Education matters in how public servants approach administrative ethics.

Recent scandals in the US government such as the Veterans Health Administration scandal point to the need to reexamine how much autonomy and discretion public servants are able to exercise. In new research which examines the ethical behavior of public servants, Edmund C. Stazyk finds that highly trained managers view organizational problems through a compliance based, legalistic lens and one which is based on their own personal moral compass. He argues that by providing public servants with more educational opportunities, they may be more likely to use this ‘fusion’ approach to ethical decision making

Striking a Balance: The Role of Value Congruence in Shaping Employee Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions

The past two decades have seen a rapid growth in scholarship on public service motivation. So far, findings indicate the concept bears considerable theoretical and empirical warrant. That said, several surprising inconsistencies have been identified in public service motivation research. These inconsistencies have prompted scholars to argue models relying on public service motivation as a key explanatory factor should also consider how well employees fit with their organizations--commonly referred to as value congruence. However, there are relatively few public service motivation studies that incorporate value congruence. Moreover, these studies have viewed congruence rather narrowly, considering only a limited number of factors that may plausibly be influenced by employee fit. Consequently, this study builds upon earlier theory to examine a broader range of factors that may shape employee value congruence, including public service motivation, employee reward satisfaction, human capital investments, hierarchical authority, and goal and role ambiguity. The study further assumes high levels of value congruence will increase employee job satisfaction and reduce employee turnover intentions. Data collected in Phase IV of the National Administrative Studies Project (NASP-IV) is used to test three research questions and 15 hypotheses. Results confirm the significance of the value congruence concept, and further suggest value congruence mediates the relationships between public service motivation, human capital investments, goal and role ambiguity, and organizational hierarchy on employee job satisfaction. Higher levels of job satisfaction are associated with diminished employee turnover intentions. Interestingly, employee reward satisfaction had no effect on value congruence, but instead directly influenced turnover intentions. Results also suggest certain organizational positions and socio-demographic factors repeatedly influence study findings. The study concludes by offering potential avenues for future research

Putting the international in Public Administration: An International Quarterly. A historical review of 1992–2022

Over the last 30 years significant efforts have been made to ensure that Public Administration: An International Quarterly lives up to its international title. In this review article, we highlight some of the key research articles that have been published by the journal which illustrate an international approach to the study of public administration. We show how the journal's historical inclusion of a diverse spectrum of philosophies, methodologies, theories and contexts has contributed to this internationalization. In doing so the journal has contributed to our understanding of equity, social justice and inclusion; ethics, public value and corruption; networks, governance and participation; and environmental governance and crisis management. This historical review also reveals how global challenges, particularly as a consequence of the climate emergency, drive the transnationalization of public administration, which in turn requires further international scholarship

Probing the Links between Workforce Diversity, Goal Clarity, and Employee Job Satisfaction in Public Sector Organizations

A considerable body of research substantiating the importance of workforce diversity to public organizations has accrued over the past two decades. However, research on workforce diversity has also been narrow in scope and frequently fails to link diversity to important individual and organizational outcomes. Using data (n = 1,109,134 employees from 500 sub-agencies) collected in three waves (2010, 2011, and 2012) of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), this study examines whether (1) increased diversity influences organizational goal clarity, (2) diversity and goal clarity, in turn, influence employee job satisfaction, and (3) diversity management policies influence job satisfaction by clarifying organizational goals for workers. FEVS is administered yearly by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and is designed to assess whether and to what extent federal employees believe the characteristics of successful organizations are present in their agency. Results from a multi-level structural equation model (MSEM) suggest diversity is associated with greater goal clarity and that diversity management policies, by clarifying organizational goals, positively affect job satisfaction. Findings also indicate that the type of diversity matters