List of Titles

An empirical study of 'green' workplace behaviours : Ability, motivation and opportunity

- Rayner, Julie, Morgan, Damian

Authors: Rayner, Julie , Morgan, Damian
Date: 2018
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources Vol. 56, no. 1 (2018), p. 56-78
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: Green human resource management contributes to an understanding of the role of human resource management (HRM) towards sustainability and environmental outcomes. This paper assesses employees’ environmental knowledge as well as self-perceptions of ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) to practise green behaviours by operationalising the AMO framework towards a pro-environmental agenda. The study draws on a survey sample of 394 employees from five organisations in regional Australia. Key findings show that pro-environmental AMO are positively associated with green behaviours and that these are more prevalent at home than in the workplace. Further, line managers moderate the relationship between pro-environmental AMO and green behaviour although not the relationship between environmental knowledge and green behaviour. Such benchmark measurement informs HRM policies, practices and interventions and contributes to environmental management.

Are we being served? Emotional labour in local government in Victoria, Australia

- Rayner, Julie, Lawton, Alan

Authors: Rayner, Julie , Lawton, Alan
Date: 2018
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol. 77, no. 3 (2018), p. 360-374
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: This paper explores how front-line street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) cope with the expectations of citizens, clients, or ‘customers’ in daily work and how SLBs may be impacted by emotional labour. The study analyses data from 41 interviews with SLBs in local councils in Victoria, Australia. Although exploratory, it builds awareness and understanding of the emotional labour associated with public service. The situations that SLBs engage with on a daily basis are many and varied and take the form of increased expectations and intense encounters. Respondents experienced abuse, threats, violence, but also ‘sparkle moments’. Resources that helped SLBs cope are diverse and located both within and outside organisations. Implications are discussed and issues that merit additional investigation are raised concerning how SLBs can be supported to better meet the demands of the public. The research is of value to public managers and SLBs operating in a changing society with increased ‘customer’ expectations.

Development of a scale measure for green employee workplace practices

- Morgan, Damian, Rayner, Julie

Authors: Morgan, Damian , Rayner, Julie
Date: 2019
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Journal of new business ideas and trends Vol. 17, no. 1 (2019), p. 1-25
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: Purpose--The purpose of this paper is to identify latent variables that explain green workplace attitudes, behaviours and practices. Design/methodology/approach--Following a resource base view, a HRM-driven green workforce may provide competitive advantage. Workforce assessment here may take place at the employee level using environment-focussed measures including ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO). To test this proposition, a usable sample, following deletion of multivariate outliers, comprised 371 employees across three industry sectors. Participants self-reported for 26 items concerning perceptions related to environmental consciousness, organisational roles, and knowledge. Findings/ Results--Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four factor structure explaining green workplace attitudes, behaviours and practices: environmental knowledge environmental workplace AMO global environmental attitudes, and organisation and the environment. Originality/value--The study provides a practical and parsimonious diagnostic tool to facilitate HRM-led development to engender sustainable environmental attitudes and practices within the workforce with implications for future research directions discussed. Keywords: Green employees work practices scale development sustainability corporate social responsibility (CSR). JEL Classifications: M14 PsycINFO Classifications: 3650 FoR Codes: 1503 ERA Journal ID #: 40840

Emotional labour under public management reform : an exploratory study of school teachers in England

- Rayner, Julie, Espinoza, Daniel

Authors: Rayner, Julie , Espinoza, Daniel
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Journal article , Review
Relation: International Journal of Human Resource Management Vol. 27, no. 19 (2016), p. 2254-2274
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: This study uses the concept of emotional labour to illuminate areas of pressure and strain for teachers in English primary and secondary schools. It explores the impact of aspects of new public management reform on the nature and differences in the emotional labour experienced by teachers. The aim of this research was to help us understand the difficulties and tensions that this group of public sector professionals may be experiencing in the current environment. This research investigates the emotional side of teaching as a source of both job satisfaction and stress, in a performance-driven education sector. Findings show that the emotional labour presented differs in terms of its source, severity and impact on educational and personal goals and also that prescriptive and bureaucratically driven teaching frustrates teachers. The study contributes to the growing literature on emotional labour distinctive to public institutions. Theoretical and practical implications for recruitment, selection and training are discussed concluding with a research agenda.

New public management and organisational commitment in the public sector: testing a mediation model

- Williams, Helen, Rayner, Julie, Allinson, Christopher

Authors: Williams, Helen , Rayner, Julie , Allinson, Christopher
Date: 2012
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: International Journal of Human Resource Management Vol. 23, no. 13 (2012), p. 2615-2629
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: This paper focuses on the attitudes of learning professionals towards New Public Management (NPM). In a survey of the UK further education sector (n = 433), NPM beliefs were found to be positively associated with both affective and normative organisational commitment. However, as expected, NPM beliefs were not found to be related to continuance organisational commitment. The results also show that although perceived organisational support mediates the relationship between NPM beliefs and affective organisational comment, it is only a partial mediator of the relationship between NPM beliefs and normative organisational commitment. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and potential directions for future research, are discussed.

