Public Service Motivation

As a result of the proliferation of New Public Management, the public sector is coming under ever-increasing demand to provide evidence of its effectiveness and efficiency while simultaneously reducing its operating expenses, leading to more awareness of organizational performance. Hence, since the 1990s, a significant number of theoretical and empirical research have been conducted to investigate the connection between Strategic Human Resource Management and job performance23, 24, 25. According to Battaglio & French26, one of the strategic goals of general human resource management is to improve public service performance. Therefore, public sector workers' outcomes must be improved. Providing public goods and implementing poverty-reduction policies are just a few examples of the kind of tasks that state personnel is encouraged to take on because of the service ethic1. The decision to pursue public institutions could be motivated by an aspiration to contribute to the enrichment of community welfare or a sense of civic duty, also known as public service motivation27.

Public service motivation is defined as "an individual proclivity to respond to incentives grounded primarily or exclusively in public institutions”1, with three bases: rational, norm-based, and emotive reasons. Policy design and commitment to a broad goal are among the rational incentives. The effective incentives reflect a dedication to a social goal and benevolent patriotism, while the norm-based motives indicate an ambition to promote social justice through serving the public interest. According to Kim and Vandenabeele28, however, this classification does not distinguish between normative and emotional motives, and rational motives can be self-interested. As a consequence, different PSM bases were redefined in order to build a more international construct. As a result, public service motivation was categorized as instrumental, value-based, and identity based on self-sacrifice. Instrumental motives encompass performing effective public service, such as working in the government, participating in policy-making and participating in community activities. Value-based motives take into account various public values, including those related to public benefit, social responsibility, social equity, and social justice. Finally, individuals' identification motivations relate to their desire to belong to a social or political group. In order to evaluate the PSM theory, Perry29 devised a multidimensional scale with 24 items and four components, including attraction to public policy formulation, commitment to the public interest, compassion, and self-sacrifice. Our research is likewise based on this scale. Attraction to public policymaking, in particular, is "a rational motivator that assesses individual impressions of politics and the policymaking process" 26. Meanwhile, the last three dimensions examine public service's deeper public-spirited or selfless perspectives. For example, compassion examines an employee's dedication to patriotism and charity, whereas self-sacrifice assesses the individuals' readiness to take action for the greater good regardless of the cost to themselves.

Public Service Motivation and Work Effort

PSM is a powerful indicator of individual performance in the public sector, as indicated by substantial empirical evidence7, 30. According to Liang31, internally motivated employees have intrinsic desires for personal development, autonomy, and competence and will put in extra effort at work to satisfy such desires. Physical and mental exertion is used to measure work effort, which an employee invests in job-related activities and tasks, as opposed to the skill and responsibility needed by contractual duties and the unique combination of abilities and experience that an employee brings to the job32, 33.

Liang31 shows that intrinsic motivation considerably impacts task effort in crowdsourcing competitions. Employees with strong intrinsic motivation, or PSM, are more inclined to go above and beyond at work, which is a direct behavioral effect of their dedication and leads to success. Work effort is best predicted by the level of commitment of the workers, according to Gould-Williams34; thus, for the sake of the success of their organizations, public employees appear more capable of producing the necessary goals. Furthermore, when individual aspirations and a public organization's objectives are in sync, the individual expects a higher level of extra-role action and an exceptional commitment to the public goal35. Furthermore, a sub-construct of PSM called commitment to the public interest is linked to a higher readiness to put extra effort into that work7, 36.

According to Andersen & Kjeldsen8, employees with high public service motivation (PSM) are likely to act on their motivation because they have a firm conviction that the public will benefit from their efforts. Another way, a government employee who understands the good societal impact of their work will put in more effort, resulting in excellent job performance37. Research on PSM’s value to the working effort is vast and rising, but it primarily focuses more on job performance than on exerting effort to attain desired results30. Four studies show a positive correlation between PSM and increased labor effort, while a neutral relationship is seen in the fifth study. As a result, this study investigates the association between PSM and work effort to provide additional evidence on the subject. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

H1: The degree of public service motivation is positively correlates with the level of employee work effort in Vietnam’s public universities.

Public Service Motivation and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Workplace behavior that promotes cheerful employees and organizational connections is known as Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). Regardless of whether they receive recognition, employees' voluntary and informal prosocial acts add to the organization's effectiveness and increase public service quality 38, 39, 40. Furthermore, individual and organizational performance, such as performance appraisal and incentive distribution, organizational productivity, efficiency, cost-cutting, and customer happiness, are all linked to OCB in theory 41. As a result, Kim 42 believes that OCB is an excellent instrument for managing interdependence among employees in a work unit, enhancing collective outputs and organizational performance. Furthermore, individuals with greater OCB will carry out obligations beyond their job titles, like supporting co-workers, avoiding workplace confrontation, and fostering a productive and healthy workplace43.

