{"title":"The Double Edge of Public Service Motivation: Promoting and Preventing Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior Through Organizational Identification and Ethical Leadership","authors":"Jiyun Baek, Yousueng Han","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261438161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261438161","url":null,"abstract":"This study develops and tests an integrated model explaining both the promotion and suppression of unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) driven by public service motivation (PSM). While PSM is typically viewed as prosocial, growing research on the PSM’s dark side suggests that it may unintentionally foster UPB by strengthening organizational identification (OI). Drawing on the Cognitive-Affective Personality System (CAPS) theory, this study incorporates ethical leadership (EL) as a contextual moderator that shapes when OI increases or suppresses UPB. Using survey data from Korean public employees, results show that PSM enhances OI, which subsequently promotes UPB. However, EL significantly weakens both the direct effect of OI on UPB and the indirect pathway from PSM to UPB via OI. These findings advance understanding of the dual-function mechanism of PSM by integrating motivational, identity-based, and leadership factors, offering a more comprehensive explanation of when public servants’ prosocial motives lead to ethical versus unethical outcomes.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"249 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148290304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does Telework Always Reduce Work-Family Conflict? Examining the Moderating Roles of Gender","authors":"Ju Won Park","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261441326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261441326","url":null,"abstract":"Telework research has gained significant attention in the wake of the global pandemic. Existing studies in public management generally suggest that telework reduces work-family conflict. However, drawing on conservation of resources and social role theory, we propose that the effects of telework on work-family conflict vary based on the gender of the teleworkers. Using survey data from Korean government employees, we find that telework can help public employees mitigate work–family conflict, but its benefits do not extend equally to women. Specifically, telework is negatively associated with men’s perceptions of work–family conflict, while women report no reduction in such conflict.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148291405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Street-Level Turnover, Human Resource Policy Reforms, and Outcomes in Complex Public Organizations","authors":"Anita Dhillon","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261441821","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261441821","url":null,"abstract":"The public sector is experiencing a hiring crisis. This challenge is particularly evident in organizations that manage complex service delivery while facing sustained high turnover rates. Such organizations have, therefore, implemented multiple policy changes to improve employee stability with a limited understanding of how they affect retention and performance. This study analyzes 9 years of child welfare services data from one U.S. state to explore the relationship between frontline turnover and service outcomes, while accounting for the broader influence of professional identity and workforce capacity. The results show that the turnover-outcome relationship was weak and contingent on goal proximity. Additionally, a hiring policy change to address turnover by expanding the labor pool but ignoring professional identity further exacerbated human capital instability. The paper highlights the need to consider policy context and potential effects on professional identity when implementing changes to address turnover and encourage retention in complex public organizations.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"227 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148290216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of Smart Work Use on Innovative Behavior: Focusing on the Moderating Role of Organizational Goal Ambiguity","authors":"Kyungmin Kim, Sangyub Ryu","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261441877","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261441877","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how smart work use affects innovative behavior among public bureaucrats, particularly focusing on the moderating role of organizational goal ambiguity. Using large-scale survey data from Korean central and local governments ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 29,197), we discover that smart work use, work autonomy, and innovative culture significantly enhance innovation, whereas organizational goal ambiguity suppresses it. Notably, smart work benefits are diminished under goal ambiguity conditions. These findings offer new insights into designing flexible work policies in the public sector, especially where performance and innovation are prioritized.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148290217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francisca Álvarez-Figueroa, Johanna Aguilera-Muñoz
{"title":"When Public Institutions Lack Means: HRM and the Production of Meaningful Work in Chilean Education","authors":"Francisca Álvarez-Figueroa, Johanna Aguilera-Muñoz","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261434030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261434030","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how meaningful work is produced through fragile public HRM systems in reform-driven public education contexts. While often treated as a positive individual experience, meaningful work is conceptualised here as a socially and institutionally embedded process shaped by employment regimes and reform pressures. Drawing on 48 interviews with managers, professionals, and administrative staff across four public education providers, the analysis identifies four interrelated dynamics: HRM structures that institutionalise precarity; commitment to vulnerable communities; self-recognition in the absence of formal validation; and the normalisation of sacrifice as dedication. The article advances public HRM scholarship in three ways. First, it shows that ambivalence in meaningful work is institutionally produced under conditions of fragility. Second, it specifies how HRM configurations mediate between reform-driven instability and employees’ meaning-making. Third, it situates meaningful work within debates on decent work (SDG 8) by demonstrating how moral commitment sustains service delivery while compensating for deficits in security, recognition and institutional care.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147752649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Carmela Di Mauro, Simone Gitto, Alessandro Ancarani, Gyula Vastag
