Public Sector Employees Research Articles

COVID-19-induced changes in the workplace, psychosocial work environment and employee well-being: a longitudinal study.

In many workplaces, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic changed work arrangements, but there is scarce longitudinal evidence on whether psychosocial work environment and employee well-being were affected. To examine the psychosocial work environment and employee well-being before, during and after the pandemic in relation to pandemic-induced changes (working from home, change to other tasks and team reorganization). Survey data from a cohort of 20944 public sector employees in Finland were collected before (2016-2018), during (2020) and after the pandemic (2022). Multilevel linear and logistic regression was used to examine group differences between the before-during and during-after periods of the pandemic. Working from home was associated with a small but favourable change in worktime control, organizational justice and social capital (scale 1-5) during the pandemic and after the pandemic (marginal mean difference ranging from 0.02 to 0.09 with 95% confidence intervals [CIs] from 0.01 to 0.10). There was a post-pandemic increase in work time control, even among participants with a transfer into other tasks (0.11, 95% CI 0.07, 0.14) or team reorganization (0.06, 95% CI 0.02, 0.10). The decline in self-rated work ability (scale 0-10) before and during the pandemic was greater in those transferred into other tasks (-0.10, 95% CI -0.13, -0.06) than in those not (-0.05, 95% CI -0.06, -0.04). Working from home during the pandemic was accompanied by small favourable changes in the psychosocial work environment during the pandemic, whereas transition to different tasks was associated with a decline in self-rated work ability.

From performance to morality: How politicians frame bureaucracy, its organizations, and public sector employees

AbstractPoliticians frequently voice criticisms vis‐à‐vis bureaucracy, its organizations, and its employees. Previous studies point at the negative impact of this “bureaucratic bashing” on public sector morale, recruitment, retention, and citizen perceptions. Yet, systematic evidence on bashing remains sparse, with even less known about its counterpart: bureaucratic praising. This article aims to fill this gap by conceptualizing both phenomena as forms of framing, by distinguishing macro‐, meso‐, and micro‐levels, and by innovatively using organizational reputation theory to develop a multidimensional framework for the systematic analysis of bureaucratic framing. Empirically, we apply this framework to a novel dataset of 70,853 hand‐coded tweets posted by 33 Dutch politicians, covering a wide range of ideological viewpoints. We find that politicians do not so much frame the civil service performatively, in terms of being lazy (or hard working), but rather bash or praise bureaucratic organizations for their (im)morality, whereby four moral subdimensions can be identified.

Sleepless for the family: The relationship between public employees’ family motivation and work stress

IMPACT This article explains how family motivation can be a stressor for public sector employees in the workplace and why public sector organizations should be aware of family motivation and its potential stress and health-related effects. In addition, it shows that physical activity—but not public service motivation—can help civil servants alleviate their work stress caused by family motivation. Public organizations need to develop policies to help employees deal with work stress and insomnia including promoting more physical activity which can improve employees’ well-being when facing pressing issues, such as budget cuts and family financial problems. Based on a study in China, the authors’ recommendations for practice have international relevance but most particularly in collectivist cultures such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

Employees trust, perceived justice, on task performance: Mediating and moderating role of autonomy and organizational culture

This study explores the impact of trust and perceived justice on task performance within UAE public sector organizations, emphasizing the mediating role of autonomy and the moderating effect of organizational culture. This research was driven by gaps in the current understanding of how individual perceptions of fairness and trust impact practical outcomes in the public sector. Through a survey of 273 public sector employees and structural equation modeling, this study demonstrates how trust and perceived justice significantly enhance task performance, with autonomy serving as a crucial mediator. Organizational culture also plays a complex role in moderating these effects, adding a cultural context layer to the theoretical framework grounded in social exchange theory. This study contributes to this field by providing empirical evidence supporting the enhancement of autonomy and justice perceptions to improve employee performance in the public sector. This contribution is particularly significant as it challenges traditional views on the trust-autonomy relationship and offers new insights into the role of organizational culture. By highlighting these dynamics, this study fills a crucial gap in the literature and also offers a model that can guide future research and practical applications in similar contexts. The findings underscore the necessity of fostering trust and perceived justice within organizations, recommending that leaders focus on enhancing autonomy and carefully consider the influence of organizational culture. This approach promises to improve task performance and employee satisfaction, thereby contributing to a more effective administration and service delivery in the public sector.

