Organizational commitment across different institutional settings: how perceived procedural constraints frustrate self-sacrifice

Abstract

The positive impact of public service motivation on several individual work outcomes of public sector employees has been documented. Recent research into the ‘dark side’ of such an individual trait, however, has led some scholars to suggest that organizational conditions such as procedural constraints could affect one’s motivation, thus leading to the resignation of other-oriented employees. This study explores the relationships between one of the dimensions of public service motivation – namely, self-sacrifice – procedural constraints and organizational commitment by expanding the job demands–resources model of organizational commitment to different institutional settings. The study employs a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative (structural equation modelling) and qualitative (focus groups and in-depth interviews) data from three industries in Italy (health, local public administration and non-profit organizations). Our findings show that self-sacrifice positively moderates the negative relationship between procedural constraints and organizational commitment. The findings also highlight some of the undesirable effects of self-sacrifice that organizations have to deal with. Points for practitioners Selflessly motivated employees tend to be more sensitive to burdensome procedures, and are hence likely to experience tougher effects of such conditions on their commitment. Given the evidence of the public sector being a highly bureaucratic working context, the sources and remedies for this issue deserve attention from both public administration scholars and practitioners. The findings of the study support the development of practices aimed at warding selflessly motivated employees from the risk of entering a loss cycle of psychological impairment.