scholarly journals Does Person Organization Fit and Person-Job Fit Mediate the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and Work Stress among U.S. Federal Employees?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Leonard Bright

A plethora of research has extolled the benefits of public service motivation (PSM) in public organizations. However, much less empirical attention has focused on its relationship to work stress. Even though it has been theorized that high levels of PSM causes individuals to be more resilient in stressful public service work environments, empirical research has failed to provide support. Only one study has been conducted which has revealed that high levels of PSM is directly associated with high levels of job stress among public employees, but that its beneficial effects are partially mediated by person-organization (PO) fit. That is, employees with high levels of PSM and high levels of fit to their organizations did not appear to suffer from high stress. This study sought to add to this limited body of research and explore the extent to which person-job (PJ) improves the field’s understanding of the relationships among PSM, PO fit, and work stress. Based on a sample of federal employees in the United States, this study challenged and confirmed the findings of existing research. For instance, PSM had no direct relationship to work stress. However, PSM maintained an indirect relationship to stress through PO fit. The respondents with high levels of PSM reported that they had high levels of fit to their organizations which was associated with significantly lower levels of work stress. Similarly, PSM was not directly related to PJ fit, but was indirectly related through its association with PO fit. PSM was associated with high levels of fit between employees and public organizations, which was subsequently associated with high levels of fit with public service jobs and lower work stress. Above all, this research clarifies the process of how PSM influences work stress among public employees, through PO fit and PJ fit.

Author(s):  
Leonard Bright

AbstractThis 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.


2020 ◽  
pp. 009102602095281
Author(s):  
Leonard Bright

Public opinion polls consistently suggest that government employment is not considered to be highly prestigious by most Americans. These negative images are likely to stifle the public sector’s recruitment and retention efforts. Scholars have suggested that individuals with high levels of public service motivation (PSM) are better equipped to work in these environments, yet no studies can be found that have directly explored the relationships between PSM and the perceptions that public employees hold regarding the images that citizens hold of their organizations. This article sought to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the extent to which perceptions of organizational prestige (POP) mediate the relationship between PSM and the job satisfaction and turnover intentions of public employees. Using a sample of federal employees working for the Transportation Security Administration in Oregon, this study found that POP fully mediated the relationship between PSM and turnover intentions and partially mediated the relationship between PSM and job satisfaction. The implications of these findings are discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wisanupong Potipiroon ◽  
Michael T. Ford

Much of the work in public management indicates that public service motivation (PSM) generally leads to higher levels of organizational commitment. We argue that this relationship is more complex than generally assumed. First, drawing from self-determination theory, we propose that intrinsic motivation is conceptually distinct from PSM and that the two variables could interact. Second, drawing from the fit perspective, we further propose that ethical leadership is a contextual variable that will enhance the effect of PSM. A field study of public employees in Thailand provides support for this contingency perspective. We found that intrinsic motivation moderated the effect of PSM, such that the effect was positive only for individuals with high-intrinsic motivation but negative for those with low-intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, our analysis revealed a three-way interaction, which indicated that PSM was most positively related to organizational commitment when accompanied by high-intrinsic motivation and ethical leadership.


Author(s):  
Adrian Ritz ◽  
Wouter Vandenabeele ◽  
Dominik Vogel

When pressure on human resource departments to make government more efficient is increasing, it is of great relevance to understand employees’ motivation and the fit of an employee with their job, as both contribute strongly to service performance. Therefore, this chapter discusses the role of public employees’ motivation and its relationship to individual performance. More specifically, this relationship is examined by focusing on public service motivation (PSM), a stream of research developed during the last three decades stressing the service orientation of public employees’ identity. Theoretically, how the relationship between PSM and individual performance is dependent on institutions is discussed, and an overview of the existing empirical evidence concerning this relationship is provided. The literature review discusses a variety of aspects such as direct vs. indirect effects, type of performance used, how performance is measured, and effect sizes. Finally, several avenues for future research are proposed, including methodological strategies.


2019 ◽  
pp. 0734371X1987224
Author(s):  
Chung-An Chen ◽  
Chih-Wei Hsieh ◽  
Don-Yun Chen

Recent evidence shows public service motivation (PSM) may be unrelated to one’s consideration of a public service career. In places where civil service examinations prevail, even adverse selection (selecting low-PSM individuals) can occur. This leaves public sector managers with tough questions: “Can we improve new recruits’ PSM? Does training matter?” The present study attempts to answer these questions by using a case of onboard training in Taiwan. We hypothesize that PSM, along with public service–related knowledge and a positive attitude toward public service work, improves after training, and that the improvement hinges on trainees’ satisfaction with training and perceived usefulness of training. Analytical results indicate that knowledge and attitudes are more “trainable” than PSM. Meanwhile, training satisfaction is associated with the growth of public service–related knowledge, while perceived training usefulness relates to a positive attitude toward public service work and PSM. Overall, these findings advance our understanding of the effectiveness of public service training, its determinants, and the implications for public employees’ public service orientations.


2020 ◽  
pp. 009102602093451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hemin Ali Hassan ◽  
Xiaodong Zhang ◽  
Ahmad Bayiz Ahmad ◽  
Bangcheng Liu

Implementing change is considered as a difficult task for public organizations. Some individual dispositional factors have been suggested to influence recipient responses to change in public organizations. Past research has shown a link between public service motivation (PSM) and employee positive responses to organizational change. However, the psychological processes underlining this relationship are not specified. Building on the PSM theory and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study examines the role of psychological variables (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) in mediating the relationship between PSM and change-supportive intention. A sample of 143 employees is collected from a public university in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that was going through a change initiative. The results revealed that PSM predicts change-supportive intention, and the relationship between PSM and change-supportive intention is mediated by change-related attitude and subjective norm. The implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Jonghwan Eun

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 90-122
Author(s):  
Nicu Vasile

This paper brings in atention a concept emerging in the United States of America in the 1980s, which is then defined and developed as a theory in the 1990s, namely Public Service Motivation. Based on self-determination theory, the objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between the public service motivation variable and organizational commitment, abusive supervision and salary satisfaction. We have used multiple linear regression analysis as well as linear hierarchical analysis to test these relationships and to control two individual variables, the age and seniority of the participants. Results suggest that the organizational commitment is positively associated, and abusive supervision and satisfaction with salary are negatively associated with public service motivation. Age and seniority variables did not have a statistically significant relationship with the independent variable. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.


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