The effectiveness of financial reward on improving the job performance of public sector employees through organisational commitment: the case of Maldives civil service employees

PurposeThough public sector organisations have continuously borrowed human resource management practices from the private sector, there seems to be sparse evidence on the effectiveness of financial rewards for public sector employees, especially in developing countries where pay remains low. Therefore, the objective of this research is to test the effectiveness of financial rewards on the job performance of those working in the Maldives civil service from the perspective of a developing country where public sector pay, especially civil pay, remains comparatively low. Additionally, this study tested the mediating effect of organisational commitment on the relationship between financial rewards and job performance.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was conducted using quantitative design methodology, whereby data were collected from 341 employees working in the Maldives civil service and analysed using structural equation modelling.FindingsThe findings indicate that financial rewards negatively affect civil service employees’ job performance. However, financial rewards improve organisational commitment, which reduces the negative effects, although the effect sizes of the mediator are not very significant.Originality/valueThe results of this study present critical theoretical and practical contributions to public administration researchers on using financial incentives as a mechanism to boost job performance, particularly in developing countries, where salaries and other benefits remain low. Furthermore, it presents practical recommendations for managing employees in the Maldives and other countries, where the public sector is less developed and budget constraints remain a challenge.

The contributions of the Iranian health‐care system in the crisismanship of COVID‐19: A qualitative study

AbstractThis study aims to comprehend the contributions of Iran's health‐care system (HCS) in the “crisismanship” of the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic from the perspectives of citizens, policy makers, managers, and public sector employees. The primary question is what have been the contributions of Iran's HCS in the crisismanship of COVID‐19? The study was designed and conducted using a qualitative strategy. It is reported that three core contributions were made: (1) the leadership of “a whole of crisis governance,” (2) the leading “a whole of crisis management,” and (3) conducting “a whole of operational activities during the COVID‐19.” Through this empirical study, we hope to fill a gap by examining the leadership contributions of the Iranian HCS in fighting COVID‐19. The findings of this study can provide researchers and thinkers with insights into policy and strategy making in times of crises such as those surrounding COVID‐19.Related ArticlesKasseeah, Harshana, and Susan Opp. 2023. “Wicked policy problems and COVID‐19 in small island developing states: The cases of Mauritius and Seychelles.” Politics & Policy 51(6): 1008–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12565.Onyango, Gedion, and Japheth Otieno Ondiek. 2022. “Open Innovation during the COVID‐19 Pandemic Policy Responses in South Africa and Kenya.” Politics & Policy 50(5): 1008–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12490.Vince, Joanna. 2023. “A Creeping Crisis When an Urgent Crisis Arises: The Reprioritization of Plastic Pollution Issues during COVID‐19.” Politics & Policy 51(1): 26–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12512.

The potential synergy between air pollution control and employment growth

Public service sectors play crucial roles in maintaining societal functioning through the provision of essential services. However, amidst the backdrop of air pollution, their developmental trajectories may veer off course from their intended goals. Quantifying the impact of air pollution on public service sectors, particularly from an employment perspective, offers valuable insights for policymakers aiming to foster the sustainable growth of these sectors and expand the analysis framework on air pollution externalities. Drawing on monthly data spanning from January 2015 to December 2019 across 269 prefecture cities, this paper therefore explores the impact of air pollution on public service sector employment using a cross-lagged panel model with fixed effects. I find that air pollution negatively affects the employment scales in public service sectors. This negative employment shock is also unevenly distributed across areas and sub-sectors and intensifies over time. Cities belong to key areas for air pollution prevention and control, small and medium-sized cities, and secondary-industry dominated cities, suffer disproportionately negative employment shocks in their public service sectors. These findings offer actionable insights for policymakers to implement targeted measures supporting the continued growth of public service sectors and deepen understanding of the economic ramifications of air pollution.

