Public Personnel Management

Giauque, David; Renard, Karine; Cornu, Frédéric; Emery, Yves

doi: 10.1177/00910260211073154pmid: 36093284

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss federal government implemented a lockdown that prompted a majority of private and public organizations to implement teleworking solutions for their employees. This study aimed to examine the impact of work modalities, job-related, relational, and organizational climate variables on employees’ engagement, exhaustion, and perceived performance both before and during the forced teleworking period. Based on the job demands-resources framework, a survey was conducted (N = 1,373) in a Swiss Cantonal public administration. Results show that while the forced telework period positively influenced employees’ work autonomy and work–life balance, it negatively influenced their degree of collaboration and perceived job strain but did not affect their engagement levels. The freedom to organize ones’ own work and collaboration with colleagues were identified as the main resources that positively influence employees’ engagement and perceived performance while limiting exhaustion.

Yu, Helen H.

doi: 10.1177/00910260221074971pmid: N/A

The rising nationwide concerns about violence targeting Asians have highlighted the scant research on Asian American police officers. This article aims to (re)introduce this important dialogue and calls for a commitment from other race and social equity scholars to extend the discourse on racial diversity in policing. Using data on race and ethnicity compiled by the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey, this article compares data from the largest 100 cities ranked by their respective Asian population percentage with the percentage of Asian police officers from those same cities to examine Asian diversity in policing. Analysis reveals that all the cities with the exception of five were underrepresented by Asian police officers, and that more work needs to be done by these police departments if they hope to reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.

Alang, Tho; Stanton, Pauline; Rose, Mark

doi: 10.1177/00910260221085583pmid: N/A

This article explores the impact of inclusive leadership behaviors on Indigenous voice and the perception of workplace inclusion by Indigenous employees in Vietnam public agencies. Drawing from qualitative research with managers and Indigenous employees in three public organizations, we found that, first, inclusive leadership behaviors promoted workplace diversity by supporting Indigenous presence through recruitment; training and development opportunities; and promotion into decision making roles. Second, inclusive leadership facilitated Indigenous belongingness by accepting Indigenous employees as important group members, and sympathizing with their challenges. Third, in the context of a Confucian and collectivist-influenced country, inclusive leadership played a crucial role in valuing Indigenous uniqueness by encouraging their voice over their work; valuing their contributions; and respecting their differences. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Chansukree, Pananda; Sagarik, Danuvas; Cho, Wonhyuk

doi: 10.1177/00910260221098737pmid: N/A

Although the growth of social media has changed the way employees communicate at work, our understanding of the related workplace dynamics, particularly in public organizations, is still embryonic. This study fills these research gaps by testing hypotheses, drawn from social cognitive theory and social capital theory, using two sets of data on social media usage patterns and workplace practices among public employees. Our survey data (n = 1,360) analysis revealed that most respondents (more than 72%) spent at least an hour per day on social media while at work, for both work- and non-work-related purposes. Furthermore, public employees with higher levels of social media competence (technical understanding and impact assessment) were more likely to report effective collaboration and seek assistance when needed. The results of scenario-based randomized survey experiment (n = 600) show that the perceived fairness of social media-related termination decisions (or “get dooced”) was influenced by the presence of an explicit workplace social media policy.

Ahn, Yongjin

doi: 10.1177/00910260221096857pmid: N/A

Motivational research has become one of the major topics in public administration. However, public administration researchers have focused disproportionately on public service motivation in accounting for behaviors/attitudes in the public sphere. Somewhat neglected are the different, but no less important, motivations that impact the everyday operations of government employees. To narrow the gap, this study examines the effect of motivations based on organizational mission (mission match) and perceived organizational reputation. Using a large-N sample of U.S. federal employees, results show that mission-matched employees are more likely to be satisfied with their organization. This relationship is mediated through perceived organizational reputation. This study discuss the contributions of introducing organizational reputation as a contextual factor that intervenes in bureaucratic motivation and raise questions for further inquiry.

Hassett, Michael P.

doi: 10.1177/00910260221098189pmid: N/A

This study aims to identify how the access to training and development opportunities influence rates of work engagement in the U.S. federal workforce. Organizations with high rates of work engagement tend to be happier and more efficient than those with lower rates of work engagement. Studies have evidenced that organizational and managerial characteristics can promote work engagement among employees. Through the lens of high-performance work systems and the job demands-resource theory, access to training and development is used as both a high-performance work practice and a job resource to explore its effect on work engagement. Data were drawn from the 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, a nationally representative sample of U.S. federal employees. By employing ordinary least squares analyses, this study shows that there is a positive correlation between having access to training and development opportunities and higher rates of work engagement across the federal workforce.