Prosocial Motivation of Private Sector IT Professionals Joining Government

Attracting highly skilled IT talent has become a priority and an immense burden for government organizations—especially when they have other—higher paying—employment opportunities. We set out to explore why IT professionals choose a government job to make an impact on society. We aim at disentangling the effects of different types of motives, such as extrinsic, intrinsic, and other-oriented motivational forces on the decision to accept a challenging government IT job. We use self-determination theory (SDT) to analyze publicly available statements of former private sector IT professionals reporting their reason for joining 18F. Our study is one of the first attempts to use SDT as a comprehensive framework for conducting qualitative research into work motivation in the public sector. We shed light on the conceptual and empirical distinctiveness of motives, behaviors, and perceptions of prosocial impact, which are often lumped together in the public service motivation (PSM) literature. We contribute novel empirical evidence to a nascent stream of research that uses SDT to disentangle the intrinsic, prosocial, and purely extrinsic motives that drive individuals' decisions to join public-sector organizations

Only hearing what they want to hear: Assessing when and why performance information triggers intentions to coproduce

While performance information is often used to communicate the importance of public policies and stimulate civic engagement, we know little about the processes that connect the two. This study proposes a conceptual model that links performance information to a specific form of public engagement: coproduction. Drawing on insights from information aversion theory, we argue that the effect of performance information on engagement in coproduction depends on levels of policy understanding and the valence of performance information that individuals are exposed to. Specifically, we predict that individuals exposed to positive performance information will understand the policy better than those exposed to negative performance information. Further, we predict that higher levels of policy understanding will increase coproduction engagement intentions. These predictions are examined using two experiments and a representative sample of US residents (n = 836). Findings indicate that participants best understood positive information and that understanding significantly increased coproduction engagement intentions

Interventions in Italian public management reform. Effects on formal management profiles

Gli interventi di riforma della dirigenza degli enti territoriali italiani hanno seguito due direttrici. Da un lato, le innovazioni normative degli ultimi quindici anni hanno ampliato l’autonomia gestionale dei dirigenti. Lungo una seconda direttrice, le riforme hanno perseguito una riqualificazione in senso manageriale dei profili professionali. Nonostante l’ampia convergenza interdisciplinare nell’individuare la managerializzazione quale tratto dominante delle riforme, la valutazione del grado di convergenza dei profili dirigenziali pubblici rispetto agli omologhi privati rappresenta tuttora un’area di studio non presidiata in modo sistematico. Per contribuire a colmare questo gap della letteratura, la tesi procede ad un’analisi comparata dei profili formali dei dirigenti pubblici e privati italiani rispetto ad un set di variabili espressive del grado di managerialità. L’analisi evidenzia ampie differenze sia intra-, sia infra- settoriali. Per alcune delle dimensioni osservate – formazione, seniority aziendale, caratteristiche di genere – la natura istituzionale, pubblica o privata, rappresenta la principale determinante. Per altre variabili – retribuzioni e span of control – il settore di appartenenza non risulta cruciale. Altre dimensioni sembrano giocare un ruolo più rilevante. Questi risultati suggeriscono ulteriori ricerche sulla relazione tra profili manageriali formali e variabilità infra-settoriale di tali caratteristiche organizzative

EU Agencies and the European Multi-Level Administrative System

Research presented in this chapter is the first systematic empirical investigation of EU agencies encompassing networking, steering and control and autonomy of EU agencies, based on primary data

Réforme de la fonction publique et introduction de la rémunération liée aux performances en Italie [Personnel reform and the introduction of performance-related pay in Italy: evidence, interpretations, lessons]

The paper examines the process of personnel reform in Italy since the beginning of the 1990s. An interpretation of the extensive changes that have occurred in Italy is proposed, based on the analysis of the dynamics of the relations between elected and tenured officials (“the public service bargain”). The second part of the paper considers a specific but highly influential type of reform : performance-related pay. Problems and conditions for its effectiveness are examined, and lessons for would-be reformers in other countries are drawn

Leading to Make a Difference: A Field Experiment on the Performance Effects of Transformational Leadership, Perceived Social Impact, and Public Service Motivation

Scholars have recently begun to investigate job design as one of the contingencies that moderates the performance effects of transformational leadership in public sector organizations. Drawing on this stream of research, we used a completely randomized true experimental research design to explore the potential of two extra-task job characteristics—that is, beneficiary contact and self-persuasion interventions—to enhance the effects of transformational leadership on public employee performance. The participants in our field experiment were 138 nurses at a public hospital in Italy. Whereas participants who were exposed to transformational leadership manipulation alone marginally outperformed a control group, the performance effects of transformational leadership were much greater among nurses who were also exposed to either beneficiary contact or self-persuasion interventions. Follower perceptions of pro-social impact partially mediated the positive interaction of transformational leadership and each of the two job design features on job performance. Moreover, the performance effects of transformational leadership and the interaction effects of transformational leadership and each of the two job design features were greater among participants who self-reported higher levels of public service motivation. The implications of the experimental findings for public administration research and theory are discussed

The impact of bounded subadditivity on administrative behaviour among public and private workers

We use a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design to explore whether and how bounded subadditivity, and the resulting certainty effect, may lead public and private employees to prioritize their activities in ways that are suboptimal for their organizations. In a randomized controlled trial, private sector workers were more likely to join a project to which they were able to provide a small contribution that would turn the probability of success into certainty rather than an alternative project in which their participation would make success twice as likely but not certain. This behaviour, which is consistent with the principle of bounded subadditivity, was not observed among public workers in our sample, who did not show any preference for either project. A qualitative inquiry suggests that the observed difference in susceptibility to bounded subadditivity between public and private employees resonates with public service motivation, self-determination theory and identity economics

Prosocial Motivation of Private Sector IT Professionals Joining Government

Attracting highly skilled IT talent has become a priority and an immense burden for government organizations—especially when they have other—higher paying—employment opportunities. We set out to explore why IT professionals choose a government job to make an impact on society. We aim at disentangling the effects of different types of motives, such as extrinsic, intrinsic, and other-oriented motivational forces on the decision to accept a challenging government IT job. We use self-determination theory (SDT) to analyze publicly available statements of former private sector IT professionals reporting their reason for joining 18F. Our study is one of the first attempts to use SDT as a comprehensive framework for conducting qualitative research into work motivation in the public sector. We shed light on the conceptual and empirical distinctiveness of motives, behaviors, and perceptions of prosocial impact, which are often lumped together in the public service motivation (PSM) literature. We contribute novel empirical evidence to a nascent stream of research that uses SDT to disentangle the intrinsic, prosocial, and purely extrinsic motives that drive individuals’ decisions to join public-sector organizations.publishe