scholarly journals Positive Organizational Practices, Life Satisfaction, and Psychological Capital in the Public and Private Sectors

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 488
Author(s):  
Aiste Dirzyte ◽  
Aleksandras Patapas

Public and private sector employees confronted stressful life circumstances that affected the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, new knowledge on possible psychological and organizational resources is needed. This study aimed to explore positive organizational practices, psychological capital, and life satisfaction of employees in the public and private sectors. The survey applied the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Psychological Capital Questionnaire—PCQ-24, validated in the Lithuanian population (the Lith-PCQ-21), and the Positive Organizational Practices Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 582 employees, including 443 public sector and 139 private sector employees. The respondents’ mean age was 42.0981 years (SD = 13.23083). The CFA results confirmed the six-factor structure of positive organizational practices, χ2 = 270,884.785; Df = 406; CFI = 0.996; TLI = 0.996; NFI = 0.995; RMSEA = 0.074 [0.070–0.078]; SRMR = 0.043, the four-factor structure of psychological capital, χ2 = 32,780.109; Df = 190; CFI = 0.983; TLI = 0.980; NFI = 0.978; RMSEA = 0.082 [0.076–0.088]; SRMR = 0.067, and one factor structure of life satisfaction, χ2 = 10,588.246; Df = 10; CFI = 0.999; TLI = 0.999; NFI = 0.999; RMSEA = 0.022 [0.000–0.066]; SRMR = 0.014. The findings revealed that private sector employees demonstrated higher scores of dignity, support, care, forgiveness, and overall positive organizational practices than public sector employees. Private sector employees demonstrated higher optimism scores than public sector employees, and public sector employees demonstrated higher self-efficacy scores than private sector employees. Male employees demonstrated significantly higher scores on dignity, meaning, and forgiveness than females. Significant positive correlations were found between age and resilience, care and age, care and number of working years, care and number of working years in the current organization. Psychological capital mediated the link between positive organizational practices and life satisfaction. Positive organizational practices were linked to life satisfaction and psychological capital in both employees’ groups, but the features of links were distinctive in the public and private sectors. These results signify the importance of positive organizational practices and psychological capital for the life satisfaction of employees.

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julija Peklar ◽  
Eva Boštjančič

Work motivation is the steering of human activity towards a desired objective by means of motives generated internally in a person or in his or her environment, on the basis of his or her needs. The aim of this research was to verify whether the different types of work motivation employees reported in their work were influenced by sector, job, gender and education, and to assess how the different types of motivation are linked to life satisfaction. The research involved the participation of 288 employees – 153 in the private sector and 116 in the public sector (19 did not specify). The results show that among all employees the most distinctly expressed factor is intrinsic motivation. No differences in any type of motivation were observed between sectors; between managers in the public and private sectors there were no statistically significant differences in either extrinsic motivation or intrinsic motivation or in life satisfaction.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moumita Acharyya ◽  
Tanuja Agarwala

