Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle
Eelko van Drongelen
Student number: 1531441
University of Groningen
Msc, Faculty of Management and Organization, Human Resource
Management
Damstersingel 8
9713 EV Groningen
eelkovd@hotmail.com
Graduation professor:
Drs. J. van Polen
Drs. P.H. van der Meer
Report 19 June 2009
By order of the local government of Zwolle
Drs. W. Meekers
Sr. HR Advisor
Grote Kerkplein 15
8000 GA Zwolle
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
What should the local government of Zwolle change in order to overcome the problems on attracting the right applicants for the occupations of plan
economists, legal estate experts and town planning experts? The aim of this research is to investigate how the local government of Zwolle can improve their attractiveness for future plan economists, legal estate experts and town planning experts in order to increase the tendency to work for the local government of Zwolle. Based on the results of previous studies, this study focuses on seven independent variables that could be of influence on the mediator variable image of the local government as well as the dependent variable tendency to work there. The independent variables are pay and promotion (hard benefits), non pecuniary benefits, job security, interesting work, PSM (public service
motivation) and intrinsic motivation. In total 76 relevant employees in the local governmental and 76 employees in the private sector participated in this
1. INTRODUCTION
After a long period of economic downturn it can be said that the Dutch economy is officially in a recession. Two periods of economic decline have occurred and this will have serious consequences for the Dutch labor market. Centraal Plan Bureau (CPB) forecasts that the Dutch economy will contract by 3.50 percent in 2009 (CPB, 2009). According to the Dutch Bureau of Statistics a significant fall in the number of vacancies in The Netherlands will be the result of this crisis (CBS, 2009). Partly due to an export contraction of nearly 12 percent in 2009, unemployment will rise to 5.5 percent this year and 8.75 percent in 2010 (CPB, 2009). However, this effect is only expected to be temporary, because of the upcoming
consequences of the aging society in The Netherlands (Vandenabeele, 2008) and the expected economic rise in 2010 (IMF, 2009). In a wide labor market personnel can be easily attracted for companies on average, but contrary to this situation is the actual situation of the local government of Zwolle. The local government of Zwolle still faces difficulties in finding the right applicants for their plan economist, legal expert, policy advisor, town planning expert and management functions and they face similar difficulties in recruiting high educated students. Diminished public trust (Perry and Wise, 1990), an increase in competition in the labor market (Aijaala, 2002), the aging society (Vandenabeele, 2008) in combination with the high average age level at the local governments in general (CAOP, 2006), are some possible causes of this problem which were described often in the literature.
1.1 Suboptimal solutions to the problem
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Introduction
1.2 Pre qualitative research outcomes
After interviewing different personnel advisors and unit managers some possible causes of the recruitment problems from the local government of Zwolle came up. Many times it was thought that these problems had something to do with the differences in the conditions of employment between the public and the private sector. The municipal of Zwolle faces
especially hard times in competing on primary conditions of employment. According to many studies this is in general a significant factor in making a job choice decision (Henkens,
Remers and Schippers, 2005; Killingsworth and Heckman, 1986; Lewis and Frank, 2002; Taylor, 2005). The wage differences between the public and the private sector are substantial for highly educated employees. According to research of the SEO Economic Investigation (2005), highly educated employees working in the public sector earn on average 12 percent less than similar jobs in the private sector. To the contrary however, secondary conditions of employment are thought to be more developed in the public sector which could give them an advantage over companies in the private sector (CAOP 2006).
Also often stated in the interviews was the negative public image of the local governments. This could influence the motivation of people to apply for a job at the local government. This is in line with many studies, which concluded that governmental agencies face ´government bashing´ (Frank and Lewis,2004; Lavigna and Hays, 2004;
Lemmink, Schuijf and Sandra, 2003) or ―bureaucrat bashing‖ (Denhardt and Jennings, 1989). Finally in the interviews many motives were given why certain employees choose to work for the government. Among these motives were job security, Public Service Motivation (PSM), dynamic city with interesting jobs, flexible secondary working conditions and a positive working climate. It was not known in what amount these factors were decisive in choosing to work for the local government of Zwolle.
