Satisfaction with and Success of Employee Training from a Public Service Motivation Perspective

New public management requires modernization processes, including modern human resource practices, to enhance public sector performance. According to human capital theory, well-qualified and highly motivated public sector employees improve institutional performance; this study investigates the extent to which employee training as human resource practice can enhance one component of employees’ public service motivation (PSM), namely public interest, and their competencies as employee outcome. We examine public interest as a mediator or a moderator of the relationship between satisfaction with employee training and the resulting competence gain. The findings indicate a positive direct effect of satisfaction with employee training on competence gains and a mediating effect of public interest.     

Only If We Agree? How Value Conflicts Moderate the Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Public Service Motivation

Existing studies find positive associations between transformational leadership and public service motivation (PSM), but value conflict may moderate the relationship. This is investigated for Danish University Colleges using a mixed-methods design. These colleges educate future teachers, pedagogues, nurses, and social workers, and their strong public service-oriented missions and potentially conflicting public values make this sector a well-suited case to test whether consensus on public values is a precondition for a positive association between transformational leadership and employee PSM. Based on a survey of 968 employees combined with qualitative interviews concerning specific public values, we find that the less value conflict, the stronger the positive relationship between the direct managers’ level of transformational leadership and the employees’ PSM. This is also the case for the top management. This implies that transformational leadership might be a way for managers to enhance employee PSM, but only if there is no severe value conflict.     

The Link Between Public Service Motivation and Volunteering: The Case of South Korean Civil Servants

Despite the consensus on volunteering as a behavioral consequence of public service motivation (PSM), research has not yet empirically examined how various PSM constructs relate to an individual’s volunteering, and the underlying mechanism between PSM and volunteering remains a mystery. This study identifies common motivational grounds between PSM and volunteering and examines how the four PSM types—rational, normative, affective, and self-sacrifice—predict public service employees’ volunteering. The findings from the survey of employees in the Korean National Government suggest a connection between public employees’ volunteering and the rational dimension of PSM, i.e., their desire to influence public policy process.     

Talking the Talk of Public Service Motivation: How Public Organization Logics Matter for Employees' Expressions of PSM

This article aims to move beyond the public-private dichotomy in studying public service motivation (PSM) by showing how organizational logics matter for the type of PSM (instrumental, normative, or affective) that employees express. Using data from 50 interviews in police stations, prisons, hospitals, municipalities, and schools, we show that differences in service logic (the user's feeling of the desirability of a service) and user logic (people-changing or people-processing services) matter for employees’ expressions of PSM in that this results in different emphases within public service motivation. We conclude that institutions such as organizational logics matter for PSM expressions and that research on PSM should account for differences between public service-providing organizations.     

DOES A PUBLIC SERVICE ETHIC ENCOURAGE ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR? PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION,ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND THE WILLINGNESS TO REPORT ETHICAL PROBLEMS

This article aims to advance our understanding of and confidence in the relationship between employee public service motivation (PSM) and ethical behaviour by testing the degree to which PSM predicts the ethical behaviour or behavioural intention of government employees. Building on previous research, we argue that government employees with higher PSM are not only more likely to internalize values that support public interests, they also are likely to be concerned less about the potential consequences that they may experience by reporting unethical conduct within their agencies. Using data collected through a survey from 477 employees working in a large state agency, we find that supervisors with higher PSM are more likely to be perceived by their subordinates as exhibiting ethical leadership, supervisors exhibiting higher ethical leadership are more likely to have subordinates with higher levels of PSM and that subordinates with higher PSM express a higher willingness to report unethical behaviour within their agency. We discuss implications of these findings for research on PSM.     

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.     

The Role of Public Service Motivation in Employee Work Engagement: A Test of the Job Demands-Resources Model

The study investigates the nature of public service motivation’s (PSM) relationship to employee work engagement. Using the Job Demands-Resource Model, the authors compare whether PSM as a resource is an antecedent to employee work engagement or has a buffering effect on job hindrances of perceived red tape in explaining employee work engagement. They surveyed 388 supervisors and managers in a public-sector organization in the United States. The findings support PSM as an antecedent along with perceived job influence and perceived procurement red tape to employee work engagement.     

Book Reviews

Using a sample of full-time employees of a public sector organisation in South Korea, this study examines whether transformational leadership (TL) has a significant positive effect on affective commitment (AC) and organisational citizenship behavior (OCB), and whether AC is positively related to OCB. The study also examines whether AC mediates the effects of TL on OCB. The results of higher-order structural equation modeling indicate a positive relationship between TL and AC; no significant relationship between TL and OCB; and a significant positive relationship between AC and OCB. Thus, the results clearly demonstrate that AC fully mediates the relationship between TL and OCB. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, and proposals for future research are made.     

THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVES ON WORK OUTCOMES IN AUSTRALIA: A COMPARATIVE MULTI‐DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS

There is a general consensus that individuals who are driven to serve the public interest can possess a mix of public service motives for engaging in altruistic actions. This article proposes that when analysed simultaneously, some public service motives may play a more important role than others in influencing work outcomes. The pressing questions are which ones and how? Through a survey of a group of Australian public sector employees, this article explores the relationship between the various dimensions of public service motivation (PSM) and the common work outcomes: organizational commitment, job satisfaction and job motivation. The combinations of PSM dimensions that had a greater impact on these work outcomes are also found to vary with different outcomes.     