{"title":"The Impact of Workload on Service Time: Coping Mechanisms in Standardized Government Services","authors":"Carmela Di Mauro, Simone Gitto, Alessandro Ancarani, Gyula Vastag","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261432228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261432228","url":null,"abstract":"Scholarship in Public Administration has extensively examined how frontline workers cope with workload. However, most studies focus on public services where employees have significant discretion, leaving standardized services – where service time is a critical measure of customer satisfaction – relatively unexplored. This article investigates the relationship between workload and service time across various standardized government services, emphasizing the influence of job design variables. Drawing on data from 41 government service centers in Hungary, encompassing 3,406,152 worker-customer interactions across 36 services delivered by 947 frontline workers, the analysis reveals that increased workload prompts workers to accelerate service times, highlighting a predominant coping strategy regardless of service knowledge requirements. The relation between workload and service time is shaped by factors such as task specialization, task variety, operational volume, and on-the-job breaks. These findings offer valuable insights for managing government services under high workload conditions.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"197 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147708639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shahidul Hassan, Bradley E. Wright, Darwin A. Baluran, Daniel B. Baker
{"title":"Motivation, Burnout, and Resignation: A Longitudinal Study of Law Enforcement Officers","authors":"Shahidul Hassan, Bradley E. Wright, Darwin A. Baluran, Daniel B. Baker","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261419150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261419150","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines whether frontline public sector workers with higher public service motivation (PSM) are less likely to resign during challenging periods than their lower-PSM counterparts. We link data from two separate surveys fielded in 2019 to resignation records of sworn officers from a state-level law enforcement agency over the subsequent three years. Multilevel Probit regression analyses indicate a significant negative association between PSM and resignation and a positive association between burnout and resignation. Specifically, a one–standard-deviation increase in PSM score is associated with a 2.8-percentage-point lower probability of resignation, whereas a one–standard-deviation increase in burnout score corresponds to a 3.5-percentage-point higher probability of resignation. We also find evidence suggesting PSM diminishes the adverse effects of elevated burnout on resignation. These findings suggest that PSM can help sustain law enforcement officers in their roles during challenging periods by dampening burnout-related resignation pressures. We conclude with implications for PSM theory and for managing officer well-being and retention.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147489901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“They Don’t Know Who We Are”: Fear-Based Resistance and HRM in Public Service","authors":"Ofelia Palermo, Henrique Duarte","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261419163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261419163","url":null,"abstract":"By reframing fear as a strategic resource in HRM, this study explores how public sector organizations can support employees while maintaining operational effectiveness. Efforts to enhance service delivery through efficiency, targets, and accountability create tensions between professional values and corporate imperatives, leading to disengagement. While managers may use fear to align individuals with corporate values, employees can mobilize it as concertive resistance against identity regulation. Setting our study in the UK Probation Service, we reveal how employees’ strategic use of fear challenges managerial control, resisting the divisions imposed by identity regulation and identity threat. Rather than portraying employees as passive subjects of managerialism, we position them as active contributors to reducing the structural, instead of the interpersonal, imbalance between them and managers. Recognizing resistance as integral to public management allows HRM frameworks to foster a resilient, engaged workforce, addressing those complexities in an evolving public sector.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147478016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jan Wynen, Stéphanie Verlinden, Bjorn Kleizen, Danika Pieters, Koen Verhoest
{"title":"Overqualified Civil Servants, a Bargain or a Risk in a Turbulent Public Sector? Examining the Impact of Overqualification Within Teams on Trust in Change Management and Qualitative Job Insecurity","authors":"Jan Wynen, Stéphanie Verlinden, Bjorn Kleizen, Danika Pieters, Koen Verhoest","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261420114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261420114","url":null,"abstract":"Public organizations regularly undergo reforms that create uncertainty for employees. Trust in change management, meaning employees believe leaders will handle reforms fairly, transparently and competently, is essential for coping with such changes. Team dynamics can weaken this trust. One important factor is overqualification, which occurs when employees have more skills or education than their job requires. Although sometimes viewed as an advantage, overqualification can also create frustration and doubt during reform. This study examines how the presence of overqualified employees in teams affects collective trust in change management and shapes perceptions of qualitative job insecurity, the feeling that valued aspects of work are under threat. Using data from a Belgian government agency, the findings show that teams with more overqualified employees report lower trust in change management, which increases qualitative job insecurity. The results highlight the paradox of overqualification and its implications for managing change.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147478017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Political Interests, Fiscal Capacity, Price Priority, and Employee Safeguards in Outsourcing Contracts","authors":"Gustav Egede Hansen, Bjarke Lund-Sørensen","doi":"10.1177/0734371x261419137","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x261419137","url":null,"abstract":"Outsourcing comes with potential negative employee-related social costs since private sector organizations are not obliged to uphold public personnel regulations. In response, some local governments specify contract rules safeguarding outsourced employees. To understand why, we combine literature on outsourced employees and incomplete contracts. We hypothesize that employee safeguards are a function of local governments’ political interests, fiscal capacity, and priority of contract price. Collaborating with purchasing practitioners, we develop a safeguard catalog and determine the use of safeguards in a unique dataset of 3,396 documents related to 247 Danish tenders involving the transfers of employees from public to private employment. We find that local governments with less fiscal capacity and more price orientation include fewer safeguards. These findings signal that certain local governments have more willingness and capacity to safeguard employees and thus potentially decrease unaccounted employee-related social costs of outsourcing.","PeriodicalId":47609,"journal":{"name":"Review of Public Personnel Administration","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}