PurposeThe paper aims to understand the different motivations / reasons for engaging in CSR initiatives by the organizations. In addition, the study also examines the relationship between CSR motivations and corporate social performance (CSP).Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from two power sector organizations: one was a private sector firm and the other was a public sector firm. A comparative analysis of the variables with respect to private and public sector organizations was conducted. A questionnaire survey was administered among 370 employees working in the power sector, with 199 executives from public sector and 171 from private sector.Findings“Philanthropic” motivation emerged as the most dominant CSR motivation among both the public and private sector firms. The private sector firm was found to be significantly higher with respect to “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest” and “normative” CSR motivations when compared with the public sector firms. Findings suggest that public and private sector firms differed significantly on four CSR motivations, namely, “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest”, “normative” and “coercive”. The CSP score was significantly different among the two power sector firms of public and private sectors. The private sector firm had a higher CSP level than the public sector undertaking.Research limitations/implicationsFurther studies in the domain need to address differences in CSR motivations and CSP across other sectors to understand the role of industry characteristics in influencing social development targets of organizations. Research also needs to focus on demonstrating the relationship between CSP and financial performance of the firms. Further, the HR outcomes of CSR initiatives and measurement of CSP indicators, such as attracting and retaining talent, employee commitment and organizational climate factors, need to be assessed.Originality/valueThe social issues are now directly linked with the business model to ensure consistency and community development. The results reveal a need for “enlightened self-interest” which is the second dominant CSR motivation among the organizations. The study makes a novel contribution by determining that competitive and coercive motivations are not functional as part of organizational CSR strategy. CSR can never be forced as the very idea is to do social good. Eventually, the CSR approach demands a commitment from within. The organizations need to emphasize more voluntary engagement of employees and go beyond statutory requirements for realizing the true CSR benefits.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose The authors assumed PSM would be higher in the public sector, but they set up a trial to find out if this was the case. Design/methodology/approach To test their theories, the authors conducted two independent surveys. The first consisted of 220 usable responses from public sector employees in Changsha, China. The second survey involved 260 usable responses from private sector employees taking an MBA course at a university in the Changsha district. A questionnaire was used to assess attitudes. Findings The results found no significant difference between the impact of public sector motivation (PSM) on employee performance across the public and private sectors. The data showed that PSM had a significant impact on self-reported employee performance, but the relationship did not differ much between sectors. Meanwhile, it was in the private sector that PSM had the greatest impact on intention to leave. Originality/value The authors said the research project was one of the first to test if the concept of PSM operated in the same way across sectors. It also contributed, they said, to the ongoing debate about PSM in China.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Virzi ◽  
Juan Portillo ◽  
Mariela Aguirre

The chapter will be a case study from an Ordoliberal perspective of the conception, implementation and policy output of the newly created Private Council of Competitiveness (PCC) in Guatemala, a country wracked by mistrust of the public sector by the private sector. The PCC was founded as a private sector initiative, in conjunction with academia, to work with the government to spawn new efforts aimed at augmenting Guatemala's national competitiveness, by fomenting innovation, entrepreneurship and closer ties between academia and the public and private sectors. The chapter utilizes first hand interviews with the members of the PCC and key public sector players, academics, and other top representatives from the private sector to show how working together built the trust necessary to make the PCC a successful working body with the potential to produce important initiatives in matters of competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean D. Darling ◽  
J. Barton Cunningham

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify unique values and competencies linked to private and public sector environments. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on critical incident interviews with a sample of senior leaders who had experience in both the public and private sectors. Findings The findings illustrate distinct public and private sector relevant competencies that reflect the unique values of their organizations and the character of the organization’s environments. This paper suggests a range of distinct public sector competencies including: managing competing interests, managing the political environment, communicating in a political environment, interpersonal motivational skills, adding value for clients, and impact assessment in decision-making. These were very different than those identified as critical for the private sector environment: business acumen, visionary leadership, marketing communication, market acumen, interpersonal communication, client service, and timely and opportunistic decision-making. Private sector competencies reflect private sector environments where goals need to be specifically defined and implemented in a timely manner related to making a profit and surviving in a competitive environment. Public sector competencies are driven by environments exhibiting more complex and unresolvable problems and the need to respond to conflicting publics and serving the public good while surviving in a political environment. Originality/value A key message of this study is that competency frameworks need to be connected to the organization’s unique environments and the values that managers are seeking to achieve. This is particularly important for public organizations that have more complex and changing environments.


2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Genis ◽  
Taryn Wallis

Dubin’s theory of Central Life Interests (CLIs) was used to investigate whether work is a CLI for legal professionals in South Africa. The research also served as a comparative exploration between the public and private sectors based on their work centrality and work orientation. 59 employees from three public sector organisations and 27 employees from various private sector law firms completed questionnaires. Contrary to Dubin’s theory, results indicated that two-thirds of respondents did not have work as a CLI. Also, contrary to previous work on private and public sector employees, some interesting similarities emerged between the two sectors. Opsomming Dubin (1992) se teorie van Sentrale Lewensbelangstellings was gebruik om te ondersoek of werk ’n sentrale lewensbelangstelling is vir individue in die Suid-Afrikaanse regsprofessie. Die navorsing was ook ’n vergelykende ondersoek tussen die publieke en privaat sektore met betrekking tot hul werk sentraliteit en werk orientasie. 59 werknemers van drie publieke organisasies en 27 werknemers van verskeie privaat firmas het vraelyse beantwoord. Teenstellig met Dubin se teorie het resultate gewys dat vir twee-derdes van die deelnemers werk nie ’n sentrale lewensbelangstelling was nie. Daar was ook interessante resultate wat te voorskyn gekom het, wat teenstrydig was met vorige navorsing op werknemers in die privaat en publieke sektore.