1.3 Research question
By taking the recruitment problems of the local government of Zwolle into account the question raises what the local government of Zwolle should change in order to focus on attracting the right applicants for the occupations of plan economists, legal estate and town planning experts. Therefore the aim of this research is to investigate how the local
government of Zwolle can improve their attractiveness for future plan economists, legal estate and town planning experts in order to increase the tendency to work for the local government of Zwolle. The following research question will guide this investigation: How can the local government of Zwolle overcome the problems of finding the right applicants for the functions of town planning experts, legal estate experts and plan economist?
1.4 Outline and justification
Based on previous research several factors / variables will be used to guide this research and have an influence on the attractiveness of the employer. The factors used in this investigation could be grouped in three main groups: extrinsic rewards (Frank and Lewis 2004), intrinsic rewards (Frank and Lewis 2004), and image (organizational view) (Lemmink et al., 2002).
In earlier studies these factors are investigated a lot, but unfortunately without
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Theory
2. THEORY
This chapter will elaborate on the different variables and factors that have an influence on the tendency to work for the local government of Zwolle. At first, the concept of tendency to work for the local government will be defined. This elaboration chapter will continue with different factors that are related to the extrinsic rewards. The aim of this part is to investigate the different extrinsic rewards that could be of importance by making a decision to work for a specific employer or not. Furthermore, employees could work for organizations that score high on providing intrinsic rewards. Moreover, the last section of this chapter describes some insight in the image of the local government by individuals. Finally, after every section two kinds of hypothesis are presented. The first hypothesis is to understand and investigate the relationship between the different factors and tendency to work for the local government. The second hypothesis is to find out if there are differences between employees working for the local government and employees working in the private sector. The last hypothesis serves as controlling function, to investigate if the differences are really caused by differences between these two groups of employees.
2.1 Tendency to work for the local government
According to Cohen, Zalamanotovitch and Dividesko (2006) it is very important to understand the motives for a high versus low tendency to work in the public sector.
Understanding these motives can have important implications for becoming more sensitive to the external labour market and in attracting applicants. Cohen et al. (2006) conceptualise tendency to work in the public sector close to PSM. This line of reasoning will not be taken into account in this investigation, because significant differences between these two concepts exist. According to many studies PSM is just one aspect employees find important in
would like to stay working in the public sector in the future. With this concept, the results could reveal what causes these employees to work or stay working in the public sector.
2.2 View on extrinsic rewards
Extrinsic rewards are rewards external to the job itself like pay, promotion, job security, social climate, fringe benefits and recognition granted by others (Herzberg, 1987; O‘Driscoll and Randall, 1999; Wright, 2007).
Pay. According to many studies job income is a prime goal of getting a job and has a
significant influence on job choice decisions and on the attractiveness of the employer (Karl and Sutton, 1998; Rynes, 1987; Taylor, 2005; Vandenbeele, 2008). Findings of a study by Taylor (2005) show that getting a job was most related to getting an income. It was rated above the interest and satisfaction derived from working and the opportunity to interact with others. Karl and Sutton (1998) also came to this conclusion. Getting a good wage out of the job was ranked by employees as top priority. Finally Vandenbeele (2008) concluded that a fair wage was among the top motives when accepting a job.
It is argued that there are differences in importance placed on income between employees in the private and the public sector (Karl and Sutton, 1998; Sharpe, 1991; Vandenbeele, 2008; Wittmer, 1991). Sharpe (2001) concluded that public sector managers place less importance on income than private sector managers, but they still find it relatively important. The same conclusion was stated by Karl and Sutton (1998). They ranked income as highest in importance for private sector employees and second in importance for public sector employees.
Lewis and Frank (2002) came to a partly different conclusion. They state that the more preference employees had for a high income, the more likely they prefer government
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Theory
Although much evidence exists regarding the differences placed on the importance of pay, Wright (2001) came after a small meta analysis to the conclusion that the results are not entirely consistent and because of this the causal direction remains uncertain.
Finally it is stated by Dæhlen (2007) that students who just finished their education place a higher importance on income, because they face more financial obligations like buying a house and repaying their debt built up during college.
In summary, previous results indicate mixed outcomes. Although these mixed outcomes, the majority of the studies expect a difference placed on importance between public and private sector employees.
