Intrinsic Motivation and Employee Attitudes
Intrinsic Motivation and Employee Attitudes
Intrinsic Motivation and Employee Attitudes
Administration
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What is This?
421495
and PerryReview of Public Personnel Administration
ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X11421495Cho
Abstract
Motivation scholars have argued that intrinsic motivation is an important driver of
employee attitudes. This research tests the influence of intrinsic motivation on
employee attitudes and explores three factors conditioning the effects of intrinsic
motivation: managerial trustworthiness, goal directedness, and extrinsic reward
expectancy. The analysis demonstrates that intrinsic motivation is substantively
associated with both employee satisfaction and turnover intention. It also reveals
that the three conditional factors interact with intrinsic motivation. Managerial
trustworthiness and goal directedness increase the leverage of intrinsic motivation on
employee satisfaction, whereas extrinsic rewards expectancy decreases the leverage.
With respect to turnover intention, the factors directly influence it rather than affect
it indirectly through intrinsic motivation. The implications of the results for theory
and managerial strategies for employee motivation are discussed.
Keywords
employee attitudes, behavior, and motivation, organizational behavior/development,
federal government HRM, turnover/organizational mobility, human capital
The federal government is expecting a massive retirement of baby boomers during the
next decade. The size of the retirement tsunami and the federal governments ability
1
Corresponding Author:
Yoon Jik Cho, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration,Yonsei University
50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749, South Korea
Email: yoonjikcho@yonsei.ac.kr
Theoretical Framework
We present the theory underlying our hypotheses in three steps. First, we review the
basic tenets of self-determination theory, which explains the role of intrinsic motivation.
Next, we discuss three factors conditioning the leverage of intrinsic motivation, including managerial trustworthiness, goal directedness, and extrinsic reward expectancy.
The presentation of the theory concludes with discussion of how intrinsic motivation
and the three factors are expected to interact. Following presentation of the theoretical framework, we explicate the research hypotheses.
Intrinsic Motivation
Motivation is a multidimensional construct. One well-established way to think about
dimensions of motivation is according to the origins of individual motivation: intrinsic
and extrinsic. The former arises from the task itself, while the latter comes from expectations of external rewards. Amabile (1993) offers a formal definition:
Individuals are intrinsically motivated when they seek enjoyment, interest, satisfaction of curiosity, self-expression, or personal challenge in the work.
Individuals are extrinsically motivated when they engage in the work in order to
obtain some goal that is apart from the work itself. (p. 186)
Research suggests that intrinsic motivation may be more effective than extrinsic
motivation. Deci and Ryans (2004) self-determination theory, for instance, envisions
a continuum of motivations, ranging from controlled to autonomous motivation. They
contend that internalization of values into an identity, which is itself a source of motivation, is based on the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs, competence,
autonomy, and relatedness. They thus distinguish four types of identity regulation corresponding to types of extrinsic motivation: external regulation, introjection, identification, and integration. If an environment fosters the basic needs of individuals, the
degree of internalization of identities will be higher (Deci & Ryan, 2004). In the current version of the Deci and Ryan (2004) theory, two forms of extrinsic motivation,
identification and integration, afford individuals relatively high degrees of autonomy.
Although these types of extrinsic motivation permit relatively high motivation, they
fall short of motivation levels attained from intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation
is distinctive in that employees are motivated without external rewards or recognition,
and it works as the most powerful driver of employee attitudes and performance.
(Paarlberg & Perry, 2007; Ridder, Bruns, & Spier, 2006; Van Wart, 2003) and their
trustworthiness makes a difference in workplace. Besides serving as an antecedent of
trust, trustworthiness enhances job performance (Dirks & Skarlicki, 2009). Cho and
Ringquist (2011) recently demonstrated that managerial trustworthiness is substantially related to cooperation and work quality in federal agencies. Goal ambiguity is
considered one of the distinctive characteristics of public organizations (Chun &
Rainey, 2005), which may differentiate the effect of intrinsic motivation. The third
factor, extrinsic reward expectancy, has its meaning in that we test whether there is a
crowding out in the public sector organizations. The current research explores the
direct associations of the three factors with employee attitudes and how they moderate
the effect of intrinsic motivation.