Public service motivation, public sector preference and employment of Kenyan medical doctor interns: a cross-sectional and prospective study

BackgroundKenya grapples with a paradox; severe public sector workforce shortages co-exist with rising unemployment among healthcare professionals. Medical schools have increased trainee outputs, but only 45% of newly qualified/registered doctors were absorbed by the public sector during 2015–2018. In such a context, we explore what influences doctors’ career choices at labour market entry, specifically understanding the role of public service motivation (PSM).MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional and prospective study of interns and recently graduated doctors to examine PSM, their intention to work in the public sector and their final employment sector and status. We surveyed them on their PSM and job intentions and conducted a prospective follow-up survey of the interns, around one year later, to understand their employment status.FindingsWe recruited 356 baseline participants and followed up 76 out of 129 eligible interns. The overall PSM score was high among all participants (rated 4.50/5.00) irrespective of sector preferences. 48% (171/356) of the participants preferred to work in the public sector immediately after internship, alongside 16% (57/356) preferring direct entry into specialist training—commonly in the public sector. Only 13% (46/356) and 7% (25/365) preferred to work in the private or faith-based sector. Despite the high proportion of interns preferring public sector jobs, only 17% (13/76) were employed in the public sector at follow-up and 13% (10/76) were unemployed, due to lack of job availability.ConclusionHigh PSM scores irrespective of sector preferences suggest that doctors are generally committed to serving the ‘public good’. Many intended to work in the public sector but were unable to due to lack of job opportunities. Policymakers have an opportunity to tackle workforce gaps in the public sector as young doctors continue to express a preference for such work. To do this they should prioritise creating adequate and sustainable job opportunities.

Religiosity and work motives among public sector employees

ABSTRACT Research in public administration generally has found that religiosity promotes public service motivation. Although all major religions include components that encompass work-relevant values, little research has focused on how religiosity influences work motives more generally. This study draws on self-determination theory and identity theory to hypothesise that religiosity is positively related to a public service motive but generally not to other work motives. The hypotheses are tested using multilevel logistic regression models that are estimated using public employee respondents to a cross-national survey administered in 35 countries. The findings indicate that religion has a more substantial impact on a public service motive (which is an autonomous extrinsic motive) than on controlled extrinsic or intrinsic motives. The study points to the importance of studying the role of religion in public administration.

The mediating role of employee engagement on the relationship between learning culture and employee performance in service sector

Purpose Cultivation of a learning culture and subsequent enhancements in employee performance can be translated through employee engagement. This study aims to examine the mediating role of employee engagement in the relationship between the learning culture and employee performance. Design/methodology/approach This research adopted a quantitative approach, wherein 450 questionnaires were distributed among employees in both public and private sectors in Nepal. A total of 389 questionnaires were returned, followed by two to three reminders. Convenience sampling was utilized, and the data was collected through a questionnaire survey. Descriptive analysis and Structural Equation Modeling – Path analysis was used to describe and hypotheses testing. Data was analyzed using SmartPLS 4.0 and SPSS 24v. Findings It was found that employee engagement has a mediating effect on the relationship between the learning culture and employee performance. Learning culture also has a positive influence on employee engagement that eventually affects the performance of the employees. This conclusion suggests that fostering a learning culture within an organization should be focused on cultivating an environment that promotes active employee participation, thereby enhancing overall employee performance. Originality/value This article provides significant insights into the cultivation of a learning culture inside firms, with a specific focus on establishing an atmosphere that fosters active employee engagement to improve overall employee performance in the service sector. This tool has the potential to facilitate further investigation and progress within the area, while also promoting the adoption of evidence-based learning practices and their associated implications.

