Impact of Public Service Motivation on Job Satisfaction and Performance of University Lecturers in Vietnam

Abstract

While the number of universities in Vietnam has increased dramatically over the past decade, the country's poor quality of higher education has received much attention in recent times. The increasing number of university graduates without jobs and the number of university lecturers switching to other jobs is attracting many studies to find the causes, including public service motivation, job satisfaction, and teaching performance of university lecturers. This study aims to enrich the research literature and examine the role of service motivation as a moderator variable in the relationship between job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness of Vietnamese university lecturers. This study was conducted through a cross-sectional survey using a purposive sampling technique (n=200). Multivariable linear regression analysis and moderator regression were applied to test the proposed research hypotheses. Research results show a positive and significant relationship between satisfaction at work, motivation to serve the public, and teaching effectiveness of Vietnamese university teaching. In particular, public service motivation moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and the teaching performance of university lecturers in this country.