Managerial Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness works as an antecedent of trust. As scholars have come to understand
trust as a managerial resource, they have identified the elements of trustworthiness,
including competence, consistency, fairness, integrity, loyalty, openness, receptivity,
benevolence, and value congruence (Butler, 1991; Larzelere & Huston, 1980; Sitkin
& Roth, 1993). Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman (1995) synthesized these elements
into three, ability, benevolence, and integrity, which they called factors of perceived
trustworthiness.
Ability is understood as the trustees competence in his or her role in the organization. This factor is critical in that it serves as a fundamental basis of trust building. From
an expectancy perspective, if supervisors do not have the competence to perform, trust
may not emerge even though they have benevolence and integrity. Benevolence
reflects positive personal attachment to a trustor (Mayer et al., 1995). Paying attention
to the well-beings of trustors and giving personalized care are examples of benevolent
behaviors. Mayer et al. (1995) define integrity as a broad concept including consistency between words and actions, fair treatment of people, and transparency in communication. We associate integrity with honesty and fairness.
Managerial trustworthiness is positively associated with employee attitudes, including employee satisfaction and intent to leave, by facilitating trust building between
managers and subordinates (Dirks & Ferrin, 2001; Kramer, 1999; Mayer et al., 1995).
However, the effects of trustworthiness are not confined to its role as an antecedent of
trust because it also directly leads to positive outcomes within organizations. Managerial
trustworthiness increases affective commitment, risk-taking behaviors, organizational
citizenship behaviors, and task performance (Colquitt, Scott, & LePine, 2007). Dirks
and Skarlicki (2009) demonstrate that trustworthy employees perform better than others because trustworthy employees receive more benefits and resources from coworkers. Besides a direct effect, managerial trustworthiness might produce a moderating
effect because it nurtures an environment where employees direct their energy toward
goal achievement (Dirks, 1999). Recent studies lead us to examine the moderating role
Goal Directedness
Goal directedness is a critical role of leaders. Goal setting theory posits that having
clear and challenging goals increase motivation (Locke & Latham, 1990). Methods to
define and provide clear goals are found in many major management initiatives. The
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, for example, requires
every federal agency to set goals and performance targets. Employing the idea of strategic planning, the Act emphasizes the importance of clarifying mission and objectives. Consistent with goal setting theory, Chun and Rainey (2005) demonstrated that
federal agencies having ambiguous goals suffer from low performance. To effectively
manage this characteristic of government organizations, we need to understand how
goal ambiguity affects diverse managerial practices and employee motivation and
how to mitigate its possible negative influences.
Leader behaviors can help to mitigate goal ambiguity. Their efforts to communicate
a mission can clarify goals. Scholars of transformational leadership indicate that communicating a vision is a crucial attribute of effective leaders (Baum, Locke, & Kirkpatrick,
1998). For example, Kouzes and Posner (1987) argue that the vision should be communicated through both a written statement and personal communication, and communication by managers can inspire employees (Westly & Mintzberg, 1989). Baum
et al. (1998) showed that communicating a vision leads to better organizational
performance.
Wright, 2006), which may decrease their motivation and performance (Locke &
Latham, 1990). In contrast, goal directedness by leaders nurtures working conditions
where employees can achieve their potential in accomplishing tasks by increasing
employees belief in the impact of their work (Piccolo & Colquitt, 2006). This enhanced
feeling of competence will lead to increased influence of intrinsic motivation.
In contrast to the influences of managerial trustworthiness and goal directedness,
we posit that extrinsic reward expectancy will decrease influence of intrinsic motivation. As noted above, an accumulation of research finds crowding out of intrinsic
motivation when extrinsic motivation increases. In a study of the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), Bertelli (2006) observed motivation crowding out among supervisors
with high levels of intrinsic motivation. Because of the perception of being controlled,
the effect of intrinsic motivation will be lessened when employees perceive high
expectancy of extrinsic rewards.
