The influence of traditional culture on attitudes towards work among Kuwaiti women employees in the public sector

This study explores the relationship between age and job satisfaction among Kuwaiti women employees in the Kuwaiti public government sector. The analysis is focused on the responses of the female employees to their own jobs as indicated by their level of job satisfaction. This study differs from previous investigations of job satisfaction in two principle ways: in dealing with the public sector (rather than the more common private in studies of the Middle East), in taking into account demographic variable such as age. The major findings of this research indicate that a much broader approach towards increasing satisfaction than focusing on the job itself is required.

This study presents a systematic investigation of the level of job satisfaction among a national cross-section of early labor force participants in the public and private employment sectors in the late 1980s. While the conventional wisdom would suggest that there is a "crisis" in the level of job satisfaction among public sector employees—due to extensive "bureaucrat bashing" and the alienative internal dynamics of working within overly rigid and rule-bound organizations—the findings presented here suggest that public sector employees manifest sig nificantly higher levels of job satisfaction than their private sector counterparts. After control ling for a variety of background, personal, and situational factors, the higher level of public sector job satisfaction remains. The empirical evidence utilized in this study is from the National Longitudinal Survey's Youth Cohort.

The purposeof this study is to explore the underlying mechanism of approach job crafting and thriving at work that explain the relationship between perceived supervisor support and job satisfaction amongpublic sector employees. Drawing on job demand and resource model and organization support theory, the study aims to investigate the proposed serial mediation in public sector employees in Pakistan. By examining the sequential relationships among perceived supervisor support, approach job crafting, thriving at work, and ultimately job satisfaction, this research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics within public sector organizations and offer insights for enhancing employee satisfaction. Based on cross sectional data from 369 public sector employees,Smart PLS 4andstructural equation modeling (SEM) wereemployedto analyze the data and study the serial mediation effect. Strong empirical evidence was found for all the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicated that stronger perceptions of supervisor support are associated with higher levels of job satisfaction among employees. Furthermore, approach job crafting and thriving at work mediate this relationship, highlighting theemployee behavior to actively shape theirroles and experiences at work. The findings show a path for public sector employees to capitalize on the antecedents to employee job satisfaction. Furthermore, it is suggested that public sector organizations should encourage active supervisor support to promote employee job satisfaction. In doing so, it is important to ensure that the employees are provided a workplace that pursues and encourages approach job crafting for enhanced levels of job satisfaction through thriving at work. This study expands theresearch on approach job crafting and sheds light on important conditions under which perceived supervisor support promotes job satisfaction in public sector employees in Pakistan. The study holds importance for public sector employees, supervisors and the public sector departments at large.

This paper investigates the differences in employees’ perceptions from the public and private sectors related to job satisfaction, its determinants, and also the satisfaction related to the performance evaluation process using empirical research based on the opinions of 301 employees from different sectors of activity. The paper aims to respond to the following key research questions: are there statistical differences concerning job satisfaction and also the perceptions regarding the performance evaluation process in public vs. private sector? Does the performance evaluation process has the same characteristics in different types of sectors and leads to the same level of satisfaction or, on the contrary, the discrepancies between the private and public sector are really high? In order to respond to these questions, descriptive statistics, non-parametric correlation, and non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney) have been used. The empirical results revealed that the level of job satisfaction is higher in the public sector compared to the private sector, while Romanian employees tend to be more satisfied with the received salary in the private sector. Furthermore, employees from public sector considered the attractive benefit package, the good potential salary, and the perspective of hierarchical advancement as the engine to increase the overall level of work motivation. Concerning the level of satisfaction related to the last employee evaluations, it can be revealed that in both sectors, the analysis of superiors' opinion was the main method used in the employee evaluation, pointing out the relevance of work quality, and also the fact that the public sector employees appear to have a higher degree of satisfaction with the last evaluations compared to those from the private sector.

