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Stability not change: Improving frontline employee motivation through organizational reform is harder than it looks
Author(s) -
Loon Nina M.,
Baekgaard Martin,
Moynihan Donald P.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/padm.12639
Subject(s) - public service motivation , incentive , malleability , autonomy , intrinsic motivation , government (linguistics) , public relations , self determination theory , employee motivation , goal theory , set (abstract data type) , work motivation , business , psychology , political science , public sector , social psychology , economics , microeconomics , computer science , encryption , rework , linguistics , philosophy , programming language , operating system , ciphertext , embedded system , law
As evidence mounts about the positive effects of autonomous motivation such as public service motivation, there is a growing case for public organizations to design reforms to better support public employees’ inherent desire to help others. But how feasible is this in reality? Most experimental evidence on autonomous motivation stems from interventions at the individual level, possibly exaggerating what government reforms can achieve in reality. We present a longitudinal study that analyses a three‐year trial in Danish hospitals in which incentives and autonomy were changed to encourage autonomous motivation. This set‐up offers a rare opportunity to observe the potential malleability of intrinsic, public service, user and external motivation. The results show little observable change in motivation due to the reform. We explore the practical difficulties of translating evidence about motivation into reforms given implementation challenges, contextual factors and a recognition that motivation might be less malleable than implied by research.