Why Does PSM Lead to Higher Work Stress? Exploring the Role that Organizational Identity Theory has on the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and External-Related Stress among Federal Government Employees

This study explored the effects that organizational identity and perceptions of prestige have on the relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and public employees’ concerns regarding external-related work stressors. Using a sample of federal employees, the findings reveal that the relationship PSM has to perceptions of external-related stress were fully mediated by employee’s organizational identity (OI) and perceptions of organizational prestige (POP). Public employees with high levels of PSM were significantly more likely to report having a stronger bond with their organization and more favorable perceptions of outsider views of their organization. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Corporate Governance in a state-owned company in Brazil: an empirical study

As a frontier subject of studies in Public Administration, corporate governance in state-owned companies has aroused and created many debates and questioning about the State's performance as a shareholder. Public enterprises, although organized as basis for the foundations of administration that underpin private enterprise, are managed by a complex and diffused chain of agents (managers and executive directors) and the ministerial structure of the political base representing the state (owner). Based on empirical research carried out in 8 (eight) state-owned enterprises, this study presents the results of how the different actors (stakeholders) of Public Company of the Federal Government (employees, counselors, directors and president) see the practices of corporate management in their organizations. Thus, it was sought, with a focus on the view of the interested parts of society (stakeholders), to make a further contribution to understand this complex relationship between the Shareholder State represented by the government elected by the people and the managers of the public company.

Followership Characteristics among US Federal Government Employees

Empowering collective action among leaders and followers in the US public sector has been encouraged to solve public problems in a complex and globalized society. However, without considering who the participants are, how much influence they have, and the various situations in which they find themselves, empowerment is not an adequate solution to existing public challenges. Understanding followership-the process empowered participants use to follow- is a prerequisite to understanding successful empowerment. This study examines followership as it is practiced within the US federal government. Data from the Federal Human Capital Survey data, which had 212,223 respondents and was administered by the Office of Personnel Management in 2008, were used. The results indicate that different followership styles are dominant in different agencies. Followership styles also differ depending on job rank, which also explains possible distinctions between different groups in public organizations.

Web Accessibility and Compliance Issues

The impetus for accessible electronic and information technology was driven by federal initiatives with the objective of “bridging the digital divide” (U. S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2000). This initiative focused on improving quality and longevity of life, addressing social disparities, promoting small businesses, and providing educational opportunities, among others. As an outgrowth of this initiative, the concept of building an “information society for all” was promoted in the form of universal usability of all electronic and information technology. The long-term goal was to ensure that no one was left behind in terms of inaccessible electronic and information technology. In 1998, congress amended the Rehabilitation Act of 19731 with section 508 to require federal agencies to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in electronic and information technology, make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and encourage the development of technologies that will help achieve these goals (www.section508.gov). The law applies to all federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under section 508, agencies must give disabled federal government employees and citizens access to information that is comparable to the access available to others without disabilities.

The Choice between Retirement and Bridge Employment: A Continuity Theory and Life Course Perspective

The rapid aging of the workforce in most developed countries, and the strengthening presence of bridge employment among older employees, has brought about a need for a deeper theoretical and practical understanding of this employment phenomenon. This study examined the concept of bridge employment from a continuity theory and life course perspective. Several personal and job-related antecedents of 539 middle-aged and older U.S. Federal Government employees' intentions of full retirement or engagement in bridge employment were investigated. A multinomial logistic regression analysis provided support for most of the hypotheses on the antecedents of full retirement and overall bridge employment intentions and hence offered several practical implications for the U.S. Federal Government, as well as other governmental employers. Implications of these results are discussed from a continuity theory and life course perspective.

Job Insecurity in a Sample of Canadian Civil Servants as a Function of Personality and Perceived Job Characteristics

Economic downturns and organisational changes have stimulated studies on the importance of job security for public employees; however, there has been some disagreement as to whether job insecurity should be defined using a single-or a two-factor model, on how to measure it and which antecedents and consequences are linked to it. Questionnaires measuring job insecurity as well as personality traits and job characteristics as possible antecedent variables, and job performance and job satisfaction as possible consequences were completed by a sample of 71 federal government employees during recent important government downsizing. A multiple regression analysis indicated that job insecurity, defined as a combination of organisational or personal vulnerability, was significantly related to only two antecedent variables, i.e., Neuroticism and job characteristics. Further regression analyses indicated that job insecurity was a statistically significant moderator but only between one consequence, i.e., intention to quit, and the job characteristics variable. These results along with methodological issues and further research, are discussed.