Recent research into organizational commitment has advocated a profiles-based approach. However, with the exception of Wasti, published findings are confined to North American samples. This article examines the relationships between organizational commitment profiles and job satisfaction in Greece. Greek organizations have rarely been the subject of detailed examination, so the study provides baseline information regarding levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction in Greece. Both private sector ( N = 1119) and public sector ( N = 476) employees in Greece were surveyed, as this sectoral distinction is regularly associated with different patterns of job-related attitudes. The contrasts between Greek and Anglo-American values present a new challenge to the profiles approach. The results confirm the utility of the profiles approach to the study of organizational commitment. Affective organizational commitment was found to be most influential with respect to levels of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. This concurs with other studies of the behavioural outcomes of commitment.

Workplace motivation and job satisfaction are pivotal in shaping employee performance and organizational effectiveness. The study presents a comparative analysis between public and private sector employees to explore sectoral differences in motivational drivers, job satisfaction, and organizational support. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research integrated quantitative data from 400 structured questionnaires (200 per sector) and qualitative insights from 20 in-depth interviews. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, regression analysis, and thematic coding were employed to ensure analytical rigor. The results indicate that private sector employees reported significantly higher levels of intrinsic motivation (M = 4.2), extrinsic motivation (M = 4.5), and job satisfaction (M = 4.0), compared to their public sector counterparts. Regression models identified extrinsic motivation and career growth as the strongest predictors of job satisfaction, particularly in the private sector. Thematic analysis revealed that public sector employees prioritize job stability and work-life balance, whereas private sector employees emphasize leadership support, performance recognition, and advancement opportunities. The study concludes that sectoral culture, incentive structures, and leadership styles profoundly shape employee motivation and satisfaction. It recommends sector-specific HR reforms—public institutions should enhance recognition and career development mechanisms, while private organizations must address stress and security concerns. Future research should explore longitudinal dynamics and include rural or industry-specific populations for broader generalizability.    

While public service motivation theory suggests that public sector employees have higher levels of intrinsic motivation, average pay levels in the public sector are not lower, so public sector employees also value financial incentives. We investigate the relationship of financial incentives with effort (measured with unpaid overtime) for public versus private sector employees using a UK sample. Bonuses are used much less in the public sector, but their relationship with effort is not different between sectors. Public sector employees exert more effort when base pay is higher and do so to a somewhat higher extent than private sector employees. However, public sector employees increase effort more when effort is an important promotion criterion and when perceived job security is higher. Thus, implicit incentives resulting from being in a secure job and developing in that job are more effective for public sector employees than for private sector employees.

PurposeLiterature indicates that monetary reward or compensation impacts on the level of attraction, motivation, job satisfaction and retention of employees. The elements of compensation include salary, bonuses (allowances), gratuity and pension. The purpose of this study is to investigate how these four elements of compensation specifically influence the attraction, motivation, job satisfaction and retention of public sector construction employees of Jigawa State of Nigeria to inform how their employer can raise the current levels of satisfaction and retention of employees.Design/methodology/approachThe Positivist paradigm guided the empirical research where a questionnaire was developed, pilot-tested and administered to 265 people using stratified random sampling. A total of 260 questionnaires were collected, representing a response rate of 98 per cent. The data obtained were analyzed using both descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results established that construction employees in Jigawa State’s public sector were motivated by allowances and gratuity, attracted to the job by salary, pension and gratuity and remained in their jobs through the influences of gratuity and pension. Gratuity played a major role, as it impacted on all the four variables studied.Practical implicationsThese findings are applicable to Jigawa State of Nigeria but can be extrapolated to other public sector construction employees in the whole country. The findings could also be generalized in other states where the pay scales are different within the ministries.Originality/valueThe impacts of four elements of monetary rewards on four employees’ variables were studied. The specifics of which elements of compensation influence the employees of Jigawa State’s Ministry of Works and Transport have been identified. The findings from this study showed that gratuity played a primary role, as it impacted highly on all the four variables of job attraction, motivation, satisfaction and retention. Pension also played a high role, as it impacted heavily on job attraction, satisfaction and retention. Comparatively salary and allowances had high impact on one variable each: job attraction and motivation, respectively.