According to existing studies, PSM impacts prosocial actions either in or out of an organization44. Therefore, PSM has a good link with workers' OCB and furthers the common good of the public. Data analysis in Kim's study42 has backed up his claim in the context of South Korea. High PSM employees who desire to assist the general public and contribute to society would be the driving force behind OCB in government entities. Furthermore, Shim and Faerman45 surveyed local government servants in Korea to support the premise that an individual's enthusiasm for public service is a strong predictor of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Boyd & et al. 46 show that a feeling of community responsibility has a limited, moderate effect on the link between PSM and OCB in a not-for-profit healthcare center in the United States. Individual PSM and OCB, on the other hand, have been proven to be mediated by a feeling of collective responsibility. PSM has a more significant impact on interpersonal behavior (OCBI) than on organizational behavior (OCB). On the other hand, Jin & et al.40 extend the notion of OCB to higher education, where professors frequently spend significant time with students, such as through in-class engagement and lecture preparation. They discover a tangible link between faculty PSM and OCB in US colleges. Based on previous research hypotheses and findings, we believe that PSM and OCB appear to have a positive statistical correlation in the context of Vietnam's higher education institutions. Thus, hypothesis H2 is presented here.

H2: The degree of public service motivation is positively correlated with the level of employees’ organizational citizenship behavior in Vietnam’s public universities.

Public Service Motivation and Turnover Intention

Employees' "change readiness" is referred to as "turnover intention" when they intend to willingly change jobs or organizations.47 In addition, it is referred to as the readiness of civil officials to leave an agency or organization48. There is a strong link between the intention to leave and the actual act of leaving, making it the most crucial prelude in mind49. Furthermore, external factors such as other work alternatives, which are harder to forecast, directly impact actual turnover behavior. An employee may strongly desire to depart but not decide to do so. Negative employee behaviors, including tardiness, absence, diversions, and underperformance, on the other hand, are usually linked to resignation plans. Such behavior degrades the quality of public service50. As a result, most management research focuses on employees' intentions to leave rather than their actual conduct. Researchers are looking for essential determinants of turnover intentions to design the most effective human resource management technique for maintaining skills.

According to a recent study, turnover intentions decrease due to a higher level of PSM10, 13, 51, 52, 53. Employees working in the public sector who had achieved high levels of PSM were more inclined to remain in their current positions53. Employees with a high PSM frequently choose jobs that allow them to fulfill their desire to help others and their altruistic goals. Furthermore, they are less likely to abandon their jobs because they identify as business members with similar aspirations.

In contrast to the prior reasoning, Gould-Williams & et al.13 find that PSM's direct influence on turnover intentions is insignificant. According to Bright10, PSM significantly affects whether or not people plan to leave government institutions. Individuals with a higher PSM report increased job satisfaction and are less inclined to consider quitting their positions than those with a lower PSM. His research, however, fails to confirm the theory that PSM has a detrimental impact on public officials' intentions to leave their professions, which POF mediates. The study by Moynihan and Pandey51 shows that PSM has a detrimental impact on tenure in public institutions. Also, Wang & et al.54 reveal that one of the most critical factors in determining whether or not geriatric nurses working in nursing homes intend to leave their jobs is their level of intrinsic drive. Despite inconsistent findings in the current PSM-turnover intentions research, we assume that a person with high PSM will have a lower likelihood of resigning than personnel with low PSM in higher education institutions. As a result, we hypothesize that:

H3: The degree of public service motivation is negatively correlated with the level of employee turnover intentions in Vietnam’s public universities.

Public Service Motivation and Work-related Stress

A person is more likely to experience stress related to their job if they have the perception that they do not possess the essential capabilities, level of expertise, or resources required for their role55, 56. That difficulty is exacerbated by an inability to handle the stress of the work57. Many factors can cause workplace stress, including work overload, organizational factors, emotional demands, purpose ambiguity, role conflict, and red tape58, 59. The physical and mental effects of stress at the workplace, such as irritability, sleeplessness, hypertension, and anxiety are also detrimental to people's well-being. The growth of negative attitudes and behaviors and decreased personal consequences can be attributed to these signs and symptoms60. Due to the nature of their work, teachers may be more susceptible to burnout than those in other professions 61.

Moreover, public sector efficiency and effectiveness may be negatively impacted by the increased stress on civil servants62. However, the benefits of PSM in reducing workplace stress have received little attention, even though employees and organizations in all sectors are harmed by high levels of stress60, 39. Following certain studies, PSM can lessen the effect of organizational politics (a cause of workplace stress) on employee and organizational outcomes. However, their research indicates that high PSM personnel would face greater demands to accomplish their professional objectives59, 9. To put it another way, PSM has a same-dimensional effect with work-related stress, implying that higher PSM employees are more likely to be influenced or harmed by office politics than lower PSM employees.