Organizational citizenship behavior and the public service ethos: whither the organization?

- Rayner, Julie, Lawton, Alan, Williams, Helen

Authors: Rayner, Julie , Lawton, Alan , Williams, Helen
Date: 2012
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Journal of Business Ethics Vol. 106, no. 2 (2012), p. 117-130
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: Public services worldwide have been subject to externally imposed reforms utilizing tools such as financial incentives and performance targets. The adverse impact of such reforms on a public service ethos has been claimed, but rarely demonstrated. Individuals within organizations work beyond their formal contracts of employment, described as Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), to further organizational interests. Given New Public Management reform and the subsequent contextual changes in the way in which public sector organizations are managed and funded, the present study theorizes that OCB directed towards the organization may be ‘crowded-out’. This article tests the relationships between public service ethos and OCB and it presents empirical evidence from a study in England (n = 433) of the ability of each dimension of this ethos to predict OCB.

Public service ethos : Developing a generic measure

- Rayner, Julie, Williams, Helen, Lawton, Alan, Allinson, Christopher

Authors: Rayner, Julie , Williams, Helen , Lawton, Alan , Allinson, Christopher
Date: 2011
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory Vol. 21, no. 1 (2011), p. 27-51
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: This article conceptualizes public service ethos as a multidimensional construct and develops a framework that explains first, why individuals are motivated by this ethos (Public Service Belief); second, how they deliver public services in accordance with this ethos (Public Service Practice); and third, what ends they perceive it to endorse (Public Interest). Despite considerable interest in public service ethos within the public administration literature, research is constrained by the absence of a measure of this ethos. This article therefore reports three studies conducted to advance theory and research through the development of a psychometrically sound instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrates support for a three-factor structure, where the dimensions are distinct but related aspects of public service ethos. Moreover, findings show this measure to be valid, reliable, and generalizable. As such it offers researchers an instrument with which to better explore the character and existence of a public service ethos.

Public service motivation in a complex public sector

- Lawton, Alan, Rayner, Julie

Authors: Lawton, Alan , Rayner, Julie
Date: 2015
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Ethics in public policy and Management: A global research companion Chapter 13 p. 215-237
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: The institutional context of public service delivery has, increasingly, become com - plex. Public- and private-sector organizations, as well as the third sector, collaborate and work in partnership with each other, as evident in a range of policy areas, from urban renewal to education. Public officials now have to engage with others, horizontally, in different types of organizations, and not just hierarchically within their own organizations. Indeed, for some officials, the institutional location of their work has shifted from public to private, or partnership, organizations. Such a dynamic in the institutional setting of public service delivery may render traditional goals, values and processes problematic. It may also provide new oppor - tunities. Boundaries between different types of organizations that deliver public services become blurred as do the differences between policy formulation and implementation, and between public and private interests. In such a changing environment, traditional notions of a public service ethos underpinning public sector delivery and the commitment through public service motivation (PSM) are contested. One big question is: how can private and semipublic-sector organizations, and those who work within them, have the same commitment to the public interest as traditional public-sector organizations? Scholars have argued that a key problem for partnerships and networks is how to reconcile individual interests with those of the network or partnership as a whole. This chapter underscores the need for researchers to develop a better under - standing not only of sectoral differences, but also whether or how PSM impacts performance of individuals in collaborative and networked contexts. Thus, a key research question becomes, ‘What might PSM look like in a complex and frag - mented public service arena?’ We respond to this by examining the literatures on public service networks through the prism of PSM and develop five propositions. We conclude with suggestions for a future research agenda.

Testing an international measure of public service motivation : Is there really a bright or dark side?

- Rayner, Julie, Reimers, Vaughan, Chao, Chih‐Wei (Fred)

Authors: Rayner, Julie , Reimers, Vaughan , Chao, Chih‐Wei (Fred)
Date: 2017
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol. 77, no. 1 (2017), p. 87-101
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: 'Public service motivation’ (PSM) is usually reported as a bright force although recent debatealludes to a dark side. Variables representing each side are, respectively, job satisfaction andburnout. This study tests for both the bright and potential dark direct effects of PSM andresponds to calls to further validate the international PSM instrument developed by Kimet al. (2013). Using a sample of 455 local council workers in Australia, analysis confirmedthat while the measure was robust and generalizable in its structure, none of the dimensionsof PSM were found to influence either job satisfaction or burnout. Plausible explanationsinclude contextual factors, nomological concerns with the measurement instrument, and thenotion that PSM has a non-significant influence on either. The implications of these findingsare discussed and future research proposed.

Showing items 1 - 10 of 10