This study examines workers’ well-being during the first lockdown by comparing teleworkers to on-site workers across the private sector and public administrations. Using a sample of workers (N = 471) collected online, we noted a positive association between telework and well-being. When sector is introduced, this relationship disappears, and public service workers display a higher level of well-being

This study aims to identify how the access to training and development opportunities influence rates of work engagement in the U.S. federal workforce. Organizations with high rates of work engagement tend to be happier and more efficient than those with lower rates of work engagement. Studies have evidenced that organizational and managerial characteristics can promote work engagement among employees

Pay fairness perception is considered a significant determinant of employee turnover. This study analyzes whether public-sector employees’ pay fairness perception is promoted when workers are notified of the wage level of similar employees working in other sectors (i.e., relative wage). A randomized survey experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that relative wages matter for pay fairness perception

Motivational research has become one of the major topics in public administration. However, public administration researchers have focused disproportionately on public service motivation in accounting for behaviors/attitudes in the public sphere. Somewhat neglected are the different, but no less important, motivations that impact the everyday operations of government employees. To narrow the gap, this

This article explores the impact of inclusive leadership behaviors on Indigenous voice and the perception of workplace inclusion by Indigenous employees in Vietnam public agencies. Drawing from qualitative research with managers and Indigenous employees in three public organizations, we found that, first, inclusive leadership behaviors promoted workplace diversity by supporting Indigenous presence

The rising nationwide concerns about violence targeting Asians have highlighted the scant research on Asian American police officers. This article aims to (re)introduce this important dialogue and calls for a commitment from other race and social equity scholars to extend the discourse on racial diversity in policing. Using data on race and ethnicity compiled by the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss federal government implemented a lockdown that prompted a majority of private and public organizations to implement teleworking solutions for their employees. This study aimed to examine the impact of work modalities, job-related, relational, and organizational climate variables on employees’ engagement, exhaustion, and perceived performance both before

Enhancing racial justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are the core values of public administration and critical to the functions of public-sector strategic human resources management. However, very limited empirical research has delved into the interracial differences in public sector employees’ turnover intentions and its mitigating factors. Using the 2006–2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey

This study examines the impact of qualifications and hiring advantages on women’s and minorities’ access to state government jobs, both in managerial and high-salary positions and overall. It also looks at how race and gender differences in representation have changed since 1990 and how they compare with the private sector. All groups, except Latino and Asian men, are more likely than White men to

This article connects human resource management (HRM) research to studies of street-level bureaucracies and public professionals. It investigates the intermediary role of professional behavior in the HRM–individual performance link in the context of public human service organizations. The article hypothesizes that human resources (HR) practices, aimed at enhancing street-level workers’ abilities, motivation

In late 2019, Congress passed the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) establishing parental leave for most federal civilian employees. The new law provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave within 12 months after the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child occurring on or after October 1, 2020. Despite its recent enactment, this study draws on survey data from 224 civil servants across 39 federal

Human capital is one of the most vital assets an organization possesses. Research has demonstrated that human capital is directly related to performance. Thus, there is a clear incentive for organizations to grow their human capital levels. Not surprisingly, then, organizations have created and employed a wide variety of managerial practices focused on further developing human capital within their

Emotional labor (EL) involves regulating, managing, and sensing others’ emotions to achieve organizational goals. However, it is often considered a unitary variable, without examining the specific types of emotional labor (i.e., deep acting and surface acting). Thus, the purpose of this research is to extend the under-researched work on surface-acting and deep-acting strategies of EL on job involvement

To ensure the quality of the work done in the Korean career civil service system (which is characterized by stability, such as lifelong job security), the public sector must use methods to motivate their employees and improve their performance in the long run. In this study, we propose that grit, as a type of work motivation, can boost employee well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, job stress) and organizational

This study explores how Human Resources (HR) environment (i.e., job autonomy, opportunities for advancement, involved communication, and decisive action) promotes psychological well-being of public employees. We advance the literature by identifying organizational identification (OID) as the underpinning mechanism through which HR environment can foster employees’ well-being. OID is termed as a “social

Optimal work experiences in the public sector do not receive the attention they deserve. And, though positive psychology research has shown that flourishing in the workplace is connected to healthier and more fulfilled employees as well as improved organizational performance, the public sector has largely taken a backseat as a subject of study in this field. This article addresses this shortcoming

The federal civil service system is widely regarded as obsolete. The pay of federal employees bears little relation to the market, narrowly defined jobs hamper the assignment of tasks, and byzantine hiring rules impede the procurement of needed skills. The theory of punctuated equilibrium holds that an episode of rapid and dramatic change portends, that the pressures for change will build and that

Although there has been much recent attention to empowerment in public sector research, most of this research focuses on structural empowerment, rather than psychological empowerment, and thus focuses on management practices, rather than on employees’ motivational states. This article examines the processes through which transformational leadership and transactional leadership affect employees’ feelings

This study aims to identify important predictors of turnover intention and to characterize subgroups of U.S. federal employees at high risk for turnover intention. Data were drawn from the 2018 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS, unweighted N = 598,003), a nationally representative sample of U.S. federal employees. Machine learning Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analyses were conducted