Author(s):  
Andreas Wörgötter ◽  
Sihle Nomdebevana

AbstractThis paper investigates the public-private remuneration patterns in South Africa with time-series methods for the first time since the introduction of an inflation-targeting framework in 2000. Co-integration tests and analysis confirm that there is a stable, long-run relationship between nominal and real remuneration in the public and private sector. The adjustment to the deviations from this long-run relationship is strong and significant for public-sector remuneration, while private-sector wages neither respond to deviations from the long-run relationship nor lagged changes in public-sector remuneration. The causal direction from private- to public-sector remuneration does not change if real earnings are calculated with the gross domestic product deflator. This is confirmed by simple Granger-causality tests.


1988 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B Freeman

The institutional structure of the American labor market changed remarkably from the 1950s and 1960s to the 1980s. What explains the decline in union representation of private wage and salary workers? Why have unions expanded in the public sector while contracting in the private sector? Is the economy-wide fall in density a phenomenon common to developed capitalist economies, or is it unique to the United States? To what extent should economists alter their views about what unions do to the economy in light of the fact that they increasingly do it in the public sector? To answer these questions I examine a wide variety of evidence on the union status of public and private workers. I contrast trends in unionization in the United States with trends in other developed countries, particularly Canada, and use these contrasts and the divergence between unions in the public and private sectors of the United States to evaluate proposed explanations.


1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen LaVan ◽  
Marsha Katz ◽  
Maura S. Malloy ◽  
Peter Stonebraker

Various approaches have been developed as methods to reduce comparable worth differences. These include judicial (increased enforcement, lawsuits, and legislation), interest group activities (collective bargaining, non-unionized negotiations, and public awareness activities), and actions of public administrators (job evaluations and voluntary pay adjustments). However, the number of comparable worth lawsuits against public sector organizations continues to increase. This study compares public sector litigation to that which occurred in the private sector. Findings include that private sector organizations have moved towards the more quantitative job evaluation methods and away from the job classification method, which public sector employers in the litigated cases used. While pay was of focal interest in the public sector, judgments tended not to support the awarding of monetary compensation in the public sector. The issue of lack of training opportunities was more prevalent as a basis for litigations in the private sector, but litigation with respect to promotion was found only in public sector cases.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (29) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Sergio Armando Prado De Toledo

Abstract Currently, corruption has been so generalized and sophisticated that threatens to undermine the own society structure. Corruption is a problem identified in all the countries. What changes is how we deal with it. Nevertheless, why is there so much corruption? Within the group of factors, it is possible to highlight the high bureaucracy that reduces the efficiency of the public administration; the presence of a slow Judiciary Branch which is very low is terms of efficiency, when reprimanding illicit practices that incite everything ending up in pizza (this sentence was literally translated from Portuguese, it does not exist in English, but it means that impunity prevails in Brazil.); the existence of a corporatist sense among the Administration industries in the public sector in relation to the private sector and so facilitating corruption. The penalty for corruption should be constrained to mechanisms that allow the system of criminal justice to carry out actions of arrest, prosecution, penalty and repair to the country. Combating corruption complies with the republican ideal for the reduction of costs in Brazil. Moralizing the public-private relations offers juridical security to the market. The fact that some countries, especially Brazil, are seriously combating against corruption brings hope, with an eye on a more rigid legislation and less bureaucratic as well, with the end of the corporatist sense and the equivalence of salaries between the public and private sector. We shall provide effective criminal, administrative and civil penalties of inhibiting nature for future action; we shall provide cooperation between the law applicator and the private companies; we shall prevent the conflict of interests; we shall forbid the existence of “black fund” at the companies and we shall encouraged the relief or reduction of taxes to expenses considered as bribery or other conducts related


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