Ce commentaire sur l'article « Tous les goûts sont-ils dans la nature ? La traduction des valeurs publiques en significations officielles » considère le bien-fondé des arguments des auteurs et propose plusieurs recommandations aux chercheurs intéressés par les valeurs publiques.
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.
Nombreuses sont les recherches qui soulignent l'importance de la congruence entre les valeurs du personnel et celles de l'organisation. Pourtant, malgré les preuves que la congruence des valeurs influence bel et bien les principaux résultats individuels et organisationnels, plusieurs failles énormes subsistent dans la recherche. Nous tentons ici d'enrichir les connaissances existantes dans le domaine de la gestion publique par divers moyens : (1) en examinant si et comment la congruence des valeurs influence l'engagement affectif du personnel à l'égard de l'organisation et (2) en répondant aux récents appels lancés aux chercheurs pour qu'ils expliquent les processus par lesquels la congruence des valeurs façonne les opinions et le comportement du personnel. Nos résultats, qui s'appuient sur des données dyadiques compilées sur un échantillon de cadres supérieurs dans des gouvernements locaux américains, indiquent que la congruence des valeurs est associée à des niveaux plus élevés d'engagement affectif à l'égard des organisations. En outre, la congruence des valeurs est encore plus importante dans les cas où il existe des niveaux plus élevés d'ambiguïté des objectifs. Remarques à l'intention des praticiens Les conclusions de l'étude ont plusieurs implications pratiques pour les gestionnaires publics. Premièrement, les résultats indiquent que les gestionnaires doivent reconnaître et prendre en compte les perceptions du personnel quant à l'ambiguïté des objectifs organisationnels s'ils espèrent le retenir. À cette fin, les gestionnaires feraient bien de concevoir les objectifs de concert avec leur personnel ; le processus de cocréation des objectifs peut contribuer à limiter l'ambiguïté. Deuxièmement, les gestionnaires doivent créer des systèmes de communication solides qui acceptent les désaccords et reconnaissent l'importance d'un dialogue efficace sur la nature des objectifs. Enfin, les gestionnaires doivent fournir un retour d'information sur les objectifs à intervalles réguliers afin d'aider le personnel à comprendre les attentes.
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 practitionersStudy 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.
Previous studies within and outside of the field of public administration consistently find positive organizational outcomes when there is high compatibility or fit between employees and organizations—a concept now widely known as person–organization fit. Previous public administration scholars have established the link between employees' person–organization fit perceptions and employee turnover intention. However, no previous study has examined whether there is a link with actual turnover. This study addresses this gap in the literature on public sector employee fit by examining the relationship between one particular type of fit—mission congruence—and public employee turnover. Using nationally representative data on public school teachers, we find that teachers in U.S. schools who perceive themselves to be compatible with their organizations' central mission are at least 11% more likely to remain at their current school. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for research and practice.
A considerable body of research substantiating the importance of workforce diversity to public organizations has accrued over the past two decades. However, research on workforce diversity has also been narrow in scope and frequently fails to link diversity to important individual and organizational outcomes. Using data (n = 1,109,134 employees from 500 sub-agencies) collected in three waves (2010, 2011, and 2012) of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), this study examines whether (1) increased diversity influences organizational goal clarity, (2) diversity and goal clarity, in turn, influence employee job satisfaction, and (3) diversity management policies influence job satisfaction by clarifying organizational goals for workers. FEVS is administered yearly by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and is designed to assess whether and to what extent federal employees believe the characteristics of successful organizations are present in their agency. Results from a multi-level structural equation model (MSEM) suggest diversity is associated with greater goal clarity and that diversity management policies, by clarifying organizational goals, positively affect job satisfaction. Findings also indicate that the type of diversity matters.
AbstractAdministrative 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.
AbstractIn 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.
AbstractOver the last 30 years significant efforts have been made to ensure that Public Administration: An International Quarterly lives up to its international title. In this review article, we highlight some of the key research articles that have been published by the journal which illustrate an international approach to the study of public administration. We show how the journal's historical inclusion of a diverse spectrum of philosophies, methodologies, theories and contexts has contributed to this internationalization. In doing so the journal has contributed to our understanding of equity, social justice and inclusion; ethics, public value and corruption; networks, governance and participation; and environmental governance and crisis management. This historical review also reveals how global challenges, particularly as a consequence of the climate emergency, drive the transnationalization of public administration, which in turn requires further international scholarship.
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.
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.
