scholarly journals Harnessing Sustainable Motivation: A Grounded Theory Exploration of Public Service Motivation in Local Governments of the State of Oregon, United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajjad Haider ◽  
Guoxian Bao ◽  
Gary L. Larsen ◽  
Muhammad Umar Draz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
The State ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Public Sector Employees

Employee motivation has always been a matter of concern for both public and private sector organizations. Since the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, organizations have struggled to foster workforce motivation and morale to enhance productivity. While a plethora of literature focuses on private sector motivation research, public sector organizations receive only modest scholarly attention. However, a new concept has emerged in public management literature during the late 1980s and 1990s, later known as public service motivation (PSM). The debate about PSM is premised on the notion that the motivation of public sector employees is quite different from their private sector counterparts because of their orientation to public service. Perry and Wise (1990) expressed this concept in the theory of PSM. Subsequently, a growing stream of scholarship has emerged which explores the many aspects of antecedents and outcomes related to PSM. However, questions remain about how to best keep the motivation of public sector employees sustainably high, and about what factors embolden or enervate the motivation and morale of public sector employees. This study focuses on the sustainable work motivation of local government employees. Its arguments and discussions draw from PSM theory, total quality management (TQM) principles, and inspiration from Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines and attempts to uncover the career trajectories of local government employees in the State of Oregon, United States, through a rigorous grounded theory method (GTM) of inquiry. The study reveals a number of factors that facilitate and/or inhibit employees’ PSM. We expect the findings to be useful for both practitioners and government human resource policymakers in understanding the subtlety and vicissitudes of public sector employee careers and motivations.

Ethical Climate and Whistleblowing Intentions: Testing the Mediating Roles of Public Service Motivation and Psychological Safety Among Local Government Employees

2020 ◽  
pp. 009102602094454
Author(s):  
Wisanupong Potipiroon ◽  
Achakorn Wongpreedee
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Ethical Climate ◽  
Psychological Safety ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Individual

Local governments in several developing countries are plagued with corruption. This study draws attention to the role of organizational ethical climate in promoting whistleblowing intentions among local government employees and asks whether public service motivation (PSM) and perceptions of psychological safety mediate this relationship. Based on survey data of 365 employees in 40 local governments in Thailand, our multilevel analysis confirms that the relationships between ethical climate and internal and external whistleblowing intentions were indirect. In particular, psychological safety was found to play a mediating role at both the individual and organizational levels of analysis, whereas the mediating role of PSM was observed only at the individual level. The findings also revealed the presence of “collective PSM” at the organizational level, which in turn helped to facilitate external whistleblowing intentions. This research unveils the importance of individual- and organization-level factors in the whistleblowing decision-making process.

Innovative Behavior in Public Sector Services Public Service Motivation and Private Sector Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Jonghwan Eun
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Innovative Behavior ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Individual

The demand for innovation in public organizations is increasing. In this study, I explore factors that contribute to the innovative behavior of civil servants at the individual level. The theoretical distinction between public and private organizations has long been a subject of debate, and certain characteristics of innovation in public organizations mimic innovation in the private sector, even though the purpose of innovation in public organizations is to secure public goods. In order to examine the innovative behavior of public employees who face such contradictory circumstances, I parameterized the characteristics of each sector, using whether or not the employee had worked in the private sector prior to entering the public service as the characteristic for the private sector and the effect of public service motivation on innovative behavior as the characteristic for the public sector and found that at the individual level, the two are not mutually exclusive.

Higher Public Service Motivation for Accepting Public Sector Pension Reform? Evidence from Korean Government Organizations

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Kim Yunho ◽  
Jung Yunjin ◽  
Seoh Dongwook ◽  
Im Tobin
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Organizational Changes ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
The Relationship

Organizational reforms that employees do not voluntary accept are likely to negatively affect organizational effectiveness in the long term. We conducted an empirical analysis with survey data by reviewing related studies on public service motivation (PSM) and acceptance of organizational changes, the goal being to verify the relationship between government employees’ PSMand their acceptance of public sector pension reform in Korea. Results show that public servants highly driven by PSM are willing to accept this pension reform even though it reduces their own benefits. This study is distinguished from existing literature of PSM and responses to organizational changes because it reduces the possibility of endogeneity problems.

