Sustainability of the Motivation Policy Model for Employees in State Administration

Abstract

An important condition for the performance sustainability of organizations, in the public and state sector, is the maintenance and improvement of the employee motivation policy model. Motivation for work has a significant impact on the success of modern organizations; the impact is multidimensional and complex, and it has been confirmed empirically. Motivation is influenced by numerous factors, of different influence and hierarchy, which depend on socio-economic conditions and cultural determinants, but also on the characteristics of employees, and it is necessary to constantly monitor them. The paper presents a sustainable model of employee motivation in public administration and the results of research on the hierarchy and the impact of motivation factors on employees of different demographic characteristics. The research was conducted by an anonymous survey of 2128 respondents (1576 employees in the state administration and 552 persons employed in the Republic of Serbia outside the state administration), in the period March–June 2020. The questionnaire developed for this research has 16 questions on motivating factors with a scale with a high level of internal consistency. Using one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA), tests of subsequent comparisons, and t-test, statistically significant differences are determined for the influence of motivational factors on respondents of different levels of education, age, role in organization, gender, and family status—also, the magnitude of influence ranges from small to large. The influence of motivational factors is greater for older people, for people with a higher level of education, for managers in relation to workers, for women in relation to men, as well as for persons in marriage in relation to persons out of wedlock. By applying multi-criteria analysis, the factors are ranked: the amount of salary and good interpersonal relations are at the top, while criticism and information about work are in the last positions. As a factor that negatively affects motivation, low wages stands out. The difference in the motivation of state administration members was determined by comparing the results of motivational factors’ influence with the appropriate sample of employees outside the state administration. Differences were registered for 15 out of 16 factors (only for the factor high wages, there is no difference), and the magnitude of the impact is medium and small.