Street-level bureaucrats’ turnover intention: does public service motivation matter?
| Author | Hyun Hee Park,Tae Ho Eom,Dong Chul Shim |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852315582137 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Review of
Administrative
Article
Sciences
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
2017, Vol. 83(3) 563–582
Street-level bureaucrats’ turnover
! The Author(s) 2015
Reprints and permissions:
intention: does public service
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0020852315582137
motivation matter?
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
Dong Chul Shim
Korea University, Korea
Hyun Hee Park
Kookmin University, Korea
Tae Ho Eom
Yonsei University, Korea
Abstract
This study examines the joint influences of work exhaustion, job demands (red tape,
role conflict, work overload), and public service motivation on street-level bureaucrats’
turnover intention. Based on a survey of 4974 Korean street-level bureaucrats, the
study examines the potential mediating role of work exhaustion and complex moder-
ating role of public service motivation in determining street-level bureaucrats’ turnover
intention. In line with previous research, we find that job demands have both direct and
indirect associations with street-level bureaucrats’ turnover intention through work
exhaustion. However, public service motivation was found to reduce the employees’
turnover intention in two different ways. First, public service motivation was found to
have a direct negative association with turnover intention. In addition, it was also found
to mitigate the positive associations between job demands and work exhaustion, and
between job demands and turnover intention.
Points for practitioners
The findings of the current study provide several practical implications for public man-
agers. First of all, it suggests that imbuing public sector values through formal and
informal training is important. Second, it provides some clues for local government
managers to reduce street-level bureaucrats’ work exhaustion and turnover intention.
For example, the problem of work overload for street-level bureaucrats could be
reduced by reassigning work responsibilities according to workload analyses for
given jobs.
Corresponding author:
Tae Ho Eom, Department of Public Administration, Yonsei University, Shinchon-Dong 134, Seodaemun-Gu,
Seoul 120-749, Korea.
Email: theom@yonsei.ac.kr
564
International Review of Administrative Sciences 83(3)
Keywords
human resource management, public management
Introduction
Street-level bureaucrats are front-line workers who provide public goods and ser-
vices to the public directly. In positions that deal with people who need public
services, they understand the needs of citizens and use this knowledge to transform
abstract notions of public policy into concrete actions and information serving the
best interests of citizens (Prottas, 1978). Their ability to interpret policies at the
ground level and their familiarity with the public are crucial resources in the
successful implementation of public policy programs – even highly centralized
ones – and these skills are not easily replaced (Abbasi and Hollman, 2000;
Balfour and Neff, 1993; Honig, 2006; Kelly, 1994; Lipsky, 1983; Weissert, 1994).
In addressing street-level bureaucrats’ turnover, government agencies not only
require the substantial financial and organizational resources to recruit and develop
new employees (Griffith and Horn, 2001; Wright and Kim, 2004), but must also
bear the cost of the disrupted relationships with the citizens and loss of the employ-
ees’ accumulated knowledge.
When and why do street-level bureaucrats want to leave their organizations? Given
that local government organizations are currently trying to accomplish many tasks
with limited budgets and resources, many street-level bureaucrats are overwhelmed
by the amount and variety of the work they must perform. At the same time,
because of ‘red tape’ and repetitive duties, street-level bureaucrats often lose
their initial motivation and become disengaged from their work. Moreover,
under the current economic downturn, new private sector-oriented forms of cut-
back management can spark resistance and resentment in street-level bureaucrats,
leading some to contemplate a change of career. In this situation, local government
managers often find it challenging to retain qualified employees who have alterna-
tive career opportunities in non-profit or private-sector organizations. Thus, it is
not surprising that street-level bureaucrats often experience high levels of stress.
Previous studies have suggested that work exhaustion is often found in street-level
bureaucrats whose primary job consists in ‘processing’ people, who are often emo-
tionally exhausted (Golembiewski et al., 1992, 1998), and exhausted employees are
more likely to leave their organization (Kim, 2005; Kim and Wright, 2007). Based
on a survey of Korean local government employees, this study examines the work-
related stress that results from dealing with citizens and the disappointment with
careers in the public service as one of the primary reasons for turnover intention
among street-level bureaucrats.
