Back to the Future? Performance-Related Pay, Empirical Research, and the Perils of Persistence

Perry, James; Engbers, Trent A.; Jun, So

doi:10.1201/b12943-4

Cited by 47 publications

(108 citation statements)

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“…As illustrated in the description of this study's setting, many employees in public service providers have experienced an increase in market-like ways of organizing and incentivizing employees. This is despite previous studies having shown that relying solely on extrinsic incentives such as control and pay-for-performance can decrease public service motivation (Jacobsen et al 2011;Perry et al 2009). …”

Section: Practical Relevancecontrasting

confidence: 49%

“…Other studies have shown that too much control or command and talk of efficiency and customer-orientation can crowd out public service motivation Moynihan 2010;Perry et al 2009). This dissertation shows that many employees are motivated by the norms and values of public service and it may thus be more fruitful to identify ways that refer to these values and norms in leading and organizing the provision of public services than to rely solely on control and command incentives.…”

Section: Performance In a Public Context Is Best Conceptualized As Mumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there may be risks involved in using excessive market-like incentives as it may reduce the fit between public service motivated employees and their institutional context, resulting in lower performance. Moreover, market-like systems involving external incentives (such as controls and financial rewards) can be expensive and inefficient because such controls can never fully determine the behaviour of employees and offering financial incentives can stimulate hazardous moral behaviour (Haque 2001;Moynihan 2010;Perry et al 2009). Finally, in a public context, goals and outcomes are hard to define, making it almost impossible to determine what exactly should be rewarded in most jobs (Perry et al 2009).…”

Section: Policy Regarding Public Service Provisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of public service motivation in performance. Examining the potentials and pitfalls through an institutional approach

2017

Bestuurskunde

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Cover designEsther Ris, www.proefschriftomslag.nl Internal designMadelief Brandsma grafisch ontwerp, Arnhem English editingGiles Stacey, Englishworks PrefaceBeing a public service motivation (PSM) scholar is great. People seem to always think about your research topic -the motivational drive to contribute to society unselfishly, even being willing to sacrifice yourself for society -and have an opinion about it. For instance, whenever colleagues needed help they would immediately assume (and express) that I would help them because I am very public service motivated (just as someone studying consumerism in sports is a sports consumer and someone focusing on transparency is fully transparent… the force of logic is strong in science). Getting coffee is something I would of course sacrifice myself for -would it not contribute to society because coffee was essential for others to finish their PhD? Actually, on this last point I have to agree as the coffee trips to IJs& Zopie were crucial in finishing this book. Moreover, at parties when I would tell about my dissertation (yes, I go to very exciting parties!) and state that I study the motivation of public servants, the reaction was usually: "Then you must be finished quickly" followed by a rant on lazy and unresponsive public servants… Luckily, I found that these public servants were motivated enough that it remained interesting for me to study for four years (full-time!).A common question asked to any PhD is why? Why spend four years on one topic? And why this topic? As a student I wrote every paper on the European Union. I wrote my high school final project on the potential success and failure of the expansion of the European Union and my bachelor thesis on the (lack of) Europeanisation in Dutch municipalities. Then why switch to public service motivation? I guess the main reason is that I have always felt a fascination for those people in our society that try to make it a better place to live, sacrificing their time and energy often above what is asked of them, and even putting their lives on the line. I have heard them being described as self-interested, lazy bureaucrats but that was not my impression and I therefore wanted to know more about their drive to work for society. I have not been disappointed in that regard, as I have had the fortune to meet many inspiring public employees that do their work with incredible passion. What wondered me was the general proposition in the literature that highly public service motivated employees will perform better in their job than those with lower levels of PSM. Did it not matter what situation you are in? What would happen if a public servant that really wants to contribute to society does not feel able to do so through his or her work? We have all encountered situations in which we were motivated but were thwarted in reaching our goals.When finishing a PhD for instance, you encounter difficulties such as organizations that do not respond, time constraints and losing sight of the goal. The title of my research process co...

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Section: Practical Relevancecontrasting

confidence: 49%

Section: Performance In a Public Context Is Best Conceptualized As Mumentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Policy Regarding Public Service Provisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of public service motivation in performance. Examining the potentials and pitfalls through an institutional approach

2017

Bestuurskunde

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“…Overviews describe PRP programs being implemented Boften with mixed or downright disappointing results^ (Pollit and Bouckaert 2011, 92). Perry et al (2009) review 57 studies that evaluate PRP schemes in (US) government during the years 1977-2008 and collect several lessons regarding their implementation. Evaluating the performance of employees is a sensitive process.…”

Section: Incentivizing Civil Servants To Reduce Bureaucratic Corruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Performance-Related Pay as an Anticorruption Tool

Sundström

2017

St Comp Int Dev

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The last decades' reform of public administrations has in numerous countries included the use of performance-related pay (PRP). Such programs have been said to reduce civil servants' incentives for bribe taking and have therefore been promoted as an anticorruption tool. However, the article proposes that such schemes' suppressing effect on corruption incentives is questionable in highly corrupt settings because the absence of non-corrupt senior managers-and hence independent performance evaluations-may lead to the capture of such programs. An in-depth study of reforms in the South African civil service provides micro-level insights into the process in which such schemes may fail. The investigation outlines how PRP bonuses are used as rewards from corrupt senior managers to colluding subordinates. Honest bureaucrats are instead isolated and receive no addition to their salary. These selective rewards make honest behavior increasingly costly and function as an incentive for civil servants to engage in bribery.

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“…Writing g(x; a) = G x (x; a) and using (23) we have L x 0 x 0 =v = g(x 0 ; a) g a (x 0 ; a) = g(x 0 ; a) G(x 0 ; a) G a (x 0 ; a) g a (x 0 ; a) < 0…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%