Personality and Public Sector Employment

Emotions are an important factor that affects employee performance; job satisfaction or dissatisfaction represent one of the important components of emotions. There are very few studies dealing with determinants that affect job satisfaction in the Czech Republic. The studies published so far show that the Czech Republic has ranked and still ranks among the states with the lowest level of satisfaction. The aim of this study is to answer the research question whether changing trends in the level of pay and fringe benefits correlates to overall job satisfaction, or satisfaction with pay and fringe benefits. Pay and fringe benefits are significant determinants that affect job satisfaction. The results of the study show that they lower the overall level of job satisfaction since the average level of these determinants is lower than the average level of overall job satisfaction. Overall job satisfaction is increased by other factors, such as supervision, co-workers, nature of work and communication, whose average level of satisfaction exceeds 4.00. Therefore, the emerging trend of rising pay levels is definitely good for increase the level of overall job satisfaction. On the other hand, it is impossible to prove that changing trends in pay correlates to overall job satisfaction, which is also significantly affected by other determinants. It would be suitable, within the framework of further surveys, to expand the area of examination to include additional determinants, such as family life satisfaction, or to examine how job satisfaction affects life satisfaction. The paper was written with the support of the specific project 2016 grant “Determinants affecting job satisfaction” granted by the University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.

The banking industry in India is undergoing rapid transformation due to digitalization, competition, customer expectations, and workload pressures. As a result, employees frequently experience job stress, which influences their performance, well-being, and job satisfaction. This study aims to compare the levels of job stress and job satisfaction between employees of public sector and private sector banks in India. Data was collected from 150 employees (75 from public banks and 75 from private banks) through structured questionnaires. The findings reveal that private sector bank employees experience higher job stress due to competitive targets and extended work hours, whereas public sector employees report moderate stress related to administrative workload. However, public sector employees show higher job satisfaction because of job security and work-life balance, whereas private sector employees show satisfaction mainly with salary and growth opportunities.

PurposeBased on the situational approach for envy, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of two-dimensional workplace envy (being envied and envying others) on the task and contextual performance of employees working in either private or public sector organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted on survey data collected from 988 private sector employees and 530 employees from the public sector employed in Istanbul. Following a quantitative empirical design, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe study results revealed that envying-others dimension has a significant negative effect on both task performance and contextual performance. In addition, the findings indicate more envious feelings of private sector employees than public sector employees. For public sector employees, male participants were found to envy others more than females.Research limitations/implicationsIn addition to the contributions, this study has its limitations. First, although the study was carried out with a comprehensive sample, it is limited to the views of 1,518 employees in Istanbul and is a cross-sectional study. Also, employee performance is evaluated through self-reporting, which forms another limitation; it could have been more reliable for the supervisors to assess their subordinates' performance.Practical implicationsApart from scholars, our findings have implications for practitioners. Feelings such as envy that comes with a sense of competition can create an environment that stimulates people, motivates them to work, can make them productive and can also cause an ultimately destructive situation. This makes it critical to manage envy in the workplace. Though there may be facilitators behind it, one crucial factor that fuels envy in the workplace is the lack of fair human resources policies and systems. Still, human resources management is undeveloped in most public organizations. With effective human resources management, there may be some roadmaps for managers to dissolve conflicts arising from envy. First, it is imperative to have systems that will separate the employee from the others, which everyone will accept, strengthening the feelings of justice among employees. Envy often occurs following a social comparison. Management can implement an incentive system that supports employee collaboration and avoid nepotism. Especially in private organizations where the competition is more among employees, managers should give more attention to understand their subordinates' feelings. The managers' attention to expressing their feelings toward their subordinates could establish an equal distance within the workplace. In this sense, language selection is critical, and managers should be mindful of linguistic triggers. Managers should not avoid giving both positive and negative feedback to their employees. Unwarranted and unsystematic reward and/or punishment systems, made with the good intentions of increasing competition, can trigger envy. Finally, managers should implement an open-door policy and open communication that will encourage all team members to be transparent to each other.Originality/valueThe study was based on a rationale that envy has detrimental workplace outcomes that lead to low task and contextual performance. Although there exists a recent interest for examining the relation between workplace envy and employee performance, based on being envied and envying others dimensions, these studies are limited. This study focuses on these dimensions and performance relations, and it also provides a comparative outlook for public and private sector employees in Turkey in terms of workplace envy.