This research expects that managerial trustworthiness and goal directedness will
strengthen the tie between intrinsic motivation and work attitudes. In other words, they
will promote the positive linkage between intrinsic motivation and employee satisfaction, whereas they will reinforce the negative linkage between the motivation and
intent to leave. On the other hand, extrinsic reward expectancy is likely to weaken the
tie because employees are more likely to perceive external intervention as reducing
their self-determination, thereby substituting extrinsic control for intrinsic motivation
(Frey & Jegen, 2001).
Hypotheses
The research framework appears in Figure 1.2 Intrinsic motivation is expected to have
positive associations with both employee satisfaction and turnover intention. Besides
their direct effects, the three conditional factors, managerial trustworthiness, goal
directedness, and extrinsic reward expectancy, moderate the relationships between
intrinsic motivation and the attitudes. As the signals in parentheses indicate, managerial trustworthiness and goal directedness are expected to strengthen the ties by fulfilling the psychological needs of employees, whereas extrinsic reward expectancy is
assumed to weaken the ties by crowding out. Accordingly, we establish following
hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1: Intrinsic motivation will be positively associated with employee
satisfaction and will be negatively associated with turnover intention.
Hypothesis 2: The tie between intrinsic motivation and employee attitudes will
be strengthened under high levels of managerial trustworthiness.
Hypothesis 3: The tie between intrinsic motivation and employee attitudes will
be strengthened under high levels of goal directedness.
Hypothesis 4: The tie between intrinsic motivation and employee attitudes will
be weakened under high levels of extrinsic reward expectancy.
Employee Attitudes
Managerial
Trustworthiness
Goal Directedness
Extrinsic Reward
Employee Satisfaction
Expectancy
(+)
(+)
()
Intrinsic Motivation
Intent to Leave
Control Variables
Individual Resources
Female
Minority
Supervisory Status
Age
Agency Experience
The framework includes several control variables that are often considered to
explain employee attitudes. Individual resources are assumed to have a positive correlation with satisfaction, whereas it is expected to have a negative relationship with
intent to leave in that the importance of resources has been acknowledged among
scholars (e.g., Boyne, 2003; Rainey & Steinbauer, 1999). In addition, several demographic variables are included: gender (female); racial minority; supervisory status;
age; and agency experience.
Method
The data were drawn from the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS). Since
2002, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has conducted the survey
every 2 years to measure the perceptions of federal employees (U.S. Office of
Personnel Management, 2009). The survey population includes full-time, permanent
employees working in agencies listed in the Presidents Management Council, who
constitute 97% of the executive branch workforce. In addition, 54 small/independent
agencies participated in the survey. Using a probability sampling based on organizational
Results
We begin presenting our results with an assessment of potential common method
bias. Next we turn to presentation of descriptive statistics, followed by the OLS
regression for employee satisfaction and the logit analysis for intent to leave. For
10
Intent to leave
Independent variables
Intrinsic motivation
Managerial trustworthiness
Goal directedness
Extrinsic reward
expectancy
Individual resources
11
Minority
Supervisory status
Age
Agency experience
both analyses, interactions between intrinsic motivation and three conditional factors are discussed.
Descriptive Statistics
Table 2 presents descriptive statistics for the study variables. Variables comprised of
multiple items are integrated by using a mean value. Because the 2008 FHCS uses
5-point Likert-type scales, the minimum value is 1 and maximum value is 5. Among
major variables, extrinsic reward expectancy has the lowest mean, 3.11, whereas
12
Mean
SD
Min
Max
Satisfaction
Intent to leave
Intrinsic motivation
Trustworthiness
Goal Directedness
Extrinsic reward expectancy
Individual resources
Female
Minority
Supervisory status
Age
Agency experience
3.68
0.31
4.17
3.58
3.56
3.13
3.28
0.46
0.30
0.34
3.44
5.03
1.00
0.46
0.75
0.93
1.01
1.05
1.06
0.50
0.46
0.47
0.99
1.23
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
5
1
5
5
5
5
5
1
1
1
5
6
intrinsic motivation shows the largest mean value. In the sample, 46% of respondents
are female, 30% are minorities, and 34% have supervisory status.