Work from home feasibility and challenges for public sector employees in a developing country

Work from home feasibility and challenges for public sector employees in a developing country

The Influence of Big Data Management Towards Big Data Decision-Making Capability in The Malaysian Public Sector

The study investigates the impact of Big Data Management (BDM) on Big Data Decision-Making Capability (BDDMC) in the Malaysian public sector. Utilizing Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique to analyze survey responses from 192 public sector employees, the research identifies that leadership focus on big data and using technology for big data significantly enhance BDDMC. Conversely, it finds that talent management for big data and the organizational culture surrounding big data do not have a notable impact in this context. These findings provide critical insights for public sector organizations, suggesting that prioritizing leadership and technology can improve the strategic use of big data in decision-making processes, particularly in the Malaysian public sector.

Political culture and the resource curse: public sector corruption across the United States

Purpose This study aims to examine the connection between political culture and public sector corruption, using the typology of Daniel Elazar, whose model traces the types of political cultures to their origins in various regions of England. Similarly, the “resource curse” concept, generally treated as a national-level phenomenon, is examined to assess how it might vary among jurisdictions within a country. Design/methodology/approach Regression analysis was applied to data from the 50 states of the US. Public sector corruption in each state was operationalized as the number of convictions by the Public Integrity Section of the US Department of Justice in relation to the number of public sector employees in that state. Findings Among the 50 states of the US, support was found for the association between political culture and public sector corruption. On the other hand, whether a state’s economy was dominated by natural resource extraction was not related to public sector corruption. This latter finding suggests the “resource curse” phenomenon does not cause corruption to be worse in states with resource-dependent economies. Research limitations/implications Although it is appropriate to apply regression analysis to a data set of the 50 US states, the small size of the data set limited the number of predictor variables that could be examined. Alternative research approaches are discussed, and it is conceivable that another analytical technique might have revealed other predictors that affect the occurrence of corruption. Originality/value While numerous studies have examined the impact of political culture and resource orientation on corruption at the national level, the current study examines how these variables affect corruption at the level of subnational jurisdictions within a major developed country, the United States.

From Access Challenges (as Data) to Methodological Insights: Enhancing Qualitative Inquiries in Public Administration Research

Little attention has been given to questions of blocked access in public administration research. We draw on past scholarship on access: qualitative research accounts in public administration that address access processes, problems, and possibilities; and our own experience with access challenges in a public school setting involving public sector employees. This allowed us to detail three methodological principles to facilitate the initiation of ethnographic research while access was constantly (re)negotiated: accounting for regulations, rules, and ruling artifacts; meaningful events; and routine and non-routine artifacts. We investigated public administration regulations, events, and artifacts, developing and employing an empirical method to collect data under conditions where access to primary field sites is blocked based on the boundary condition of our investigation. By describing the research findings and their applications, we demonstrate that conceptualizing access problems as multiple data layers can provide researchers with profound insights into relational dynamics, thereby enriching qualitative inquiry in public administration research. We conclude by arguing that this approach remains highly relevant even as field access is constantly negotiated.

Organizational Environment and Job Performance of Public Sector Employees with Disabilities

Organizational Environment and Job Performance of Public Sector Employees with Disabilities

Fostering Innovative Work Behaviour of Public Sector Employees: A Nominal Group Technique

Innovative work behaviour has received significant attention in research that benefits individuals, groups and organisations. However, factors that affect innovative work behaviour, specifically among public sector employees, are rarely studied. Hence, this paper proposes solutions to increase innovative work behaviour using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). The experts provided an overview of 11 potential solutions to enhance the public sector employee's innovative work behaviour. The NGT approach facilitated the quick and readily validation of literature elements that experts subsequently discussed and voted on. This paper references future studies on human resource management and practices.

