The relationship between monetary rewards and public service motivation (PSM) has been at the centre of public management research for several decades. Yet the role of performance-contingent rewards in motivating individuals to engage in public service behaviour remains largely contested. This conceptual study aims to reconcile inconsistencies in the literature by considering particular conditions under which performancecontingent incentives may effectively sustain PSM. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study offers a detailed map of the factors that can explain the relationship between performance-related rewards and PSM, while also reconciling contradictory research findings to date and making several propositions for empirical research.

With a little help from my friends:The positive contribution of teams to safety behaviour in public hospitals Against the backdrop of decreased organizational slack in public sector organizations, we investigate the direct and indirect effect of teams on safety behaviour in an Italian acute care hospital. Quantitative findings confirm the positive contribution of teams to individuals' safety behaviour. Qualitative findings then offer further insights into the context of safety as well as how deficient teamwork manifests itself and what it means for clinical staff. The study contributes to the limited empirical research on safety behaviour in high-reliability settings as part of a wider conversation about public sector professionals under crisis. Specifically, it enhances our understanding of the role played by teamwork in supporting clinicians with their individual positive resources and safety behaviour towards patients. The findings can assist managers of public sector hospitals to facilitate conditions for effective team communication in the interest of patient safety, and can, conceivably, be extended to other public sector highreliability settings.

PurposeDrawing on Simons's levers of control (LoC) framework, the primary aim of this study is to advance an understanding of the balance between empowerment and constraint in a non-profit UK organisation. In particular, this study examines the antecedents and manifestations of LoC (im)balance, in relation to employees' level of engagement with the control systems in place.Design/methodology/approachFor this study, 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with different organisational members, from directors to non-managerial staff, to gain an in-depth appreciation of the main differences between managerial intentions in the design of management control systems (MCS) and employee perceptions regarding the role of such systems.FindingsThis research reveals that suppression of interactive systems and internal inconsistencies between different types of controls hinder the balance between empowerment and constraint. This imbalance is then found to have important consequences for employee buy-in, in some cases, defeating the purposes of control.Research limitations/implicationsThis study enhances our understanding of the gap between the design of control systems and the employee perceptions of it in an unusual organisational setting (non-profit and bringing together clinical and non-clinical staff and operations).Originality/valueThe study of MCS and its role in organisations has long been the focus of both academic and practitioner research. Yet, while extant literature focused on management's perspective on MCS, few studies have explored employees' attitudes and behaviours that accompany the implementation of control. What is more, little is known about the specific uses and behavioural outcomes of MCS in the context of non-profit organisations. Drawing on Simons's LoC framework, this paper addresses these gaps in the literature and investigates the balance between control and empowerment of employees in a UK non-profit organisation with significant clinical remit.