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In this twin study we show that the penchant for a particular sector of employment has a genetic element: monozygotic twins evidencing a greater similarity of sector choice than dizygotic twins. The findings provide interesting evidence of a genetic basis for the choice to track together into the same sector. The effect sizes, though relatively small, raise the practice-based possibilities that management- or nurture-based approaches might be complemented with nature-based applications of recruitment and selection. Thus, while the research on public employee attraction, selection and attrition focuses nearly exclusively on managerial and behavioral approaches, our findings invite researchers to explore genetic aspects of public service attraction as a complementary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many studies have sought to understand the association between merit-based pay and organizational performance, few have assessed the psychological well-being of employees in agencies with such incentive schemes. We show that employees in agencies with merit-based pay are less satisfied with their organization than are those working in agencies that do not implement the incentive systems. We also show that this negative effect is larger in the case of organizational satisfaction than for pay satisfaction or employee satisfaction with the job itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]