Labor's Enduring Divide: The Distinct Path of Public Sector Unions in the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis N. Walker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Labor Law ◽  
Union Density ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Sector Union ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
Public Sector Unions

Why did public sector unionization rise so dramatically and then plateau at the same time as private sector unionization underwent a precipitous decline? The exclusion of public sector employees from the centerpiece of private sector labor law—the 1935 Wagner Act—divided U.S. labor law and relegated public sector demand-making to the states. Consequently, public sector employees' collective bargaining rights were slow to develop and remain geographically concentrated, unequal and vulnerable. Further, divided labor law put the two movements out of alignment; private sector union density peaked nearly a decade before the first major statutes granting public sector collective bargaining rights passed. As a result of this incongruent timing and sequencing, the United States has never had a strong union movement comprised of both sectors at the height of their membership and influence.

Identity and Vote Overreporting by Bureaucrats: Implications for Public Service Motivation

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bednarczuk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Logit Models ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Using Data

Studies have argued that the higher levels of public service motivation (PSM) found in bureaucrats as compared with others lead to the positive civic and political behaviors seen in government employees. This study extends those findings to see if high PSM could have any negative effects on these same behaviors. Drawing from research on identity theory, it is hypothesized that a salient “public service identity” could contribute to bureaucrats being more apt than others to report that they have voted in elections when they actually had not. Logit models using data covering a span of almost 30 years in the United States find support for the hypothesis. This work suggests that viewing PSM through the lens of identity theory may have broad implications for the field of public administration.

scholarly journals The Effect of Person-Environment Fit on Public Servant Integrity and Performance: Investigating the Moderating Role of Public Service Motivation

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-199
Author(s):  
Sangeetha Tannimalay ◽  
Noor Fareen Abdul Rahim ◽  
Meen Chee Hong
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Job Fit ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Person Environment Fit ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Person Organization Fit

Individual performance is measured by a person's contribution to attaining this objective, whereas public organisation performance is measured by goals achieved in accordance with its mission statements. Positive individual behaviour is important for positive life outcomes, such as professional ethics. Individuals with strong integrity between their psychological (spiritual) and physical (physical) functions are one of the determinants of individual performance in organisations. Integrity is a promise to do everything in line with right and ethical principles, as well as values and standards, and there is consistency in continuing to make these commitments in every scenario without seeing any chance or coercion to break them. Individual integrity and performance are strongly influenced by the person-environment fit (person-job fit and person-organization fit). Due to the several corruption cases in Malaysia, the impacts of person-environment fit (person-job fit and person-organization fit) on individual integrity and performance of public sector personnel are investigated in this study. The suggested model was tested using partial least squares on a sample of 214 public sector employees in Penang. Integrity and individual performance is positively influenced by both person-job fit and person-organization fit, with person-organization fit having a stronger effect. Furthermore, the moderating effects of Public Service Motivation in the relationship between person-environment fit and the integrity and individual performance are not significant. As a result, it is critical to design strategies and implement suitable organisational environments in order to successfully raise the integrity and performance levels of public sector employees/

scholarly journals Public Service Motivation Differences BetweenPermanent and Contract Employees in the Local Government

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 327
Author(s):  
Wayu Eko Yudiatmaja
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
T Test ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Contract Employees ◽  
Street Level Bureaucracy

This article examines the distinction of public service motivation (PSM) on street-level bureaucracy in Indonesia. Focus of this study is to review the differentiation of public service motivation between permanent and contract employees in sub-districts of Tanjungpinang, Kepulauan Riau. The dimensions and indicators of Perry’s (1996) measurement of PSM is used to analyze the differentiation of public service motivation between permanent and contract employees. Independent sampel t-test has employed to 129 government employees and 74 non-government employees in Tanjungpinang. Unlike in developed countries that PSM of its civil services are higher than PSM of contract employees, the findings of this research proves that there is no differences between PSM of permanent and contract employees. The findings of this research rejects the conclusion of foreign scholars suggesting the PSM construct was viable for internationally environment.

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