Zero-order correlations among the study variables appear in Table 3. The correlations among several variables are high, including satisfaction, trustworthiness, intrinsic motivation, and individual resources. To test whether these variables are properly
measured as differentiated concepts, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis for
variables included in the model. The analysis showed acceptable goodness-of-fit indices (result not shown). Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.079,
within the range of acceptable fit of 0.80. Normed fit index (NFI), comparative fit
index (CFI), and goodness-of-fit index (GFI) are over 0.90, which reflects acceptable
fit (NFI = 0.97; CFI = 0.97; GFI = 0.90). Standardized root mean square residual
(RMR) was 0.035, for which the upper threshold is 0.05.4
13
Satisfaction
Intent to leave
Intrinsic motivation
Trustworthiness
Goal directedness
Reward expectancy
Individual resources
Female
Minority
Supervisory status
Age
Agency experience
(0.90)
0.41**
0.66**
0.80**
0.65**
0.66**
0.50**
0.02**
0.02**
0.14**
0.01**
0.00
0.28**
0.32**
0.25**
0.26**
0.21**
0.01**
0.04**
0.03**
0.01**
0.03**
(0.80)
0.53**
0.44**
0.44**
0.32**
0.01
0.01**
0.14**
0.07**
0.04**
(0.92)
0.72**
0.74**
0.45**
0.08**
0.08**
0.20**
0.00
0.01
(0.90)
0.60**
0.40**
0.01
0.01*
0.13**
0.00
0.00
(0.87)
0.42**
0.05**
0.02**
0.20**
0.02**
0.04**
Note: Cronbachs alpha in the parentheses for variables with multi-item measures. N = 56,712.
*p < .05. **p < .01.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Variables
(0.90)
0.05**
0.07**
0.11**
0.02**
0.08**
0.29**
0.23**
0.08**
0.05**
0.10**
0.08**
0.06**
0.14**
0.29**
10
0.60**
11
14
SE
0.419****
0.463****
0.092****
0.085****
0.004
0.004
0.003
0.003
0.318
0.431
0.094
0.089
Intrinsic Trustworthiness
Intrinsic Goal Directedness
Intrinsic Reward Expectancy
0.014****
0.006**
0.023****
0.003
0.003
0.003
0.018
0.008
0.027
Individual resources
Female
Minority
Supervisory status
Age
Agency experience
Constant
0.126****
0.020****
0.006
0.001
0.021****
0.003
0.653****
0.002
0.005
0.006
0.005
0.003
0.002
0.017
0.135
0.010
0.002
0.000
0.020
0.004
Intrinsic motivation
Trustworthiness
Goal directedness
Reward Expectancy
56,969
11,687.58
.7273
N
F-value
R2
*p < .10. **p < .05. ***p < .01. ****p < .001.
intrinsic motivation is a stronger driver than extrinsic motivation. One can observe the
value of managerial trustworthiness as a managerial resource. It has the largest leverage among the variables, and the postestimation shows that its coefficient is statistically larger than one for intrinsic motivation. Although their coefficients are not as
large as managerial trustworthiness, goal directedness and external reward expectancy
are positively associated with employee satisfaction.
