The dimensional linkage between public service motivation and innovative behavior in public sector institutions; the mediating role of psychological empowerment

Abstract

PurposeInnovations are imperative for organizational growth and sustainability. This study focuses on the employees' innovative behavior, a source of organizational innovations, which has received substantial attention from the researchers. Based on the psychological empowerment theory, the study exposes the effect of the various dimensions of public service motivation (PSM) on employees' innovative behavior (IB) in public sector institutions especially in the context of developing countries such as Pakistan. Moreover, the study also investigates the mediating role of psychological empowerment (PSE) between the dimensions of PSM and IB.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the cross-sectional research design. By using random sampling, the adapted survey questionnaires were used to collect data from 346 faculty members of public sector universities located in provincial capitals of Pakistan. A partial least square–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) tool was used to assess the proposed hypotheses through SMART-PLS software.FindingsResults revealed that attraction to policymaking (APM), compassion (COM), self-sacrifice (SS) have a significant impact on employees' PSE and their innovative behavior, while the relationship of commitment to the public interest (CPI) with PSE and IB was found insignificant. Moreover, PSE partially mediated the relationship between PSM dimensions and employees' IB.Originality/valueThere was a scarcity of research on IB especially in public sector institutions such as academia. This study theoretically contributed to the literature by providing a refined picture in assessing the proposed relationship of the constructs. This is also one of the original studies that examine the relationship between the dimensions of PSM and IB.

The Effect of Human Resource Management Practices on Improving Performance and Innovative Behavior of State Civil Apparatus

“…Thus, it means that the last three hypotheses (hypotheses 7, 8, and 9) are accepted. These findings are consistent with the referred previous research (8,22,41,42).…”

“…Rafique et al (2021) investigated the impact of various dimensions of PSM on employee innovative behavior (IB) mediated by psychological empowerment (PSE) in public institutions in Pakistan. This study found that PSM dimension interest in policymaking, compassion, and self-sacrifice have a positive effect on the PSE of employees and their innovation behavior but the relationship of dimension commitment to the public interest with PSE and IB was insignificant [42]. Thus, the hypotheses proposed in this study are: H9: Public service motivation has a positive effect on the employees' innovative behavior…”

Fostering Public Sector Employees’ Innovative Behavior: The Roles of Servant Leadership, Public Service Motivation, and Learning Goal Orientation

“…To the best of our knowledge, only the study of Cho and Song (2020) has provided evidence about the direct effect of PSM on public sector employees’ innovative behavior. Moreover, only psychological empowerment has been studied as the mediator underlying this link (Miao et al, 2018; Rafique et al, 2021). As such, we lack a theoretical and practical understanding of whether and how PSM can influence innovative behavior to design optimal management strategies in the public sector.…”

Examination of the Critical Individual and Formal Factors on Women's Empowerment and Innovative Behavior

“…In addition, it involves disseminating ideas and their actualization (Mahmoud et al, 2021). The current corpus of research on corporate entrepreneurship acknowledges the crucial part played by bottom-up employee initiatives in bettering organizational circumstances and developing solutions (Rafique et al, 2021). Although innovative behavior and access to corporate archives are not usually prerequisites for entrepreneurship, they are still valuable building stones (Yuan & Ma, 2022).…”