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This commentary on the article "Different strokes for different folks? The translation of public values into official meanings" considers the merits of the authors' arguments and offers several recommendations for researchers interested in public values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While HRM scholars have built a rich body of knowledge regarding emotional labor (EL), we know comparatively less about the social origins of EL components and individual outcomes in government work contexts. To address this gap, we employ conservation of resources theory to examine how one prominent social institution within government organizations, labor unions, influence the process through which EL shapes one individual-level outcome, emotional exhaustion. We also draw from the process model of EL developed by Brotheridge and Lee to evaluate one specific countervailing resource, person-job fit. Results obtained using data from the 2016 U.S. Merit Principles Survey suggest that unionization indirectly increases emotional exhaustion via increases in the perceived need for false face acting. While unionization does not have a direct relationship with person-job fit, perceived increases in the need for false face acting contributes to emotional exhaustion by reducing person-job fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although public management scholars have examined the causes and consequences of goal ambiguity in public organizations, we know less about how goal perceptions intersect with emotional labour (EL) to shape attitudes in the public workplace. To address this gap, we draw from appraisal theory to examine the connection between goal perceptions and EL in U.S. government agencies. We then explore how these two concepts work in concert to shape one aspect of burnout, emotional exhaustion. Our evidence suggests that goal perceptions and EL interact such that goal characteristics appear more threatening under heavy emotional work demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article, we examine several situational factors that condition the relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and organizational behaviours. Specifically, we examine how the receipt of gratitude and appreciation is associated with the complex relationships between PSM, work attitudes and turnover intent. We analyse the conditional indirect effects from PSM to turnover intent with a series of structural equation models using data from the 2010 US Merit Systems Protection Board. Our findings indicate that the relationship between PSM and blaming others for diminished performance capacity is moderated by feeling appreciated, which conditions the indirect relationship to turnover intent. In other words, increases in PSM appear to lead individuals to internalize diminished performance capacity and remain with their organization as long as they believe their work is appreciated. These findings provide guidance for structuring feedback to capitalize on the benefits of PSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of research underscores the importance of congruence between employee and organizational values. Yet, despite evidence that value congruence affects key individual and organizational outcomes, several gaping holes still exist in the research. We add to existing public management scholarship by: (1) examining whether and how value congruence affects an employee's affective organizational commitment; and (2) responding to recent calls for scholars to clarify the processes through which value congruence shapes employee attitudes and behavior. Drawing on dyadic data compiled on a sample of senior managers in US local governments, results indicate that value congruence is associated with higher levels of affective organizational commitment. Additionally, value congruence is even more important in instances when higher levels of goal ambiguity are present. Points for practitioners: Study findings have several practical implications for public managers. First, results indicate that managers must acknowledge and account for employees' perceptions of organizational goal ambiguity if they hope to retain employees. To this end, managers would do well to design goals in concert with their employees; the process of co-creating goals may help limit ambiguity. Second, managers must create robust communication systems that welcome disagreement and recognize the importance of effective dialogue on the nature of goals. Finally, managers should provide feedback on goals at regular intervals in order to help employees understand expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the presence and degree of workplace stress poses a significant problem for organizations in all sectors, scholarship frequently acknowledges that responses to workplace stress vary significantly across individuals. However, public sector human resource management (HRM) research, relative to generic HRM research, invests comparatively less attention toward understanding individual differences in response to perceived stressors. We employ the relational model of stress developed by Matteson and Ivancevich and Lazarus to examine how one dispositional characteristic commonly examined in public sector HRM research, public service motivation (PSM), influences the stress process. Results obtained using data from the 2010 U.S. Merit Principles Survey reveal that individuals with higher than average PSM experience more pronounced negative emotions when they perceive heightened workplace conflict, which subsequently increases their intent to separate from the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational psychologists and HRM scholars have long argued that prosocial organizational behaviors enhance organizational performance. However, prosocial behaviors are motivated by both self-interested and altruistic intent. Moreover, some have recognized that the factors that encourage shifts between egoistically and altruistically motivated prosocial behaviors may result from inherent tensions between individual disposition and situational contexts. As such, this study draws from literature examining prosocial behavior to evaluate whether work situations with clear task expectations dampen the extent to which prosocial personal dispositions diminish egoistically motivated prosocial behavior. Findings from a series of structural equation models reveal that altruistic dispositional traits diminish egoistic motives for engaging in one specific prosocial behavior, whistle-blowing. However, findings also reveal that work situations characterized by clear task expectations dampen the negative effect of altruistic dispositions on egoistically motivated whistle-blowing. Our findings imply that managers can adjust organizational contexts to capitalize on the enhanced benefits resulting from altruistically motivated prosocial behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom suggests that ambiguous goals result in undesirable consequences for organizations. However, little research examines the connections between ambiguity, public values, and organizational decisions. We explore the connections between goal ambiguity and the application of public values when making organizational decisions by accounting for transformational leadership. We evaluate the mechanisms through which transformational leaders connect goal clarity and public values. Findings suggest individuals who view leaders as highly transformative view clear goals as promoting public values. Alternatively, individuals who view leaders as lacking transformative traits view clear goals as hampering the application of public values to organizational decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Administrative burden is widely recognized as a barrier to program enrollment, denying legal entitlements to many potentially eligible individuals. Building on recent research in behavioral public administration, this article examines the effect of voluntary state reductions in administrative burden (administrative easing) on Medicaid enrollment rates using differential implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Using a novel data set that includes state‐level data on simplified enrollment and renewal procedures for Medicaid from 2008 to 2017, the authors examine how change in Medicaid enrollment is conditioned by the adoption of rule‐reduction procedures. Findings show that reductions in the administrative burden required to sign up for Medicaid were associated with increased enrollments. Real‐time eligibility and reductions in enrollment burden were particularly impactful at increasing enrollment for both children and adults separate from increases in Medicaid income eligibility thresholds. The results suggest that efforts to ease the cognitive burden of enrolling in entitlement programs can improve take‐up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee turnover—due to retirement, moving from one work unit to another, or leaving an organization entirely—imposes considerable costs on organizations. While private organizations make use of several high-powered incentives to retain workers, public organizations typically lack comparable incentives. Fortunately, public employees frequently possess stronger intrinsic motives to stay. Our results indicate that employee voice is an especially useful tool in the U.S. federal government. Evidence is also consistent with a substantial “contagion” effect: when others in an agency seek to leave, individual employees in that agency are more likely to report turnover intentions than similar employees in agencies with more “stayers.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]