The expectations for interaction terms are confirmed by the analysis. All three interaction terms are statistically significant in the directions expected. Figure 2 shows the
interaction between intrinsic motivation and managerial trustworthiness. As the level
of intrinsic motivation increases, employee satisfaction is elevated. When the level of
managerial trustworthiness moves from the lowest to the highest (from dashed line to
solid line), the positive tie between intrinsic motivation and satisfaction is further
strengthened. One can observe a similar result for the interaction between intrinsic
motivation and goal directedness. From Figure 3, under the highest level of goal
directedness (when it has a value of 5), the leverage of intrinsic motivation on employee
satisfaction increases. On the other hand, under the lowest level of goal directedness,
one observes the decreased coefficient of intrinsic motivation. Although the 95% confidence intervals do not overlap, the indirect effect of goal directedness through intrinsic motivation is not large. The coefficient of the interaction is less than half of that
between intrinsic motivation and managerial trustworthiness. Altogether, when managers
15
3.5
3
2.5
2
Employee Satisfaction
Intrinsic Motivation
Highest Trustworthiness
Lowest Trustworthiness
3
2.5
2
1.5
Employee Satisfaction
3.5
3
Intrinsic Motivation
Figure 3. Interaction of intrinsic motivation and goal directedness for employee satisfaction
16
3
2.5
2
1.5
Employee Satisfaction
3.5
Intrinsic Motivation
Highest Reward Expectancy
Figure 4. Interaction of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic reward expectancy for employee
satisfaction
are trustworthy and communicate goals effectively, the link between employees
intrinsic motivation and satisfaction becomes stronger.
In contrast to interactions with trustworthiness and goal directedness, the coefficient of the interaction term between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic reward expectancy is negative. Figure 4 shows the interaction, which reflects that the influence of
intrinsic motivation on employee satisfaction is highest when the expectation of
extrinsic reward is lowest (dashed line). As the expectancy increases, the effect of
intrinsic motivation on satisfaction decreases as represented in the solid line. In other
words, by partly reflecting extrinsic motivation, high expectancy for extrinsic reward
may work as a substitute for intrinsic motivation. Crowding-out theory is supported
by the analysis, and it has the largest leverage among the three interaction terms (see
beta coefficients).
With regard to the control variables, as expected, individual resources is positively
associated with satisfaction, exhibiting the third largest coefficient. All other conditions being equal, females are more satisfied than males, whereas racial minorities and
supervisors show no difference. Older workers have lower satisfaction than others.
Overall, however, the coefficients of demographic factors are not large. Rather, intrinsic motivation and managerial trustworthiness are the two main drivers of employee
satisfaction.
17
Robust SE
Intrinsic motivation
Trustworthiness
Goal directedness
Reward expectancy
0.438****
0.408****
0.017
0.086****
0.021
0.021
0.018
0.018
27.8
31.0
1.7
8.5
Intrinsic Trustworthiness
Intrinsic Goal Directedness
Intrinsic Reward Expectancy
0.028*
0.002
0.002
0.015
0.011
0.017
3.4
0.3
0.3
Individual resources
Female
Minority
Supervisory status
Age
Agency experience
Constant
0.142****
0.122****
0.216****
0.250****
0.191****
0.164****
3.018****
0.011
0.042
0.047
0.035
0.033
0.019
0.173
13.9
5.9
8.4
12.4
19.2
18.2
56,712
2,785.22
0.0887
N
Wald chi-square
Pseudo R2
*p < .10. **p < .05. ***p < .01. ****p < .001.
18
Among the control variables, several factors are substantially related to intent to
leave. Whereas having enough resources lessens turnover intention, minorities and
employees with supervisory status are more likely to leave the agency. When all other
variables are constant, a one standard deviation increase in the minority and supervisor
variables increases the odds of leaving by 8% and 12%, respectively. Employees with
longer agency experience are less likely to leave; the odds of leaving decrease by 18%
by one standard deviation increase. Finally, within the given model, intrinsic motivation and managerial trustworthiness are the most powerful drivers suppressing turnover intention of employees. However, demographic factors are also substantially
associated with turnover intention. Some of the coefficients are comparable with those
for individual resources.
