Prosocial Attitudes in the Public and Private Sector: Exploring Behavioral Effects and Variation Across Time

Kroll, Alexander; Vogel, Dominik

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2314639

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Why people choose a career in the public sector has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars in various fields. A subsequent question, which has also piqued the curiosity of academics from an array of disciplines, is what can be done to motivate employees who have chosen a career in the public’s service, largely because these individuals are believed to possess lower levels of extrinsic motivation when compared with individuals who opt for careers in the private sector (Kroll & Vogel, 2013). Findings from such research have revealed that public-sector employees tend to be more sensitive to intrinsic and public service/prosocial sources of motivation, though this does not mean that extrinsic rewards would be irrelevant in the public-sector context (Rainey, 2009; Stazyk, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Extrinsic Rewards Become “Sour Grapes”: An Experimental Study of Adjustments in Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivation

Kroll

Porumbescu

2017

Review of Public Personnel Administration

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This article challenges conventional wisdom put forward by the motivational crowding literature by examining whether hypothetical changes to incentive structures can cause variation in employee motivation. It links such motivational adjustments to theories of cognitive dissonance and self-rationalization, and thereby offers a more nuanced perspective on government reforms in the area of human resource management. The article puts forward the idea that expectations of few extrinsic rewards can raise employees’ levels of intrinsic and prosocial motivation; this response is seen as a cognitive coping mechanism to self-justify the value of one’s work. A randomized experiment with 129 public administration students provides partial evidence for the hypothesized effect. Students who were confronted with media information suggesting that few extrinsic rewards can be expected in a public-sector career reported higher scores of intrinsic motivation than the group whose vignette suggested the opposite. No effect was found with regard to students’ public service motivation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Extrinsic Rewards Become “Sour Grapes”: An Experimental Study of Adjustments in Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivation

Kroll

Porumbescu

2017

Review of Public Personnel Administration

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“…A comparable measure was also used for a US sample by Lewis and Frank (2002). Several authors claim that also the second item (political and/or social involvement) might serve as a useful proxy for PSM (Kroll and Vogel 2013, Vandenabeele 2009, Bekkers 2005Moynihan et al, 2013). Further, PSM and public values, such as citizenship participation, are found to be highly overlapping in recent studies (e.g.…”

Section: Data Variables and Descriptive Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the Role of Contract Types and Sector Disparities for Public Service Motivation

Grund

Thommes

2015

SSRN Journal

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Disentangling the Role of Contract Types and Sector Disparities for Public Service MotivationThe intention of "doing good for society" is regarded to be a crucial motivator for employees in the public sector in order for them to perform well. Recent research in the public sector literature calls for a deeper understanding of how this specific public service motivation (PSM) is shaped. In our paper, we analyze how different degrees of inclusion in the public sector impact PSM. We also investigate how prospects of employment relations (fixed-term versus permanent contracts), temporal differences (part-time versus full-time employment), and actual jobs (core versus subsidiary jobs) moderate PSM in public service. Our findings show that aspects of PSM are affected by these employment characteristics in various ways, suggesting that the factors influencing PSM are multifaceted and that actual employment conditions have to be taken into consideration when assessing PSM.

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Prosocial Attitudes in the Public and Private Sector: Exploring Behavioral Effects and Variation Across Time

Cited by 2 publications

References 62 publications

When Extrinsic Rewards Become “Sour Grapes”: An Experimental Study of Adjustments in Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivation

When Extrinsic Rewards Become “Sour Grapes”: An Experimental Study of Adjustments in Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivation

Disentangling the Role of Contract Types and Sector Disparities for Public Service Motivation

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