Job security. Another important aspect of extrinsic rewards is job security. The public
sector is often thought to be a more stable working environment than the private sector (Frank and Lewis, 2004). Several studies indicated that because of this job security component, especially security seeking employees are applying for jobs in the public sector (e.g. Baldwin, 1991; Kilpatrick, Cummings and Jennings, 1964; Lewis and Frank, 2002). Security seeking behaviour is more prevalent under females, married and high aged individuals
(Manolopoulos, 2008). Interesting are the recent developments in the economy. Expected might be that in economic downturn employees are more inclined to job security than in times of economic rise. This could mean an increase in the applicant pool of the public sector. Finally job security is preferred more by students who just completed their education, because they face more financial obligations (Dæhlen, 2007)
Promotion. According to Clark (2005) the promotion aspect of a job is becoming more
important in The Netherlands. Clark (2005) also state that employees care more about
concluded that interesting work and opportunities to help others are of higher importance than extrinsic rewards, like pay and promotions in both the private and the public sector.
Non pecuniary benefits. The non pecuniary benefits can be a significant factor in the
attractiveness of an organization (COAP, 2006). These benefits could exist of flexible working times, part time work possibilities, educational opportunities, a business car, childcare, travel cost dispensation and the like (Intelligence Group, 2008). According to research from COAP (2006) the public sector in The Netherlands still has an advantage over these benefits in comparison to the private sector. But this advantage is diminishing in the last few years, because organizations in the private sector tend to compete more on these benefits. This has an upward effect which decreases the gap between the private and public sector.
Several studies indicate that employees care more about tailor made non pecuniary benefits (Latta and O‘Conghaille, 2000; Webster, 2001). This is in order to match the work-life balance better during the work-lifetime and to make employers more attractive for employees (Langedijk, 1998; MacInnes, 2005). This is also called the cafeteria system in The
Netherlands and means that employees can choose to a certain extent the benefits they want (Delson, Benders and Smits, 2006). Research from Delsen et al. (2006) indicated that high earning full time employees participate more in these plans than low earning part time employees, although need differences are not on the surface.
Hypothesis 1: Employees1 with a high preference to pay and promotion and a low preference to job security and non pecuniary benefits will have a more negative image of the local government and a lower tendency to work there.
Hypothesis 2: Employees in the public sector have a lower preference to pay and
promotion (hard benefits) and a higher preference to job security and non pecuniary benefits than employees in the private sector.
2.3 View on intrinsic rewards
Intrinsic rewards are rewards that are self-administered by the employees (Wright, 2007). Intrinsic rewards are those that exist in the job itself (Herzberg, 1987). Examples are achievement, variety, challenge, autonomy, responsibility, and personal and professional growth (O‘Driscoll and Randall, 1999; Raghu, Sen, and Rao, 2003). They also include status,
1
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Theory
recognition, praise from superiors and co-workers, personal satisfaction, and feelings of self-esteem (Baker, Jensen, and Murphy, 1988). Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman (1959) describe that intrinsic rewards include interesting and meaningful work that offers opportunities for creativity and personal growth.
Interesting work. Several studies found that employees in the private and the public
sector place different values on the character of the work itself (Frank and Lewis, 2004; Wright, 2001). It is generally assumed that employees in the private sector do place more value on income than on the characteristic of the job itself. However, research shows that employees in the public sector place the most value on the job itself. They are the most motivated by the job itself (Frank and Lewis, 2004).
Public service motivation. As stated in the introduction it is often argued that
individuals with certain characteristics work for governmental organizations, these are
employees possessing a high public service motivation (PSM) need (Gabris and Simon, 1995; Lewis and Frank, 2000; Perry, 1996; Perry and Wise, 1990; Vandenabeele, 2008). These are employees who place high value on serving the society and helping others (Taylor, 2005). Staats (1998) gives the following reverential description: ´Public service is a concept, an attitude, a sense of duty, yes even a sense of public morality´. PSM has generally three bases, a norm-based, a rational and an affective one (Perry and Wise 1990). Rational motives consist of participation in policy making and commitment to public program because of personal identification. A norm-based motives is stated as a desire to serve the society. Finally, affective motives are based on a conviction about the social importance of a program (Kim, 2007) and that you should be the `patriotism of benevolence´, which is actually the same as compassion (Frederickson and Hart, 1985). According to Perry and Wise (1990) ´the greater an individuals‘ PSM, the more likely the individual will seek membership in a public
organization´. They also state that individuals who posses a high PSM tend to exert less importance to monetary incentives.
the different kind of skill employees must possess to complete the task (Hackman and Olman, 1975). Secondly, task identity relates to the ‗meaningfulness‘ of the work performed
(Hackman and Oldman, 1975). According to Mehta and Shah (2005) the task identity is the degree to which the job involves completing a whole, identifiable piece of work rather than simply a part. Thirdly, task significance can be defined as follows: “The extent to which the
job has an impact on other people, inside or outside the organization” (Mehta and Shah,
2005). This is not the same as PSM, because task significance is only about a general influence on people and not about serving the public for moral reasons. Fourthly, Hackman and Oldman (1980) define autonomy as: “The degree to which the job provides substantial
freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out”. And finally feedback is defined as
having knowledge of the results and receive constructive advice about how to improve it (Hackman and Oldman ,1975).