Discussion
The analyses demonstrate that intrinsic motivation matters for both employee satisfaction and intent to leave, which confirms Hypothesis 1. Managerial trustworthiness is
also confirmed to be a useful resource, elevating employee satisfaction and suppressing intent to leave. Moreover, managerial trustworthiness fosters links between intrinsic motivation and employee satisfaction. Under high levels of trustworthiness, the
leverage of intrinsic motivation on satisfaction becomes stronger. In other words,
managerial trustworthiness crowds in intrinsic motivation for employee satisfaction.
For turnover intention, however, the interaction term was significant at only the 0.1
level, which means that Hypothesis 2 is partly confirmed. Likewise, the expectations
for the interaction effects of goal directedness and extrinsic reward expectancy are
partly supported. Regarding employee satisfaction, goal directedness paints a similar
picture to managerial trustworthiness; it strengthens the tie between intrinsic motivation and satisfaction. On the other hand, extrinsic reward expectancy works in the
opposite direction, supporting that extrinsic rewards act to crowd out intrinsic motivation. Under high expectancy for extrinsic reward, the influence of intrinsic motivation
on employee satisfaction decreases. However, goal directedness and extrinsic reward
expectancy do not show interactions for turnover intention. Hypotheses 3 and 4 are
therefore only partly confirmed.
The analysis generally supports the theory we posited for employee satisfaction. As
self-determination theory predicts, the tie between intrinsic motivation and employee
satisfaction is strengthened under high levels of managerial trustworthiness and goal
directedness. On the other hand, crowding-out theory is confirmed in that the tie
between intrinsic motivation and employee satisfaction was weakened under high levels of extrinsic reward expectancy. Although the measure does not fully reflect extrinsic
motivation because our measurements focus on reward expectancy rather than whether
a respondent is attracted to extrinsic rewards, the result shows that the expectancy
crowds out intrinsic motivation. In summary, under high levels of managerial trustworthiness and goal directedness, intrinsic motivation is crowded in for employee satisfaction, whereas it is crowded out under a high level of extrinsic reward expectancy.
19
20
benevolence, and integrity, constitute a higher level factor, trustworthiness. In addition, the OLS regression analysis confirms that the manner in which managers fulfill
their roles is as critical as the roles themselves; developing managerial trustworthiness
is a prominent route to increase employee satisfaction while decreasing their intent to
leave. Other than pursuing competencies in their tasks, public managers must be attentive to the well-beings of their subordinates and establishing fair and consistent practices in the workplace. Governments may want to facilitate managers development of
trustworthiness by designing programs to enhance component elements such as integrity and benevolence.
Conclusion
This research adds empirical evidence for the importance of an intrinsically motivated
workforce. Intrinsic motivation is positively associated with employee satisfaction,
whereas it is negatively related to intent to leave. Managerial trustworthiness also
shows comparable strong associations with those attitudes. More important, regarding
employee satisfaction, it interacts with intrinsic motivation in a way that produces a
salutary result for organizations. Like managerial trustworthiness, goal directedness
also strengthens the association between intrinsic motivation and employee satisfaction. On the contrary, high levels of extrinsic reward expectancy weaken the tie.
The research is not without limitations. Relying on secondary data prevents us from
more precise specification of measures. The measurements of extrinsic reward expectancy partly reflect extrinsic motivation, but they do not fully capture the concept.
Thus, our test of crowding theory has a limitation. The indicators for managerial trustworthiness could also be improved. The indicators for ability paint supervisory competence more abstractly than we would construct them. The benevolence items do not
strictly differentiate managers good intentions from their obligations; they may give
constructive feedback because they are required to do so. To some extent, the third
measure of integrity reflects organizational integrity rather than focuses on managers
integrity. Consequently, although the current measurements capture the essence of
managerial trustworthiness, we believe collecting primary data would increase the
validity of the findings.
A second limitation of the research is our reliance on a single data source, the 2008
FHCS. Because survey respondents have a tendency to maintain consistency in their
responses, independent and dependent variables are affected by common method bias,
which inflates the relationships among variables (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986). Although
Harmans single-factor test demonstrates that bias is not very serious, one needs to be
cautious in interpreting the results. Nevertheless, using perceived measures is reasonable in the present study because employee satisfaction and intent to leave reflect
employee cognitions so survey respondents can provide the most accurate data.
