Jessica O'ConnorPublic sector workers are often driven by a strong sense of purpose, but whether that motivation translates into performance depends heavily on their working environment, according to research from Edith Cowan University.
The study, led by Dr Esme Franken, found that employees’ feelings about their workplace play a decisive role in whether they go above and beyond in their roles – or become disengaged.
Franken said: “Taxpayer funded employment in the public sector aims to fulfill an integral public service to our communities, but how individual public sector employees feel about their work environment is key to their motivation to get the job done, go above and beyond – or fall flat.”
The research surveyed 222 public servants and used the circumplex model of affect (CMA) to analyse how emotions, attitudes and workplace conditions interact with public service motivation (PSM).
The findings identified four distinct profiles of public sector employees: enacted, motivated and coping, resigned, and thwarted.
The majority of respondents, 55%, fell into the enacted category, where high motivation is supported by a positive work environment.
A further 27% were classified as motivated and coping, while 14% were described as resigned and 4% as thwarted.
While the results revealed that most public servants are motivated and supported, the study also highlighted that a significant proportion experience strong motivation but are unable to translate this into outcomes due to organisational constraints.
Franken said this challenges assumptions about intrinsic motivation in the public sector: “What became clear is employees who have an innate motivation and a desire to serve the public, didn’t experience it equally.
“Some public servants experience high PSM but really felt thwarted in their motivation and ability to achieve desired outcomes, because they are unable to enact their motivation due to systemic and environmental constraints.”
The research pointed to a range of structural factors that can limit motivation, including bureaucracy, the reactive nature of public service organisations and ongoing change driven by reforms and election cycles.
These pressures can lead to frustration, self-blame and lower job satisfaction, even among highly motivated employees.
Co-author Professor Ben Farr-Wharton said the findings reinforce the importance of workplace culture and leadership in shaping employee outcomes.
Farr-Wharton said: “We know that if you work in a supportive work environment or have high PSM, your wellbeing is likely to be 30 per cent higher than average.
“Contrastingly, if you have a bad boss, your wellbeing is likely to be 50 per cent lower. A bad public service work environment is counterproductive to everyone.”
He added: “Our findings show that you can be in a supportive environment with a bad line manager and still have high PSM but experience low wellbeing.
“They are not mutually exclusive and can occur simultaneously. The truth is we feel multiple things at once and workforce psychology and ecology is complex—the notion of ‘wellbeing’ or ‘burnout’ is not a one-size-fits-all.”
The study concluded that while many public sector workers are committed to serving their communities, organisations must create environments that allow employees to act on that motivation.
Without this, there is a greater risk of reduced job satisfaction, lower organisational commitment and higher turnover.
Farr-Wharton said: “Unless employees are afforded the ability to enact their motivation and contribute positively to service their communities, PSOs are at high-risk of producing negative outcomes for both individual employees and the organisation, through lower job satisfaction and increased turnover.”
