Search

Scholars have demonstrated that public service motivation (PSM) may be conditional and activated in certain contexts or by particular primes. However, to date researchers have focused on the impact of positive experiences or beneficial consequences of public serving activities on employee PSM. Altruism research suggests that PSM may also respond, somewhat counterintuitively, to negative experiences. We test this in an experimental study of 456 public employees in which treatment groups were asked to recall negative or positive interactions with citizens, before responding to questions from a widely used scale of PSM. Results suggest that expressed PSM is sensitive to, and in fact increases, in response to both positive and negative experiential primes. We conclude with a discussion of implications of conditionality for our broader understanding of PSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the relationships between public service motivation and work-related outcomes are contingent on an employee's psychological state, little empirical evidence exists on whether psychological empowerment conditions the relationship between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance in public organizations. This study addresses this gap by examining data from the 2010 US Merit Principles Survey on psychological empowerment's moderating role between public service motivation and the perceived achievement of organizational goals, as well as the perceived quality of work-unit products and services in the US federal government. First, the findings indicate that public service motivation and psychological empowerment improve both of these perceived organizational performance measures. Second, the findings indicate that the link between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance is slightly enhanced when public employees feel more psychologically empowered. Points for practitioners This article offers practical lessons for practitioners who are concerned about improving organizational performance. Emphasizing the importance of psychological empowerment in strengthening the link between public service motivation and perceived organizational performance, the article suggests a critical need to cultivate psychological empowerment in the public sector, which has been under heavy pressure to do more with less in a rapidly changing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace giving campaigns, like the Combined Federal Campaign, have increased in participation and prominence in recent years. Organizations across all sectors of society frequently encourage employees to voluntarily donate either directly or through payroll deduction. In the nascent research on workplace giving, there has been relatively little focus on how employee attributes, especially motivational and organizational commitment traits, might be related to voluntary participation in workplace giving campaigns. In our article, we explore the role of these factors in an employee’s decision to participate in workplace giving campaigns. Using data from a large, public university, we examine two distinct aspects of participation: (a) the decision to participate in a workplace giving campaign and (b) how much those who participated chose to give. Our analyses demonstrate that these decisions reflect two motivational processes that must be considered in examining the determinants of individual workplace giving behavior. Answering these questions will help deepen our understanding of employee workplace giving in its increasing prominence as a tool of social partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing interest in the environmental performance and management of public organizations, relatively little is known about the steps individual public employees are taking at their own discretion to promote environmental sustainability and environmental stewardship in the workplace. This article examines public employees’ participation in eco-helping and eco-civic engagement in the workplace. Eco-helping occurs when employees encourage colleagues to perform pro-environmental behaviors in the workplace; eco-civic engagement refers to employees’ voluntary participation in the organization’s pro-environmental activities. The research objective is to identify motivational and attitudinal correlates of eco-helping and eco-civic engagement in the public workplace. Findings suggest that environmental concern and public service motivation (PSM) have positive relationships with both eco-helping and eco-civic engagement in the public workplace. Organizational commitment, however, is only positively associated with eco-civic engagement. The possible meaning of these findings for future research is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public servants are expected to be good stewards of resources, including the energy and environmental resources consumed in a public organization’s day-to-day operations. Many government organizations have enacted policies to mitigate the environmental impact of their operations. Even in the absence of formal policies, however, individual public employees might engage in a number of discretionary, pro-environmental behaviors known as eco-initiatives. What motivational factors cause a public employee to exhibit eco-initiative? To answer this question, we draw on a theoretical framework based on connectedness to nature, organizational commitment, public service motivation (PSM), and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). We use employee-level data from a large city in the southeast United States to examine employee participation in individual eco-initiatives. We contextualize these discretionary initiatives as interesting forms of OCB, which are directed toward the environment (OCB-E). Our findings suggest that connectedness to nature, organizational commitment, and PSM are significant predictors of eco-initiative in the public workplace. In addition, we find that PSM conditions the impact of organizational commitment on eco-initiatives for certain types of employees. We conclude with a discussion that underscores the importance of individual employee motivation in discretionary efforts that advance OCB-E and effective public stewardship generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]