For decades, scholars and practitioners have paid serious attention to how to facilitate extra-role behaviors of employees. While many studies have been conducted, it is not yet clear what factors facilitate or suppress those behaviors within organizations and how those factors interact with each other. The current research focuses on two extra-role behaviors of employees: innovative behavior and organizational

Although transformational leadership (TFL) has been recognized as a significant predictor of follower work behaviors, open questions remain concerning whether its effectiveness is universally valid or contingent on context. Building on social exchange theory and leadership contingency theory, we propose that TFL affects employees’ helping behavior, and this relationship depends on centralized and formalized

The evolution of public human resource management (PHRM) has been at the forefront of public administration research for the past two decades. Human resources in the public sector has changed from a focus on developing employee hard skills (e.g., education, training) to advancing a more soft skill approach in the workplace. The emphasis on soft skills takes a closer look at the development of interpersonal

Public organizations are experiencing a burgeoning of workplace challenges involving employee use of social media. Comments, images, or videos ranging from racist remarks, to calls to violence, simple criticism of one’s organization, to full on whistle blowing significantly challenge public organizations’ policies for addressing speech that creates discord in the workplace. With the blurring of lines

Public opinion polls consistently suggest that government employment is not considered to be highly prestigious by most Americans. These negative images are likely to stifle the public sector’s recruitment and retention efforts. Scholars have suggested that individuals with high levels of public service motivation (PSM) are better equipped to work in these environments, yet no studies can be found

Contracting out has long been used in all levels of government in the United States, with federal contract spending increasing 8% to 9% annually since 2015. The literature on contracting out has examined the impact of this practice on the work-related attitudes and motivation of public employees who have transitioned to work for private contractors. However, we understand very little about the effects

Implementing change is considered as a difficult task for public organizations. Some individual dispositional factors have been suggested to influence recipient responses to change in public organizations. Past research has shown a link between public service motivation (PSM) and employee positive responses to organizational change. However, the psychological processes underlining this relationship

The present study examines the antecedents of street-level bureaucrats’ work engagement. In particular, this study investigates whether a work-unit manager’s servant-leader orientation may, directly or indirectly, contribute to increasing subordinates’ work engagement by shaping employees’ resources (i.e., job autonomy, goal specificity, public service motivation [PSM], and organizational trust). Data

Whistleblowers play a critical role in revealing organizational wrongdoing. Even after the passage of the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act and the 2012 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, numerous studies find that public employees are still reluctant to report wrongdoing due to various forms of retaliation. Drawing on insights from a framework of predisposition and environmental perspectives

Prominent standards/guidelines concerning test validation provide contradictory information about whether content-based evidence should be used as a means of validating personality test inferences for employee selection. This unresolved discrepancy is problematic considering the prevalence of personality testing, the importance of gathering sound validity evidence, and the deference given to these

The importance of human factors is widely recognized. Even in the so-called era of machine replacement of labor, the battle of COVID-19 epidemic has again verified the recognition. Due to human beings’ initiative, autonomy, and self-determination, how to attract, maintain, and motivate people are the key issues in general management. The material and psychic returns to individuals generally constitute

Teacher turnover has been reported as a strong predictor for students’ academic achievement, yet little is known about the determinants of teacher turnover. Using a fixed effects model, we analyze panel data of individual teachers in North Carolina schools to test the effects of monetary incentives on teacher turnover. We find a U-shaped relationship between teacher salary and turnover, while the effects

Government does not work without its people—our public servants. While popular rhetoric may sell stories of the incompetent and lazy public sector worker who cannot be fired, countless studies have shown those who choose to work for government are for the most part highly motivated, dedicated, and skilled employees who often sacrifice greater extrinsic rewards for the benefit of being able to make

The Federal Employees Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) has gained prominence as the primary vehicle through which agencies assess the work-related attitudes of their employees. Within the discipline, the FE...

Public service motivation (PSM) are motivational factors that are unique in professions that serve the public. This study examined PSM’s relationship to self-reported job satisfaction and job performance in a unique sample of emergency medical services professionals, in which little research on the PSM construct has been undertaken. The PSM factors that emerged in this study did not mirror the traditional

Upon assuming office, executive, legislative, and judicial officials swear an oath as evidence of dedication, commitment, and duty to the Constitution. As such, they play a quintessential role in u...

This article explores employee engagement by linking stress, motivation, and employee engagement theory and testing this across 30 countries and eight public sector occupations. First, it is argued...

Women govern differently and offer a distinct voice in the governing process yet remain significantly underrepresented among city managers and chief administrative officers. Despite decades of work...

This article explores communal narcissism and a possible dark side of public service motivation (PSM) in the context of employment sector. Personality psychology insights are offered to further dev...

Recent scholarship has examined the barriers women experience in well-known federal law enforcement agencies. However, there is scant research that examines a unique subgrouping of agents within th...

Research concerning workplace aggression has become more prevalent over the past several decades. These studies have mainly focused on the antecedents and outcomes of workplace aggression in genera...