Emmert and Taher (1992) investigated these factors between public sector employees and private sector employees and found no differences in intrinsic motivation between them. All factors were equally present in both sectors. On the other hand, Posner and Schmidt (1982) found that employees in the public sector score higher on skill variety and task
significance. Skill variety was higher because employees in the public sector tend to do many different work related activities and task significance was higher because work in the public sector has generally a significant impact on other people outside the organization. Overall there are many inconsistencies in this research, where one study reported that employees in the public sector had the idea that employees in the private sector had more challenging jobs (Gabris and Simo, 1995), another study reported no differences (Emmert and Taher, 1992) and finally one study is in favor of the employees in the public sector (Posner and Schmidt, 1982).
Hypothesis 3: Employees who place less value on interesting work and have less public
service motivation will have a more negative image of the local government and a lower tendency to work there.
Hypothesis 4: Employees in the public sector place higher value on interesting work
and public service motivation than employees in the private sector.
Hypothesis 5: The job characteristics of intrinsic motivation of employees will have no
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Theory
Hypothesis 6: The job characteristics of intrinsic motivation do not differ between
employees in the private and public sector.
2.4 View on the organization (corporate reputation)
In the literature many opposing definitions of image, reputation and identity are used. These terms are often used intertwined and this can lead to confusion (Chun 2005). According to Chun (2005) there are differences between these concepts. Image and reputation are highly correlated, but image can be built up more quickly and without experience. To build up reputation a longer time is necessary and this is often rooted in some experience. Both
concepts can be destroyed very fast, although reputation will generally have a longer lifetime. Identity on the other hand can be divided into organizational identity and corporate identity. The former means how the employees see the organization and the latter is a synonym for the desired identity or what the organization says it is. This refers to visual cues such as name, logo and symbols (Ind 1992 in Chun, 2005). Presented in figure 2 (adapted from Davies and Miles (1998)) are the relationships between the different concepts to corporate reputation.
For this research it is important to focus on corporate image and to find out if there is a gap between corporate image and organizational identity. According to Cohen et al. (2006) image is a mediator between the determinants of tendency to work for the local government and tendency to work for the local government. This is elaborated in sub paragraph 2.4.2.
Figure 2: Elements of corporate reputation
Corporate reputation
Organizational identity
(What the company is)
Image
(What the stakeholders think it is) Desired identity
(What the company says it is)
2.4.1 Image
Reynes (1991) defined organizational image as ´a general impression of the attractiveness of an organization´. Aaker and Myers (1982 in Lemmink et al., 2003) gave a more extended definition of organizational image: ´an image is the set of meanings by which an object is known and through which people describe, remember and relate to it´. Forming an
organizational image is an individual process, which means that stakeholders may differ in their impression about the organization.
Lord and Kerman (1987) argued that potential employees form a view of the organization before they consider to entry or apply for a job. They form this view after evaluating information which they conduct during their lifetime. This information can come from two sources: informal, such as family and friends and formal, such as newspapers, advertisements and company statements. Information that comes from the informal source is considered to be of greater influence on individuals. When you are exposed to more
information this will positively influence the image and the applicant‘s intensions (Gatewood, Gowan and Lautenschlager, 1993). In this way you become more familiar with the
organization and this will have a positive influence on the choice of employer (Lemmink et al., 2003). This information is also useful in making a person-organizational fit analysis.
Not much research is done on the field of public sector image. Only a couple of studies have investigated this relationship (Cohen et al., 2006; Blank, 1985; Kilpatrick et al., 1964). The outcomes are that the image individuals have from the public sector is often negative. Meier (1993 p.244 in Vandenbeele, 2008) describes this as follows: `the image of the federal sector is that its members are lazy, unambitious, and less than competent´. These stereotypes about the public sector have been investigated in several studies. The results provide no evidence for differences in working hard between employees working in the private and the public sector (Frank and Lewis, 2002). But still the public sector faces a negative image, which is also called ´government bashing´ (Lavigna and Hays, 2004).
