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Civil servants' work is being affected by an increasing variety of government reforms. As such, the role of civil servants is a major topic of research. Nevertheless, no validated measurement scales exist for how civil servants themselves perceive their own role in a complex and constantly changing environment. We develop and validate measurement scales for civil servants' role perceptions. Using data from two surveys (N = 161 and N = 1080), we develop scales for bureaucratic, entrepreneurial, and networking role perceptions. We found that each role perception consists of two idiosyncratic elements. We tested our scales for reliability and validity and found that all three role perceptions related to role ambiguity, commitment, and engagement. Moreover, the entrepreneurial and networking role perceptions correlated with Public Service Motivation (PSM), while the bureaucratic and entrepreneurial role perceptions correlated with performance. We discuss opportunities to systematically study the effects and antecedents of civil servants' role perceptions as they have practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector creativity is the origin of innovation and crucial to public sector organizations' ability to serve the public's interest. Factors affecting public servants' creativity, however, remained unexplored. This longitudinal qualitative digital diary study (N = 142) explores these factors. Our findings indicate that public servants' creativity appears affected by four salient factors: public servants' realistic evaluations of ideas, bureaucratic dimensions, out-of-balance work demands and (lack of) social contact. The underlying mechanics indicate that the public sector context demotivates public servants to be creative. These findings indicate avenues for practitioners to carefully consider when aiming to improve creativity within their organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]