Perception of Pay Equity in Public Universities in Ghana: Effect on Individual Performance and Work Behavior

Equity theory proposes that individuals perceiving inequity seek to restore equity through appropriate behavior. This research aimed to study the relationship between perceived pay equity and individual job performance among lecturers in public universities in Ghana. Using a survey of 313 lecturers, we found that employees’ perception of equity in the pay system is a significant factor in determining their job performance. Therefore, we recommend that managers attend to equity in the design and implementation of pay systems. Moreover, issues relating to the reward system should be carefully communicated to employees in order to prevent unnecessary perceptions of inequity.     

PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION,CIVIC ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS OF PUBLIC,NONPROFIT AND PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES

Using the 2005 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes dataset, this study compares the public service motivation (PSM), and civic attitudes and actions of public, nonprofit and private sector employees in Australia. Sectoral similarities and differences were noted. This research also analyses the relationships between PSM and civic attitudes and behaviours of these groups of employees. High PSM employees were found to have higher confidence in key national public and private institutions, place more importance on citizens' rights, and engage in more non‐electoral political and prosocial acts than low PSM employees.     

Contingent and Non-Contingent Working in Local Government: Contrasting Psychological Contracts

Given that the contingent worker is likely to be a familiar presence in the public service workplace of the future, this paper explores the consequences of contingent work arrangements on the attitudes and behaviour of employees using the psychological contract as a framework for analysis. Drawing upon survey evidence from a sample of permanent, fixed term and temporary staff employed in a British local authority, our results suggest that contract status plays an important role in how individuals view the exchange relationship with their employer and how they respond to the inducements received from that relationship. Specifically, contingent employees are less committed to the organization and engage in organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) to a lesser degree than their permanent counterparts. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the relationship between the inducements provided by the employer and OCB is stronger for contingent employees. Such findings have implications for the treatment of contingent and non-contingent employees in the public services.     

Managing Goal Commitment in Public Organizations: The Effects of Goal Conflict

Public personnel policies increasingly adapt performance management systems that focus on goal attainment, and this makes goal commitment a critical issue in contemporary public administration research. Few studies have however empirically investigated the relationship between goal conflicts and goal commitment. This study examines the interplay between public managers’ goal prioritization, goal conflict and employees’ goal commitment. Multilevel data from 73 principals and 1464 teachers in secondary education show that goal conflict has a negative effect on the relationship between goal prioritization and goal commitment. The study thus adds to our knowledge about the conditions for influencing public employees’ goal commitment.     

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.     

Public Service Motivation in Ghanaian Civil Service: A Case Study of Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality

Civil servants are perceived to possess altruistic motive known as Civil Service Motivation (PSM) which promotes public interest as confirmed in some developed countries. Using the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality as a case study, this article assesses the existence of PSM in the Ghanaian public sector and finds that PSM exists in the public service but its existence does not ensure maximum output. The workers professed having motives such as sense of social justice, compassion, commitment to public interest, self-sacrifice, and sense of civic duty but indicated their unwillingness to commit their future to the public sector because of poor working conditions.     

Is Public Service Motivation Changeable? Integrative Modeling with Goal-Setting Theory

This study proposes that Public Service Motivation (PSM) can be changeable by unique characteristics of public organization. The proposition is applied for the integration between PSM theory and goal-setting theory that is inevitable to better understand the motivation phenomena for the organization. The integration model consists of two sub-mechanisms: 1) the moderating role of goal characteristics on the relationship between Public Service Motivation and work motivation, and 2) the mediating role of PSM on the relationship between goal characteristics and performance. The model suggests empirically testable five theoretical propositions with methodological strategies. Finally, theoretical implications and future study are discussed.     

Exploring the Deep Antecedent of Public Service Motivation

Contrarily to most studies of the antecedents of public service motivation (PSM) focusing on the proximal work environment or personal characteristics, we seek to explore plausibly important deep antecedents of PSM that lie in the formative years of a person’s upbringing. Using an online survey of public service professionals that asked detailed background questions, we find that three deep antecedents are associated with lower overall PSM and its constitutive elements: growing up in a religious family, growing up in a family with a conservative point of view, and (surprisingly) being raised by a parent who served in the military.     

Distinguishing Motivational Traits between Person-Organization Fit and Person-Job Fit: Testing the Moderating Effects of Extrinsic Rewards in Enhancing Public Employee Job Satisfaction

This research suggests dissimilar motivational traits of person-organization fit and person-job fit and their different interactive relations with the external regulation of work motivation in affecting public employee satisfaction. Conducting a hierarchical regression analysis, the study jointly tested the direct and interaction effects of perceived person-organization fit, person-job fit, and extrinsic rewards on job satisfaction. Findings demonstrated a crowding-out effect of extrinsic reward perceptions on the positive relationship between person-organization fit and job satisfaction. However, the moderation of extrinsic rewards did not appear to alter the influence of person-job fit on job satisfaction. Implications are further discussed.