2.4.2 Image as mediator
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Theory
Individuals differ to a significant amount on the variable image because of many reasons. Individuals who have a more positive image of the public sector have had work experience in the public sector, are members of minority groups, have few job alternatives in the private sector, have a low income, have connections in the public sector and have a high need for job security (Cohen et al. 2006). This indicates that every determinant of tendency to work for the local government (i.e. hard benefits, job security, and non pecuniary benefits) has an influence on image and image has therefore an influence on tendency to work for the local government.
Hypothesis 7: Employees who have a negative image towards the public sector have a
low tendency to work for the local government.
Hypothesis 8: Employees in the public sector have a more positive image from the
public sector than employees in the private sector.
Hypothesis 9: Image from the local government mediates the relationship between the
2.5 Research model
The theory described above can be presented in a model which makes the concrete links between the different factors visible.
Figure 2: The research model
Extrinsic rewards variables Mediator
Intrinsic rewards variables Mediator
Tendency to work for the local government
Job security Hard benefits
Non pecuniary benefits
Public service motivation Job characteristics
Interesting work
Image of the local government
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Methods
3. METHODS
3.1 Data collection
Data for this research was collected among plan economists, legal estate and town planning experts working in the private sector and employees working for the local government of Zwolle, Amersfoort, Almere, Den Bosch, Breda, Groningen and Enschede. The employees in the private sector have been chosen a select among advisor companies in The Netherlands. The local governments that are selected have similar characteristic as the local government of Zwolle. This means, more than 100.000, but less than 200.000 citizens, a distinct HRM department and more than 1000 employees. They have been chosen a select. All these individuals received a questionnaire which contained 23 questions (see appendix 1). This questionnaire was send to the respondents in a digital format. In fact, this questionnaire was send to 140 relevant employees working for the local government and 160 relevant employees working in the private sector. The response rate was 52.28% (76 questionnaires) for the public sector and 47.5% (76 questionnaires) for the private sector. A response rate of 30% is
common in research. According to this an overall response rate of 50.67% is better than average.
3.2 General statistics
In total 62% of the respondents were male and 38% female. Most of the respondents, 49% were between 31 and 44 years old, 31 % of the respondents were younger than 31 and 20% is older than 44 years. Fifty percent is working in the private sector and fifty percent in the local governmental sector. From the respondents working in the local governmental sector 37% is plan economist, 27% a legal estate expert and 35% a town planning expert. In the private sector 25% is working as a plan economist, 43% as a legal estate expert and 32% as a town planning expert. Moreover, 38% from the respondents in the private sector have no
experience and 36% have no strong connections with employees in the public sector. Overall the dispersion between the different occupations represents the target group equally, which is a necessary condition for comparing these two groups. Furthermore 57% of all the
3.3 Measures
Pay, promotion, job security, interesting job. All these concepts can be measured with
some simple questions / statements in the questionnaire. Three questions are used to assess the importance placed on pay (Taylor, 2005). A five point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) is used to answer these questions. An example of the questions is: A high pay in a job is important for me. Also some reversed questions are used. For promotion, job security and interesting job just one question is used to measure these
concepts, like: A high opportunity for promotion is important for me. Also a five point Likert scale is used to measure these concepts. The questions for pay and promotion are bundled in the analysis (hard benefits), because they have a Cronbach Alpha of 0.735, which is a sufficient condition for bundling.
Non pecuniary benefits. The non pecuniary benefits factor consist of many
components, like flexible working times, part time work possibilities, educational
opportunities, business car, childcare, travel cost dispensation (Intelligence Group 2008). All these aspects are stated in the questionnaire like: ´Flexible working times are important for
me´ and ´Having a business car is important for me´. A five point Likert scale is used to
measure all the components. The Cronbach Alpha of all these items is 0.821.