The current study also explores how street-level bureaucrats’ public service
motivation (PSM) influences their turnover intention. Previous PSM studies have
suggested that employees with high levels of PSM are expected to have lower
levels of turnover intention because they tend to choose to pursue careers in the
Shim et al.
565
public sector and are more likely than others to endure the obstacles and
stresses that come with public sector jobs (Lewis and Frank, 2002; Perry and
Wise, 1990; Vandenabeele, 2008). Based on this notion, several studies have exam-
ined the association between PSM and turnover intention but have found the
associations to be moderate or insignificant (Bright, 2008; Kim and Lee, 2007).
In light of this, the current study will examine how PSM can reduce the employees’
turnover intention.
Literature review and research model
Job demands, work exhaustion, and turnover intention
Work exhaustion, also often referred to as ‘tedium’ or ‘job burnout’ by previous
research, is defined as physical and psychological exhaustion in response to the
chronic emotional strain of dealing extensively with demanding situations at work,
such as work pressures, work overload, conflicts, and high levels of stress (Cordes
and Dougherty, 1993; Moore, 2000). Emotionally drained employees are also more
likely than others to demonstrate withdrawal behaviors (e.g. absenteeism), to
detach themselves socially from other co-workers (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993),
and to intend to leave the organization (e.g. Drake and Yadama, 1996; Kim, 2005;
Kim and Wright, 2007). Street-level bureaucrats who provide human services
requiring them to ‘process’ people tend to be more susceptible to work exhaustion
than other employees (Golembiewski et al., 1992, 1998; Huang et al., 2003;
Jayaratne and Chess, 1984; Manlove and Guzell, 1997; Samantrai, 1992), and
the resulting high level of work exhaustion has been recognized as one of the
primary antecedents for these employees’ turnover intention (Bertelli, 2007).
In particular, work exhaustion has become an important issue for Korean local
government employees. The Korean government has recently been striving to
develop new systems for providing public services through various public service
programs, and previous studies have found that Korean street-level bureaucrats
tended to have a high turnover intention because of high work stress and exhaus-
tion (Kang et al., 2011; Kim, 2006; Kwon, 2006).
The Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) theory recently developed by Bakker et al.
(Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al., 2001) has been used extensively to
explain the associations between various job characteristics, work exhaustion, and
turnover intention. According to this theory, job characteristics could be categor-
ized into two different aspects: job demands and job resources. Job demands can be
defined as the job constraints that constitute a psychological burden for employees
in their professional lives. For example, work overload, role ambiguity, role con-
flict, and excessive contact with and complaints from clients all constitute job
demands. In addition, certain job demands specific to the challenges of public
sector management, such as red tape, politics, and the excessive performance
requirements demanded by the new managerial approach of New Public
Management, also need to be identified (Liu et al., 2014). On that basis, the current
566
International Review of Administrative Sciences 83(3)
study adopted (1) work conflict, (2) work overload, and (3) red tape as job demand
components likely to have significant influences on street-level bureaucrats’ turn-
over intention.
Work overload can be characterized as ‘conditions having long difficult working
hours, pressure to work overtime, lesser holidays or breaks, unreasonable work
overload, and improbable expectations of what can be achieved in some given
limited time and with available resources’ (Altaf and Awan, 2011: 93). Work over-
load can either originate from actual working conditions (i.e. overtime work, heavy
workload, difficulty of the tasks) or from individual perceptions or orientations in
the workplace (i.e. the feeling of obligation to work more, or the pro-social orien-
tation to help citizens).
Role conflict originates from inconsistent expectations from multiple stake-
holders (e.g. the community, clients, professional groups, and co-workers) and/or
conflicting role demands (e.g. reducing costs versus providing good services).
Street-level bureaucrats face multiple and often contradictory expectations from
citizens, their...
To continue reading
Request your trial