On the other hand, this new interest in job stress and public service motivation directly affects the increasing popularity of the Job Demands-Resources paradigm63. According to Bakker64, PSM can support public officials by lowering the stressors they have to deal with. In addition, PSM may also provide stress reduction for persons who want to contribute positively to society39. Liu and colleagues60 conduct an empirical study confirming how PSM helps police personnel minimize the deleterious impacts of work-related stress on personal health. Their findings show that the less motivated police officers are more likely to be exhausted and drained by work-related stress. According to Gould-Williams & et al.39, work-related stress would be reduced if employees with high PSM contributed to the greater good. Nevertheless, his investigation suggests that when PSM rises among government employees, so will the level of work-related stress. Moreover, PSM indirectly reduces stress in the workplace through a mediated effect known as “personal-organizational fit.” We hope to better understand the relationship between these two variables by addressing the mixed results of prior research. Based on theoretical reasoning and practical facts, we expect that the high PSM public officials will endure, the less work-related stress they will endure. As a result, the following theory is proposed:

H4: The degree of public service motivation is negatively correlated with the amount of work-related stress among university employees in Vietnam.

Figure 1 depicts our conceptual model based on the preceding predictions.

Sample

For PSM research, the higher education institutions in Vietnam are surveyed to collect information on independent and dependent variables. This provides significant and valuable data sources. We randomly chose 313 university administrators and academic members from 45 Vietnamese public universities based on the Sample Size Formula: N=5m (Hair, 2006). The results of this study will be more representative because of the wide range of public universities included in it. Even though they account for only 30% of public institutions countrywide, the South, Central, and North of Vietnam have the most selective universities.

Measures

Based on previous research and adjusted for the PSM context in Vietnam, a questionnaire for quantitative research was constructed that encompassed the entire issues discussed in the present study. Table 1 lists the questionnaire items associated with each study's measurements. Statements on a 5-point Likert scale, with options ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree," are included in every survey question. Applicability can only be determined based on the item's validity and reliability. Therefore, we begin by defining model components and analyzing all relevant articles to identify questions that adequately characterize the things employed in this study.

Additionally, the surveys were sent to experts for changes and clarifications on the questionnaire content. The second questionnaire version was then revised based on the experts' opinions. In addition, we conducted pilot testing with over 100 people to see if the items matched the model we projected for our study.

Method

To improve and substantiate study findings, researchers combine qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Therefore, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was utilized in conjunction with qualitative interviews to help develop scales for the quantitative data collection. Furthermore, we use CFA (Confirmatory factor analysis) and SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) to discover latent variables using a collection of manifest indicators and test hypotheses about their correlations. The outcomes of this research are evaluated in a two-step process utilizing IBM SPSS statistics version 24.0 and IBM SPSS Amos version 23.0. The statistical analysis program known as SPSS explains social demographics, participant characteristics, mean, standard deviation, reliability, and exploratory factor analysis. Simultaneously, we employ Amos to evaluate the central hypothesis in this study's structural equation modeling (SEM). Multivariate regression models, such as those used in management, business, and economics, might benefit from the statistical technique known as SEM. It also examines the causal-effect links between observed variables and latent variables concurrently. Saxena & Khanna65, Smaliukienė & et al.66, Cunningham & et al.67, and Putri & et al.68 have all employed SEM in recent scientific studies.

This research used structural equation modeling (SEM), a multivariable approach, to investigate the function of public service motivation and its impact on Vietnamese universities. The examination of model fit indices and coefficient parameters is used to assess the link between the eight latent structures after the fundamental assumptions of SEM are fulfilled (SSF, CPI, PMP, CPS, WEF, OCB, TIT, and WRS). A table of fit indices is shown in Table 5.

Descriptive statistics

To support our claim, we collected data from 313 public employees working in 45 Vietnamese higher education institutions. Table 2 indicates that 51.5% of the respondents were male, and 54.6% were between 30 and 39. More than 80 percent of the survey participants are faculty and staff from public institutions in Vietnam who are acquainted with and recognize public service motivation. 22.3 percent of respondents had worked for less than five years, 60.7 percent for five to fifteen years, and the rest for more than fifteen years.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

In two steps, this study undertakes unidimensional and convergent validity for the concept validity. First, according to O'Leary-Kelly & Vokurka69, unidimensional validity requires a collection of observable variables to measure one hidden variable. Instead of employing unidimensional validity in exploratory factor analysis, it is preferable to use varimax indicators, principal axis factoring, and factor extraction using eigenvalues70. For each component, the loading of a factor must be larger than or equal to 0.50 in order to appropriately reflect a variance difference of 25%71. Another step is to weed out any observable variables that do not fit one of the following descriptions. Low factor loading, or component loading that reflects more than one factor, is all relevant here . As shown in Table 3, observable variables with less than a 0.5-factor loading were excluded from further research since the number of factors loading, and the range of Cronbach's alpha began at 0.521 (WRS3) and 0.894 (OCB1). (OCB1: I go above and beyond to assist new staff).