Voluntary leave sharing programs allow an employee to donate accumulated leave to a coworker who is experiencing a hardship and has exhausted their leave balance. This study examines a voluntary leave sharing program at a state agency and concludes that the program is an effective strategy for reducing the agency’s unfunded liability posed by accumulated leave balances. Such programs may also be an

Over the past couple of decades the interest in flexible work arrangements has increased. This study conducted a longitudinal analysis of the effects of telework on the reduction of employee voluntary turnover. The agency-level data extracted from Office of Personnel Management’s congressional reports and central personnel data files were analyzed. The results show that agencies with more teleworkers

Previous research on gender-based inequality in public-sector state-level bureaucracies finds evidence of glass ceilings and glass walls; however, previous research does not evaluate these factors together, nor does this research extend beyond the late 1990s. This study uses newly available data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—data spanning from 1995 to 2015 that include

Veterans can face difficulties adjusting to civilian employment due to their experiences in highly structured and regimented military service organizations. This study focuses on factors that affect the job satisfaction of veterans employed in the civilian U.S. Federal Government. Drawing on sector imprinting theory, we propose that role clarity will have a stronger link with job satisfaction for government

In the past decades, increasing attention in the public sector has been paid to the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational commitment. The bureaucratic structure of public organizations has often been mentioned to have a negative impact on this relationship. To reduce red tape and increase goal clarity, governments worldwide have created semi-autonomous agencies

The public sector requires job crafting from employees so that they can better cope with overdemanding jobs due to layer upon layer of public management reforms. Simultaneously, however, red tape and austerity constrain job autonomy. This study therefore tests how job crafting can be fostered in public organizations by studying social resources at work and, specifically, empowering leadership and social

This article decouples accountability and performance to highlight the cognitive gap in the ability to discern between accountability and performance at the street level. A qualitative content analysis of interviews from child welfare caseworkers provides several noteworthy findings. While these terms share certain common key themes, they also have different characteristics. Both terms may be understood

Ethical values and performance have gained importance in the Korean public sector because of the new public management wave and social issues such as corruption. This study examines how the effects of types of organizational culture, such as performance-driven culture and ethics-driven culture, serve as the antecedents of public service motivation (PSM) among central government agencies, public enterprises

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the determinants of job satisfaction vary between male and female and between White and minority employees of the U.S. federal government. The study investigates nine potential determinants associated with existence, relatedness, growth needs, and organizational equity, based on data from the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. The study uses multiple

We draw upon the theory of Conservation of Resources (COR) in positing political skill and role overload as influencing perceptions of either resource loss or conservation not previously studied in innovative work behavior. Based on a survey of 249 junior doctors in the United Kingdom, we found that role overload not only had direct positive effects on innovative work behavior but also negatively affects

In a volatile political climate where agencies often become the stage for partisan battles, career employees pay the price for increased political attention to agencies. This study seeks to understand how contentious political environments contribute to employee turnover intent. It draws on strategic management and systems theories that link resource turbulence to management changes and employee turnover

This study investigated the main effects of a subordinate’s (ratee) political skill dimensions (social astuteness, apparent sincerity, interpersonal influence, and networking ability) on supervisor (rater) performance rating and further analyzed the interactive effects of social similarity in the subordinate–supervisor dyad on the relationship between political skill dimension and performance rating

This study evaluates the predictive validity of the Healthy Learning Organizations (HLO) model in explaining mental health and organizational commitment among executives from the public sector. Data were derived from a cross-sectional sample of executives from the Canadian federal public service (N = 1,601). Latent class analyses (LCA) assessed whether (a) associative patterns in executives’ psychosocial

One of the main practical recommendations from the copious public service motivation literature is that human resources (HR) professionals should use public service motivation (PSM) to assist in selecting candidates for public service jobs. To test if PSM is indeed attractive to HR professionals in selecting applicants to work in the public sector, 238 HR managers recruited from the International Public

Drawing upon 24 years (1991-2015) of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data, we ask whether sex-based occupational segregation among professional and administrative employees in municipal bureaucracies is related to agency policy missions. We evaluate occupational segregation using two different benchmarks, 30% women and 50% women. At the 30% threshold in distributive and regulatory agencies

Public sector employment security is a central tenet of the public service bargain in many countries to provide continuity beyond an electoral cycle and support frank and fearless advice. Employment security was often an implicit condition, diluted by rounds of public management reform and the global financial crisis (GFC), but retained in some form. Following reforms and downsizing in the 1990s in

Conventional wisdom in diversity research holds that biodemographic diversity is harmful to performance, whereas job-related diversity is beneficial to performance. Empirical evidence in this area, however, remains mixed and inconclusive. Due to this inconsistency, scholars have recently called for a search for moderators of the relationship between diversity and performance to expand the theoretical

Personnel management plays a critical role in the success of public organizations. Our literature review shows that there is a lack of systematic guidance on how to improve Public Personnel Management Process (PPMP) quality. Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (SPICE) is a process assessment framework that is successfully used by software organizations during the past two decades

The compatibility of merit principles and diversity management is particularly intriguing in theory and practice. Although theoretical arguments for merit-based practices and diversity management are well established, the effect of their dynamics on governmental performance remains an empirical issue. This article examines the effect of merit principles, workforce diversity, and diversity management