Furthermore, Crampton and Wagner (1994) reveal that, although the bias does exist, it
is not sufficiently large to invalidate an analysis relying on a single data source.
Several areas for future research follow from the limitations. Research using more
precise measures for trustworthiness is desirable. To solve the common method bias
21
issue, investigators should pursue using multiple data sources. When multiple sources
of data are not available, potential sources generating the bias can be identified and
controlled by including questions reflecting social desirability or transient mood state
(Podsakoff et al., 2003). Alternatively, one may employ different research designs
such as field experiments. Experimental design can control the time of measurements
so that independent and dependent variables are measured at different points of time
(Podsakoff et al., 2003), which relieves the bias.
Another area for future research is to explore additional conditions affecting intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, including organizational characteristics. Exploring such
contingencies will provide additional guidance to public managers for motivational
strategies they want to emphasize under different conditions. Yang and Kassekerts
(2010) recent analysis of the effects of civil service overhaul, contracting out, and
managing-for-results on employee satisfaction is a good example of how organizational characteristics and change could be tied to employee attitudes and motivation.
Finally, more micro-level research on administrative leadership would be helpful.
With the wave of NPM emphasizing decentralization and entrepreneurship, the role of
middle managers is expected to further increase. As this study and others demonstrate
the importance of middle managers in administrative leadership (Paarlberg & Perry,
2007; Ridder et al., 2006; Van Wart, 2003), we need to explore how they shape behaviors and attitudes of their subordinates and how those managerial activities change the
organizational culture and affect the performance of public bureaucracy.
Appendix
Higher Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Managerial
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness
.95
Benevolence
.87
.87
Integrity
Ability
.88
.80
B1
.83
B2
I1
.83
I2
.93
.82
I3
A1
.91
A2
22
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Notes
1. The research uses the term, employee satisfaction rather than job satisfaction because it
considers a broader range of satisfactions.
2. The current model is not comprehensive in that it does not include all relevant variables.
Other variables, for instance, job security, may need to be controlled because they affect
employee motivation (e.g. Battaglio, 2010; Oh & Lewis, 2009; Jurkiewicz & Brown, 1998).
Nevertheless, the current model reasonably covers variables frequently used to explain
employee attitudes.
3. The third measure of integrity has a broader perspective than the first two measures by
reflecting the climate of organizational integrity. However, to some extent, we believe that
there is a spillover effect that managers integrity affects the overall climate of integrity at the
organizational level. Rehg, Miceli, Near, and Van Scotter (2008) indicate that most whistleblowers try internal channels first before pursuing external channels. Because managers
are often perceived as representatives of an organization, managers ability to successfully
resolve wrongdoing with integrity is likely to positively affect organizational integrity. In
addition, from a statistical perspective, the Cronbachs alpha showed an acceptable value
(.85 for the three measures of integrity) and the analysis results were changed little by the
revised indicator of trustworthiness with the item removed.
4. To assure we had a good model fit, we compared several alternative models with the hypothesized model. The hypothesized model achieved better goodness-of-fit indices than all the
alternatives we tested.
5. The research ran the regression model for all survey respondents. When we removed executives from the analysis, we found little difference in the results.
6. When we ran the model in a hierarchical manner, the R-squared value was .2814 with control
variables only. The value was increased to .6545 with trustworthiness, goal directedness,
and reward expectancy variables. Finally, when we enter intrinsic motivation and interaction
terms, the R-squared value became .7273.
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Bios
Yoon Jik Cho is an assistant professor of Public Administration Department at Yonsei
University in Korea. His research focuses on role of trust in public management, human
resources management, and leadership.
James L. Perry is Distinguished Professor, Indiana University, Bloomington, and World Class
University Distinguished Professor, Department of Public Administration, Yonsei University.
He is recipient of the 2008 Dwight Waldo Award and Editor-in-Chief of Public Administration
Review.