Employee involvement, public service motivation, and perceived organizational performance: testing a new model
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852316662531 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
2018, Vol. 84(4) 746–764
!The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0020852316662531
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International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Article
Employee involvement, public
service motivation, and perceived
organizational performance:
testing a new model
Fanhua Qi
Renmin University of China, China
Weijie Wang
The College at Brockport, State University of New York, USA
Abstract
Limited research has been conducted to explore the mechanisms through which
employee involvement affects organizational performance. This article furthers the
research on the mechanisms by testing a new causal model based on the theoretical
framework of high-involvement work systems. Based on data collected from a sample of
civil servants in China, we used structural equation modeling to find that the direct
effect of involvement practices on organizational performance is positive and statistically
significant. However, the indirect path mediated by job satisfaction and organizational
commitment are not statistically significant. In addition, we found that public service
motivation exerts a positive and direct effect on organizational performance. PSM is
more prominent than job commitment or satisfaction in motivating public employees to
work towards organizational goals and to work harder.
Points for practitioners
Public managers should pay more attention to involving employees in management,
which will not only improve organizational performance but also increase employees’
job satisfaction and affective commitment. Involvement can take a variety of forms such
as sharing information with subordinates, providing performance evaluation feedback,
and involving employees in decision-making.
Keywords
civil service, employee involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organ-
izational performance, public service motivation
Corresponding author:
Weijie Wang, Assistant Professor Department of Public Administration, College at Brockport, State
University of New York, 55 St Paul Street, Rochester, NY 14604, USA.
Email: wwang@brockport.edu
Introduction
Employee involvement has been found to lead to superior organizational perform-
ance in both private and public sectors. In the private sector, employee involvement
increases financial performance (Riordan et al., 2005), firm productivity (Guthrie,
2001), service quality (Nielsen and Pedersen, 2003), and reduces employee turnover
(Guthrie, 2001; Riordan et al., 2005). Using data from the 2006 Federal Human
Capital Survey, Fernandez and Moldogaziev (2011) found that four practices of
employee empowerment all exerted a positive and statistically significant impact on
perceived organizational performance. They further modeled the causal process by
testing the mediating effect of job satisfaction and innovativeness (Fernandez and
Moldogaziev, 2013). Using six rounds of federal employee surveys conducted from
1979 to 2002, Lee et al. (2006) consistently found that empowerment exerted a
positive influence over organizational effectiveness.
Despite the progress made regarding the effect of employee involvement on
organizational performance, limited research has been conducted to explore the
underlying mechanisms (Fernandez and Moldogaziev, 2013). This article takes
on the task by testing a new model based on the theoretical framework of high-
involvement work systems (HIWSs), which is a conceptual companion of high-
performance work systems (HPWSs). The research on HIWSs and HPWSs
attempts to discover the individual and organizational characteristics that affect
the performance of organizations. Another objective of this research is to study
how public service motivation influences the relationship between employee
involvement and organizational performance, which has not been studied in
public personnel research. Since public employees generally have stronger motiv-
ation to serve the public, how this motivation may complicate the theoretical
framework of HIWSs derived from business management becomes a question
worth studying. In addition, previous research on the effect of employee involve-
ment on organizational performance has usually been based on data collected from
civil servants in the US. This article extends the research by studying civil servants
in China.
Theoretical framework
High-involvement work system and organizational performance
The high-involvement work system is a type of participatory initiative that involves
employees in decision-making and management (Lawler, 1992). Some scholars
argue that PIRK is a distinguishing feature of HIWSs: employees at all levels
simultaneously have increased power (P), access to critical information (I), expos-
ure to rewards (R) and organizational- and task-related knowledge (K) (Butts
et al., 2009; Lawler, 1992; Vandenberg et al., 1999).
Three major models have been proposed to explore the mechanisms through
which HIWSs produce effects on organizational performance. Some scholars drew
on human capital theory and developed a cognitive model. They argued that
Qi and Wang 747
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