Changes in active commuting and changes in work ability and recovery from work in 16,778 Finnish public sector employees

BackgroundPromotion of active commuting by walking and cycling presents a feasible strategy to increase physical activity levels and improve employee health and wellbeing. Increasing evidence on the health benefits of active commuting exists, but little is known about longitudinal associations between active commuting and work ability, and recovery from work. MethodsWe conducted an observational cohort study of 16,778 public sector employees who responded to the Finnish Public Sector study surveys in 2020 and 2022. Within- and between-individual associations of changes in active commuting with changes in work ability and recovery from work were examined using hybrid modelling. Analyses were adjusted for sex and age at T1 (time-invariant confounders in the between-individual part of the analyses) and socio-economic factors, body mass index, health behaviours, and job strain (time-varying confounders in both parts). ResultsAfter adjustments, an increase in active commuting equivalent to 10 km per week was associated with small within-individual (unstandardized beta (B) = 0.016, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.004–0.028) and between-individual (B = 0.028, 95% CI 0.019–0.038) improvements in work ability. In sex-stratified analyses, the positive within-individual effect on work ability was observed only among women (B = 0.026, 95% CI 0.001–0.040). With recovery from work, only between-individual positive association was observed (B = 0.032, 95% CI = 0.018–0.045). ConclusionsIt may be possible to improve work ability by increasing active commuting. However, it appears that a change corresponding to tens of weekly kilometres of active commuting is required to achieve a small improvement in work ability. No conclusive evidence supporting that an increase in active commuting enhances recovery from work was found.

Krause, Tobias A., Schachtner, Christian & Thapa, Basanta E. P. (Hrsg.) (2023). Handbuch Digitalisierung der Verwaltung. transcript Verlag. 420 Seiten. ISBN: 978-3-8252-5929-7 / ISBN: 978-3-8385-5929-2 (eBook). https://doi.org/10.36198/9783838559292.

The handbook Digitalisierung der Verwaltung provides meaningful knowledge on important management issues relating to the digital transformation in public administration and public service provision in Germany. 19 refreshing contributions shed light on personnel management, organisation, processes, and data infrastructure. With their valuable book, the editors not only address design features of digitalisation concepts, but also pose critical questions about implementation processes. The reader can learn from a multitude of illuminating practical examples, workable solutions and pioneering insights without ignoring the specific contextual factors of the political-administrative system in Germany. The book is aimed at public sector employees and executives, students and scholars, tech companies and service providers who deal with the digital transformation in public sector organisations.

Unequal gender‐based attraction toward public sector employment in China: The role of perceived discrimination and public service motivation

AbstractPromoting demographic diversity and representation in the public sector workforce is a critical prerequisite for achieving social equity. This study investigates gender differences in public sectoral preference in China, subsequently exploring the underlying mechanisms that cause such a gender gap. Based on social psychological theories, this study develops and tests a moderated mediation model that examines public service motivation (PSM) as the mediating mechanism and perceived discrimination as the moderator. Utilizing the nationally representative China Education Panel Survey, our findings suggest a strong gender effect regarding the attractiveness of public sector employment in China. In terms of the specific mechanism whereby gender helps predict public sectoral preference, PSM indeed plays a mediating role. Specifically, the gender gap in public sector employment will be further widened by PSM when perceived discrimination is high. Overall, this study contributes to the extant literature by exploring the effects of gender on public sector preferences and to the practice by helping policymakers ideate solutions to enhance diversity effectively.

Perceived Ethical Leadership and Follower Outcomes in the Public Sector: The Moderating Effect of Followers' Need for Autonomy

Ethical leadership is of growing interest and concern in public administration research and practice. Although both scholarship and practical wisdom suggest that the outcomes of leadership are contingent on followers' characteristics, knowledge about what individual preferences matter for the leadership–outcome relationship and how they moderate it is still scant. This study expands on extant scholarship by focusing on the moderating role of followers' need for autonomy in the association between perceived ethical leadership and two important follower outcomes, i.e., job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Building on self-determination theory, we test rivaling hypotheses on the moderating effect of follower's need for autonomy in a sample of public sector employees in Germany (n = 462). The results support the enhancement hypothesis, according to which the association between ethical leadership and follower outcomes increases at higher levels of need for autonomy. However, we find this effect only for job satisfaction, while no such moderation occurs in the case of affective organizational commitment. Future research is challenged to further explore the multiple contingencies of ethical leadership in the public sector by examining other configurations of outcomes and moderators at various levels of analysis.