Table 3 displays information regarding factor loadings as well as Cronbach alpha values. EFA loading values range from 0.582 to 0.760 for the first component, self-sacrifice, which is characterized by a three-parameter [SSF-1]-[SSF-3]. In addition, the CPI1 (0.676), CPI2 (0.632), and CPI3 (0.624) levels indicate a strong commitment to the public interest. The third element, interest in public policymaking, is represented by PMP1, PMP3, and PMP3, respectively, with values of 0.630, 0.894, and 0.592. Competitive intensity owns the fourth element, compassion with [CPS1] – [CPS3], which has a substantial value ranging from 0.526 to 0.654. WEF1, WEF2, and WEF3 are the three components of the work-effort factor, and 0.582 to 0.608 are the factor loadings for these items. OCB2, OCB3, OCB4, and OCB5 are the names given to the four variables that pertain to organizational citizenship behavior and have EFA loadings that range from 0.582 to 0.769. The two remaining components of a load factor of more than 0.5 are work-related stress and the intention to leave the organization. In addition, the eigenvalues of the eight components are all more than 1.171, and the total explained variance is 62.55 percent of the variance. The items' appropriateness for factor analysis was verified using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) statistic, which had a value of 0.70671.

Confirm factor analysis (CFA)

The subsequent step of the general technique explores the validity of a measurement model and assesses it using convergent validity. In order to check for converging validity, two extracted average variances are compared to composite reliability (CR)72. According to Akkucuk (2014), Composite Reliability (CR) examines the reliability and consistency of the measurement variables, whereas convergence is measured by using the Analytical Value Estimator (AVE)73. When a latent variable's coefficient of determination (CR) exceeds 0.6, it is eligible to hold74, 75.

The finding of the result indicates that all CR values for nine components meet the required conditions. There are seven different constructions: SSF (0.755), CPI (0.688), PMP (0.611), CPS (0.757), WET (0.611), TIT (0.801), and WRS (0.603). In addition, the requirement satisfying AVE should be larger than 0.5; however, convergence validity may be accepted if CR is greater than 0.6 and AVE is less than 0.576. Table 4 demonstrates that the CR value of nine components surpasses the 0.6 minimum thresholds, while the AVE value is less than 0.5, indicating convergence validity.

Structural equation modeling (SEM)

Table 6 demonstrates that the results validate Hypothesis H1 that Work Effort at Vietnamese public universities is positively linked to PSM. According to (H1a) (t = 1.918, r =0.117 and p < 0.01) and (H1b) (t = 2.821, r =0.243 and p<0.01), both self-sacrifice and devotion to the public good have a beneficial influence on their work effort. Additionally, the high level of interest that faculty and staff members have in formulating public policy influences the amount of effort they put forth in their jobs (H1c) (t = 2.819, r =0.148, and p <0.01). However, there is no statistically significant link between compassion and labor effort (H1d: r =0.106 and p > 0.1). As a result, H1 has some support.

Higher levels of self-sacrifice, commitment to the public interest, appeal to public policymaking, and compassion is associated with organizational citizenship behavior among Vietnam's state-run universities. (H2a: r =0.171, p<0.01), (H2b: r =0.259, p =0.013), (H2c: r =.141, p<0.01), and (H2d: r =0.292, p<0.01).

Interestingly, PSM is statistically significant when it comes to employees' intentions to leave their professions at Vietnam's public universities. (H3). The results for hypotheses H3a, H3b, and H3c show that faculty and staff's self-sacrifice, commitment to the public good, and interest in public policymaking all harm their turnover intention (SSF -> TIT: r = -0.162 and p<0.01; CPI -> TIT: r = -0.164 and p<0.05; PMP -> TIT: r = -0.114 and p<0.05. However, the opposite consequence is seen for hypothesis H3d: compassion may boost their turnover intention (CPS -> TIT: r =0.155 and p<0.1). Consequently, the data provide evidence supporting hypothesis H3, which states that the lower the PSM, the greater the likelihood of quitting Vietnamese public universities.

According to Figure 2 and Table 6, a portion of hypothesis H4 has been partly confirmed. Our findings support the hypothesis that a higher level of PSM at a Vietnamese university reduces work-related stress among workers (H4a: r = -0.157, p =0.069, support), although we are not supported by other criteria such as the appeal of public policy making (H4c: r =0.190, p =0.008), and compassion (H4d: -.066, p > 0.1, not support); with a commitment to serving the public interest (H4b: r =0.106, p > 0.1, not support).