This study examines how the psychological needs from Self-Determination Theory – the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness – differ for job satisfaction of public and private sector employees. Using representative data from Britain, we first find that the positive relationships between competence and job satisfaction and between relatedness and job satisfaction are stronger for private than for public sector employees. Autonomy, however, increases job satisfaction more for public than for private sector employees. Second, relatedness is most important for private and public sector employees’ job satisfaction. Feeling competent is the least important in both sectors.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which determine the level of public employees' job satisfaction and as result help to have effective and efficient management system in the public sector, in developing countries such as Turkey.Design/methodology/approachBased on theoretical considerations, a model was proposed linking the employee satisfaction and loyalty (ESL) constructs. The paper exhibits the findings of a satisfaction and loyalty survey of employment factors within the Turkish public sector. The survey was conducted in 2009 and covered 220 employees within the Istanbul Branch of a Social Security Institution in Turkey. A model was developed by including effecting factors of employee satisfaction, their relations and effects of employee satisfaction on employee loyalty. Partial least squares structural equation model was employed to test the model in the public insurance sector in Turkey.FindingsData analysis reveals that there is a strong relationship between ESL in a branch of a public sector Social Security Institution in Turkey. Training and personal development was found the most effecting factor of customer satisfaction. The study also finds a positive relationship between working conditions and satisfaction.Originality/valueThe paper reveals the relationship between the employee satisfaction and affecting factors in the public sector in Turkey. These factors are developed only incidentally in the public sector in Turkey. Human resource management (HRM) applications such as measuring employee satisfaction, performance development are widely used in private sector. Specifically, in developing countries such as Turkey, these applications are rarely used in the public sector. Therefore, the paper advocates the use of HRM applications in the public sector in a developing country.

Guided by Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, our study examines the age, period, and cohort effects of gender income inequality across China’s public and private sector employment by utilizing hierarchical age–period–cohort cross-classification random-effects models (HAPC-CCREMs) and repeated cross-sectional data from the Chinese General Social Survey from 2003 to 2021 (N = 29,367). The results demonstrate the following: (1) Age effects of gender income inequality diverge between public and private sector employment. In public sector employment, inequality undergoes a progressive decline over individuals’ career spans, as age is institutionalized as a sector-specific capital and compresses inequality through seniority-based accumulation. In private sector employment, inequality follows an inverted U-shaped trend as age is marketized as a proxy for labor productivity, producing steeper inequality in individuals’ early careers and sharp declines thereafter. (2) Period effects of gender income inequality manifest significant developing differences across public and private sector employment between 2003 and 2021. In public sector employment, the state redistributive mechanism maintains inequality at a consistently low and stable level. In private sector employment, inequality fluctuates with China’s post-transition economic restructuring, expanding during rapid market growth (2003–2008), contracting amid structural upgrading (2010–2013), and rising again under deeper market integration (2015–2021). (3) Cohort effects are negligible, reflecting that mechanisms sustaining gender income inequality exhibit intergenerational continuity. These results demonstrate that institutional segmentation structures gendered income dynamics throughout the life course via distinct resource allocation mechanisms. Our study extends life course approaches to social inequality, emphasizing the role of gender-equality-oriented governance, lifecycle-spanning support mechanisms, and cross-sectoral coordination in mitigating gender disparities.