An employee perspective of human resource development practices in the public sector: the role of organizational and supervisor support
| Author | Evangelia Mylona,Dimitrios Mihail |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320952858 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
An employee perspective
of human resource
development practices in
the public sector: the role
of organizational and
supervisor support
Evangelia Mylona
University of Macedonia, Greece
Dimitrios Mihail
University of Macedonia, Greece
Abstract
This article adopts an employee-level perspective, which is currently lacking in the
public sector literature, and responds to the call for additional research concerning
factors that affect public employees’ job attitudes and work behaviours. Based on a
survey of civil servants, this study explored the antecedents and outcomes of perceived
investment in employee development. Our research demonstrates the significant role
of organizational support on employees’ perceptions of development. Furthermore,
supervisor support mediated the relationship between organizational support and per-
ceived investment in employee development. This finding sheds light on the role of
supervisors as agents who represent or personify the organization. Also, consistent
with the job demands–resources model and social exchange theory, we indicate that
public employees within a workplace that provides substantial training and develop-
mental incentives are more likely to report greater levels of organizational commitment
and organizational citizenship behaviour. Perceived investment in employee develop-
ment was found to act as an important mediator between the relationships of
Corresponding author:
Evangelia Mylona, Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street,
GR-540 06, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Email: emylona@uom.edu.gr
International Review of Administrative
Sciences
!The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0020852320952858
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2022, Vol. 88(3) 739–756
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
organizational support and employees’ outcomes, and supervisor support and employ-
ees’ outcomes.
Points for practitioners
When human resources budgets are increasingly restricted, non-monetary motivators
can be a feasible alternative to high-cost financial rewards. It is suggested that not only
will employee development practices benefit public organizations in terms of better-
trained and better-qualified employees, but employees’ perceptions of organizations’
investments in employee development also create a felt obligation among public
employees to reciprocate with positive job attitudes and work behaviours.
Keywords
employee attitudes, employee behaviours, perceived investment in employee develop-
ment, perceived organizational support, perceived supervisor support, public
management.
Introduction
Over the last two decades, public sector reforms have focused mainly on imple-
menting a range of private sector managerial tools and methods (Ritz, 2009),
known as New Public Management (NPM), to maximize the value of employees,
among others. Since an appropriately skilled and deployed workforce is crucial for
the success of public service delivery (Vermeeren, 2017), today’s reformers have
adopted Human Resource Management (HRM) systems, such as the knowledge
incentive system that focuses on employees’ training and development (Tessema et
al., 2014).
Given that organizations are increasingly relying on employee development as a
key part of how they function effectively and continuously improve (Pierce and
Maurer, 2009), it is not surprising that employee development opportunities have
become a topic of utmost importance for both academics and practitioners.
Kuvaas and Dysvik (2010: 139) adopted an employee perspective and defined
perceived investment in employee development (PIED) as ‘employees’ assessment
of their organization’s long-term and continuous commitment to helping employ-
ees learn to identify and obtain new skills and competencies’. A number of studies
have focused on PIED because of its positive effect on both the organization and
employees (Dysvik et al., 2016).
Research on employee development in private sector business and industry has
put forward the significance of interactions between organizations, managers and
employees by focusing on social support, specifically on the concepts of perceived
organizational support (POS) and perceived supervisor support (PSS). Eisenberger
et al. (1986) defined POS as the extent to which the organization values employees’
740 International Review of Administrative Sciences 88(3)
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