2026-04-01
Varaidzo Zvobgo, Jihoon Jeong
This study examines how participative decision making (PDM) affects turnover intentions among women in non-supervisory positions within US federal agencies, with a focus on the mediating role of affective organizational commitment. Turnover intentions, defined as employees’ conscious and deliberate willingness to leave their organization, pose a persistent challenge for the federal workforce, particularly for women in non-supervisory roles who often lack upward mobility and voice in decision-making processes. Drawing on the Social Exchange Theory, this study posits that when these employees perceive greater opportunities for participation in decision-making, they develop stronger affective commitment, which in turn reduces their intention to leave. Affective commitment refers to employees’ emotional attachment to and identification with their organization and has been shown to play a critical role in shaping retention outcomes. Using data from the 2023 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), the study employs structural equation modeling to test these relationships. Results reveal that PDM has a negative direct effect on turnover intentions and a positive effect on affective commitment, which partially mediates the relationship. These findings highlight the importance of fostering inclusive decision-making practices and enhancing affective commitment to reduce turnover among female employees occupying non-supervisory level positions in federal agencies.
2025-10-22
Christopher R. Prentice, Richard M. Clerkin
2025-10-22
Sonika Poudel, Eric Kaufman
Despite national efforts to address poverty, it remains a significant challenge in the United States. This study focuses on leadership strategies employed by civic organizations in Virginia to address poverty. Using a qualitative approach, the research explores how leadership influences poverty reduction. It studies the existing systemic barriers, organizational dynamics, and leadership approaches that can be most effective in addressing poverty in the communities. Interviews with 14 representatives from various civic organizations reveal three key themes: poverty as a systemic challenge, progress through participatory leadership, and humble leadership as a way forward. Findings suggest that effective poverty reduction requires collaborative efforts, active listening, selflessness, empathy, and community-driven leadership. These insights contribute to understanding how leadership can be leveraged to address complex social issues of poverty and provide a framework for applying these strategies in similar contexts.
2025-10-22
Joonwoo Lee, Michele Tantardini
This empirical study analyzes the dynamics among public sector entrepreneurship, organizational performance, and communication. This study presents a conceptual model to explain how entrepreneurial orientation in the public sector enhances public organizations’ performance through the mediating effect of communication. This study utilizes the 2022 Public Employee Perception Survey produced by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, which presents a variety of public servants’ perceptions and administrative features of public organizations in South Korea. To test the proposed hypotheses, this study employs structural equation modeling. The results show that entrepreneurial orientation has a positive effect on public organizations’ performance, and communication within the organizations mediates the relationship between these two variables. This study offers a nuanced perspective on implementing an entrepreneurial orientation in the public sector by explaining how public-sector entrepreneurship can promote organizational performance through well-structured communication. This insight is valuable for public administration scholars and practitioners.
2025-10-22
Aun Falestien Faletehan, Johan Wempe
This study explores how long-term volunteering can develop into a meaningful and sustained career path. Using narrative inquiry with 15 volunteers in Indonesia, we examine how individuals are motivated to begin volunteering, how they structure their ongoing involvement, and how they expand their roles across multiple nonprofit organizations. Our findings identify three flexible phases in the volunteering career: motivational foundations, focused involvement in one organization, and societal leadership across several organizations. We also identify four factors—environmental, spiritual, personal, and ambassadorial—that influence sustained engagement. While volunteers experience personal fulfillment and a strong sense of purpose, they also face challenges in balancing their commitments with family and work life. This study contributes to understanding volunteering as a form of long-term career development, shaped by both individual motivations and social contexts.
2025-10-07
Christopher R. Prentice, Richard Clerkin
2025-10-07
Salvatore Alaimo, Jakub Pejcal`, Simona Smrčková
This study explores the capacity of Czech nonprofit social services organizations to have their services evaluated. These organizations are often required to evaluate their services by their national, regional governments, and/or the EU Social Investment Fund, however they are challenged with evaluation capacity building (ECB). This study organizes the ECB literature around six dimensions and draws on ECB studies, frameworks, and checklists. It examines the exploratory question of evaluation capacity through a national survey of, and semi-structured interviews with, directors of these organizations. Results demonstrate that the challenges for evaluation capacity are similar to previous ECB studies in other countries. However, in this study they are somewhat driven by directors’ social constructions of evaluation which are influenced by government guidelines and standards and their limited understanding of ECB and perception for their role in it. Conclusions are accompanied by recommended practice.
2025-02-11
Michael Bednarczuk
One of the foundational claims of public service motivation (PSM) is that it should influence an individual's willingness to join and remain in public organizations. However, the evidence in support of the “attrition hypothesis” is nuanced, and there is a lack of research examining actual turnover behavior. This study addresses this gap by using longitudinal data from the Youth-Parent Socialization Study to examine the relationship between pre-employment PSM-related values and long-term turnover behavior in the public sector. A multinomial logit model finds that those with higher PSM-related values in childhood are more likely to remain employed in the public sector over time. These results have practical implications for public sector retention strategies, as fostering the development of PSM-related values could lead to reduced employee churn and their related costs.
2025-02-11
Gino Biaou, Étienne Charbonneau
Despite the availability of freely accessible translation tools, research conducted in languages other than English is often overlooked. Findings from foreign contexts are lost, undermining the boundary conditions of theories. This systematic literature review takes stock of methods, theories, and practical recommendations developed in French-language social equity research. Overall, the results suggest that French-language social equity research offers relevant but not in-depth practical recommendations, encompasses a small proportion of papers referring to theories, and is more qualitative method-oriented than quantitative. Our results complement previous findings suggesting the dominance of the quantitative approach to social equity research by bringing to light many qualitative studies. Crucially, unlike English-language social equity research, this study suggests that French-language social equity research rarely focuses on race and ethnicity. Inter-organizational equity, along with regional, intergenerational, and gender equity are frequent loci. The finding of this study bridges a heeded segment of Public Administration scholarship, fostering knowledge sharing across languages and scholarly communities.
2024-12-11
Richard M. Clerkin
2024-12-11
Richard M. Clerkin