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AbstractAs stereotypes strongly influence social interactions, this study explores the stereotypical associations regarding public servants, and about various professions in the public sector as well as the for‐profit and nonprofit sectors. This leads to a better understanding of the theoretical and practical challenges, such as citizen behaviour towards public servants, attractiveness of and political decisions about public service jobs. With a mixed‐method analysis of cognitive associations (7,470 associations by 415 respondents for 12 professions), the defining epithets of public servants are clarified, along with their positive or negative connotation. Despite the strongest associations for public servants being positive (caring, helpful and dedicated), as an overall category, it has a less positive connotation compared to some specific professions typical in the public sector (nurse, firefighter and police). However, cognitive associations are substantially more positive for public servants compared to politicians, lawyers and salesmen.

As stereotypes strongly influence social interactions, this study explores the stereotypical associations about public servants, and about various professions in the public sector as well as the for‐profit and non‐profit sectors. This leads to a better understanding of the theoretical and practical challenges, such as citizen behavior towards public servants, attractiveness, and political decisions about public service jobs. With a mixed‐method analysis of cognitive associations (7,470 associations by 415 respondents for 12 professions), the defining epithets of public servants are clarified, along with their positive or negative connotation. Despite the strongest associations for public servants being positive (caring, helpful, and dedicated), as an overall category, it has a less positive connotation, compared to some specific professions typical in the public sector (nurse, firefighter, and police). However, cognitive associations are substantially more positive for public servants, compared to politicians, lawyers, and salesmen.

Because shared mental models are critical for consistent, accurate decision making, this study seeks to explain the extent to which mental models are shared on the basis of team cognition theory and social constructionism. This study thus provides new insights into how the social dynamics among nonprofit leaders can explain mental models on nonprofit effectiveness. Specifically, team member exchange (TMX) quality should relate to agreement within leadership teams. Building on recent multilevel team research, this study regards the relationship theoretically as a separate actor and partner effect, which better reveals the underlying social processes. A multilevel data sample of 402 leaders from 44 nonprofit organizations provides support for the hypotheses, offering insights into the multilevel, emergent nature of team behavior and shared mental models. Practical recommendations focus on the central role of CEOs and board chairs, and on the need for a stronger consensus assessment in nonprofit performance evaluations.

In this correspondence I postulate a complementary consideration to an article recently published in Nonprofit Management & Leadership: "Factors Attracting Individuals to Nonprofit Management over Public and Private Sector Management" (LeRoux and Feeney 2013). The aim of this correspondence is to provide avenues for further research based on an evaluation of the authors' analysis and their embedded assumptions on causality and interdependency of the variables used. I perform an extended empirical analysis of the same data as used in LeRoux and Feeney (2013) in which inherent assumptions are adjusted based on available literature. Results show that their conclusions need nuancing, and that further research could focus on (1) a clearer distinction between antecedents and effects of sector of employment, and (2) the different relationships across sectors between work‐related variables, such as job satisfaction, job flexibility, or job clarity.

AbstractPublic sector professions are highly gender‐dominant (e.g., police officers, teachers) and determined not only by professionals but also by gender roles. According to the role congruity theory, these social roles result in perceived (in)congruities between the jobholders' gender and gender‐dominant professions. This research investigates this intersection for several professions. Throughout three large‐scale surveys (conducted in Austria), we first document the gender dominance of various public sector professions, and further analyze the effects from (in)congruities in gender‐dominant professions. The findings are two‐fold: First, for police officers, firefighters, politicians, nurses, and teachers, (in)congruities of job‐holder's gender with gender dominance of the profession result in positive (negative) ascriptions of job‐related traits. However, (in)congruity effects are not confirmed for other gender‐dominant professions outside the public sector. Second, no (in)congruity effects are found for perceived professionalism. Findings are important for policy makers, as well as recruiters and employers who aim to reduce gender‐related disadvantages within public sector employment.

AbstractNonprofit leaders face the challenge of making decisions within a complex environment of heterogeneous and often competing stakeholder claims. In such a setting, leaders not only make judgments about the power of their organization's stakeholders but they also make conscious choices about which stakeholders they personally represent while making organizational decisions. This study uses insights from stakeholder theory and agency theory to investigate (1) how nonprofit leaders' perceptions of stakeholder power and stakeholder representation are interrelated across a wide range of stakeholder groups and organizations, and (2) how perceptions of power and representation differ between board members and executive managers. Drawing on data from 491 nonprofit leaders, we find evidence of stakeholder representation surpluses and deficits for several stakeholders, although perceptions of these deficits and surpluses differ considerably between board members and managers. Our study holds important implications for nonprofit governance, the practice of stakeholder analysis, and the use of stakeholder constructs in future empirical research.

AbstractOver the past decade, practitioners and scholars have intensified the discussions around people's expectations from their jobs and how public and private organizations can succeed in the war for talent. In this context, it has become obvious that people not only seek high salaries and career opportunities but also meaningfulness in their daily tasks. Although many public service jobs offer opportunities to help others (prosocial impact) or contribute to society (societal impact), employees tend to become accustomed to these positive aspects or forget about them. This article tests whether a microintervention that emphasizes employees' prosocial or societal impact can positively affect their well-being, intention to stay in the job, and willingness to recommend their respective jobs to others. The combined results of three preregistered experiments reveal that microinterventions can indeed have these effects, particularly if they focus on creating awareness about the jobs' societal impact.

Tätigkeiten im öffentlichen Dienst bieten häufig die Möglichkeit, anderen zu helfen sowie einen Beitrag zum Gemeinwohl zu leisten. Diese als prosozialer und gesellschaftlicher Einfluss bezeichneten Eigenschaften, bieten ein großes Motivationspotenzial. Oftmals gewöhnen sich Beschäftigte allerdings an diese positiven Aspekte ihrer Tätigkeit und der Motivationsanreiz geht verloren. Der Artikel präsentiert die Ergebnisse dreier Experimente, in denen Beschäftigte über ihren prosozialen und gesellschaftlichen Einfluss reflektieren. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass die Erinnerung an den prosozialen und gesellschaftlichen Einfluss einer Tätigkeit im öffentlichen Dienst das Wohlbefinden der Beschäftigten erhöhen, ihre Kündigungsabsicht verringern und sie eher dazu neigen, ihre Tätigkeit anderen zu empfehlen.