of an extrinsic incentive to take advantage of corruption to achieve performance targets. This study explores how performance rewards and anticorruption efforts jointly affect administrative outputs and policy outcomes. We examine China's air pollution control policy with province‐level panel data. The analysis shows that performance rewards prompt administrative outputs that are linked to the incentive structure. Anticorruption activities have small significant, positive effects on those outputs only prior to the inception of high‐powered rewards, but have no significant effect on policy outcomes, regardless of the measure. The introduction of performance incentives contributes to the achievement of policy outcomes only when their measurement is subject to government manipulation.     

Are transformational and transactional types of leadership compatible? A two‐wave study of employee motivation

Transformational and transactional leadership strategies have become prominent in public administration research, but it is unclear whether they are compatible or whether they could undermine each other. We examine the combined and interactive effects of transformational and three types of transactional leadership (contingent verbal rewards, material rewards, and sanctions) on employee work motivation, conceptualized as work engagement and intrinsic motivation. Panel analyses using repeated measures of 385 leaders and 3,797 employees show that transformational leadership and contingent verbal rewards increased employee motivation. However, simultaneous use of contingent material rewards undermined the benefits of transformational leadership. Thus, the motivational potential of service‐ or community‐oriented visions was undercut when leaders also appealed to extrinsic material motives. This could help explain why financial incentives do not always have the expected benefits in public organizations. We therefore argue that research and practice should pay more attention to how different leadership strategies work in combination.     

Part-time Work,Job Satisfaction and Well-being: Evidence from a Developing OECD Country

We estimate the effects of part-time work on job and life satisfaction using new data for Chile. While part-time work is being promoted to increase female labour participation in many countries, there are concerns about its quality and the overall effect on well-being of such policies. We estimate models for job and life satisfaction addressing for endogeneity and selectivity bias. We found that part-time work has a negative effect on job satisfaction and well-being for men; however, when looking at just women, the negative effect is reversed. This should be considered when designing public policies oriented at increasing female labour participation through part-time work.     

Quality of work life among public administration professors

This research report discusses the quality of work life of professors in public administration from a job satisfaction perspective. Nine independent variables are subjected to a bivariate and/or multivariate analysisin assessing their impact on professorial role satisfaction. A major finding is the salience of partici-pation in policy formation in explaining the degree of job satisfaction of public administration professors. The implications of the findings to administrative theory and behavior are discussed.     

Privatization and the Working Conditions of Health Care Support Staff

Using an assisted survey approach, we compare health care service employees' perceptions of work between public and privatized health care settings. Results indicate that laundry, maintenance, food service, and housekeeping staff employed by privately managed medical institutions have more negative perceptions of job rewards than their public sector counterparts, with no difference in perceptions of supervisor support, work stress, autonomy, and opportunity. A supplementary analysis comparing three organization types: pure-public, pure-private, and public-private shows that workers perceive higher work stress and lower rewards in public-private organizations, while workers at pure-private organizations perceive low rewards, low supervisor support, and low opportunity. Our interpretation is that privatization lowers workers' perception of rewards in completely privatized organizations and in public organizations that privatize a proportion of services.     

Comparison of a Multidimensional to a Unidimensional Measure of Public Service Motivation: Predicting Work Attitudes

Significant research has been conducted to understand public service motivation (PSM) in the past decades using either multidimensional or unidimensional measures. This creates uncertainty in the review process about whether findings using one approach hold when other measures are used. PSM research faces the challenge of developing a better understanding of different PSM measures and the relationships between them. This paper compares a multidimensional to a unidimensional measure of PSM, assessing the predictive validity of PSM on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and person–organization fit. The empirical test shows that there is no significant difference in the predictive capacities of PSM on the work attitudes within the data set when using the different PSM measures. It provides some evidence that unidimensional and multidimensional measures of PSM are of comparable utility, at least within the data set used.     

Part-Time Work,Gender and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from a Developing Country

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between part-time work and job satisfaction in Honduras. In contrast to previous work for developed countries, this paper does not find higher job satisfaction among women working part-time. Instead, for both women and men, job satisfaction is higher when in full-time work, although this finding is stronger for men. Consistent with an interpretation of working part-time as luxury consumption, the paper finds that partnered women with children, poor women or women working in the informal sector are more likely to report higher job satisfaction when working full-time than single women, partnered women without children, non-poor women or women working in the formal sector.     

Analyzing the Link Between Job Satisfaction and Performance in Educational Institutions

The relationship between job satisfaction and organizational performance has been one of the most controversial issues in organizational management. This study examines how job satisfaction affects organizational performance analyzing the panel data collected from educational institutions in Korea. The results demonstrate that teachers’ organizational satisfaction is likely to improve students’ performance in standardized tests, whereas their work satisfaction is negatively related to it. Private school teachers showed higher organizational satisfaction than public school teachers and produced higher students’ test scores. No significant difference in work satisfaction between public and private school teachers was found.     

Job Satisfaction of Public Sector Employees in Sub-Saharan Africa: Testing the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire in Ghana

Public sector administration in sub-Saharan Africa experiences a myriad of problems of the logical perception between worker dissatisfaction and demotivation of job standards. This study tested the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) in a typical public sector organization in sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 100 usable surveys were analyzed with SPSS. A very low level of job satisfaction was indicated, and more than 83% of respondents indicated dissatisfaction in their pay and the amount of work they do. Significant differences in job satisfaction scores were also found in the educational level of staff, and between genders. The study outcome highlights the roles of employees and organizational weak spots of human resource management (HRM) practices in a typical sub-Saharan African country, and provides an alternative pathway in employee satisfaction and performance outcome.     

ARE STREET‐LEVEL BUREAUCRATS COMPELLED OR ENTICED TO COPE?

Traditional studies of street‐level bureaucrats see the bureaucrat’s behaviour as a kind of self‐defence – a way to minimize negative aspects of the job and thereby job frustration. I argue – and empirically show – that it is equally relevant to consider at least part of street‐level bureaucrat behaviour as positively motivated – as a way of maximizing job satisfaction. Behavioural mechanisms such as coping are not just a way to avoid frustration, but also a way to gain satisfaction. This becomes clear when we attempt to explain differential treatment among regulated companies.     

Do Role Clarity and Job Satisfaction Mediate the Relationship between Telework and Work Effort?

The empirical association between telework and work effort, as well as how this relationship is mediated by role clarity and job satisfaction, is lacking in the literature. As a consequence, the direct and indirect impact of telework on work effort in U.S. federal government agencies was examined in the article. Results indicate that telework was inversely related to work effort. Moreover, role clarity and job satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between telework and work effort. The implications these results have for theory and practice are thoroughly discussed in the article.     

Generalizability of a theory of job attitudes: a cross–cultuural view: research note

This study reports the result of a test of applicability of the two-factor theory of job attitudes. The theory assumes two independent sets of variables (motivator and hygiene) important to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. It is also claimed that the two- factor theory is appropriate for all working populations of differing nationalities. Most of the previous attempts to test the applicability of this theory in different cultures were criticised for examining job attitudes in other cultures from an American point of view as they translate and administer questionnaires either developed in the United States or based on the findings of the original study. The applicability of the assumption of two-factor theory to the job attitudes of Turkish-Cypriot employees (N=62) was determined through content analysis of critical incident stories. Factors associated with the job attitudes of Turkish-Cypriot employees could be separated into two relatively independent sets of' variables comparable to motivator-hygiene dichotomy. It was also found that both sets of variables were found to be associated with job satisfaction, Thus, the results of the present study only partially support the assumption of the two-factor theory and imply that blanket application of American administrative theories, without considerable tailoring by cultural group, is hazardous.