Public service motivation. Measuring public service motivation is more difficult to
measure than the previous concepts. Perry (1996) was the first author who completed a 40-item multidimensional measure of PSM. Kim (2008) revised this scale to a 12-40-item
multidimensional measure of PSM. This 12-item scale differs from Perry´s (1996) scale in the way that the scale of Kim (2008) is positively worded and this improves the scale. Also the length of items is diminished with no decrease in reliability and validity. The construct PSM can be divided into four components with three items: attraction to policy making ( ´Sharing
my views on public policy with others is attractive to me´), commitment to the public interest
(´Meaningful public service is very important to me´), compassion (´I feel sympathetic to the
plight of the underprivileged´) and self-sacrifice (´Making a difference in society means more to me than personal achievement´). A five point Liker scale is also used to measure these
items. To measure the internal consistency and reduce the data into one variable the Cronbach Alpha is calculated. The Cronbach Alpha of the 12 items of the construct PSM is 0.861. This implies that it is allowed to reduce the 12 concepts into one variable and that removing a item only weakens the internal consistency of PSM.
Job characteristics. Hackman and Oldham (1975) developed the Job Diagnostic Survey
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Methods
many times during the years. For this investigation the revised version of Hackman and Oldham (1980) is used to measure skill variety, task identity, and task significance, autonomy and feedback. For each factor two questions and two statements are used to measure the individual‘s opinion about this concept. For the questions and the statements 5 point Likert scale is used. For instance a question about autonomy is stated as follows: ´How much
autonomy is there in your job? And is it important for me? That is, what extend does your job permit you to decide on your own how to go about doing your work´. The Cronbach Alpha of
these 5 items is 0.817.
Image. Measuring the organizational view of an organization can be difficult, because
reputation and image are not one-dimensional ´good´ or ´bad´ (Brown and Dacin, 1997). For the purpose of this investigation a 20 item corporate reputation scale is used designed by Fombrun, Gardberg and Sever (2000). This scale is called the Reputation Quotient (RQ). The scale is divided into 6 distinct factors with different items for measuring each factor (3 or 4). These factors are emotional appeal (´I have a good feeling about the local government´), product and services (´The local government develops innovate product and services´), vision and leadership (´Has a clear vision for the future´), workplace environment (´Looks like a
good company to work for´), social and environmental responsibility (´Supports good causes´)
and financial performance (Tends to outperform other sectors´). Cronbach Alpha is equal to 0.925.
Tendency to work for the local government. The last concept that must be measured is
the tendency to work for the local government. This is measured by one question: ´Would you
like to (stay) work(ing) for the local government’. A 5 point Likert scale is used to measure
this question.
3.4 Data analysis
theory section. Furthermore, gender could for instance shape this relationship according to Eccles (1994). Eccles (1994) argues that women place more importance on helping others and doing a job that is worthwhile to the society. Men on the other side place more value on status, money and challenging work. Age could also influence this relationship. Elder
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Results
4. RESULTS
4.1 Correlation analysis
In table 1 a Pearson Correlations analysis is presented together with the means and standard deviations of the variables. With the use of this analysis the relationships between the variables can be specified and the hypothesis can be pre tested. The results show, in accordance with the first part of hypothesis 1, that there is a significant negative relation between the hard benefits and image of the local government as well as tendency to work for the local government (r = -23 respectively r = -.33 at a significance level of .01). 2 On the other hand, non pecuniary benefits have a significant positive relation with image of the local government and no significant relation with tendency to work for the local government. However, the second part of the hypothesis is not accepted, because a weak and not
significant positive relation is found between job security and image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. These results are a good indicator of the results for
hypothesis 2. As expected, employees in the public sector have a significant lower preference for hard benefits than employees in the private sector (r = -.27 at a significance level of .01). The second part of hypothesis 2 is not accepted, employees in the public sector have not a significant higher preference for job security than employees in the private sector .
Remarkable, job security does not correlate with the sector working for (r = .00, but not significant) and image of the local government. Next to that, no significant relationship is found for hypothesis 3 between interesting work and image of the local government as well as tendency to work for there, the relationships found were weak positive ones. However, a significant positive relationship is found between PSM and image of the local government as well as tendency to work there (r = .35 respectively r = .22 at a significance level of .01). In conclusion half of hypothesis 3 is accepted. Hypothesis 4 is in line with hypothesis 3.
Employees in the public sector have more PSM than employees in the private sector (r = -.23 at a significance level of .01). However, no differences are found between employees in the public and private sector when focussing on the factor ‗interesting work‘.
2
Table 1
Correlations between control variables, extrinsic reward, intrinsic rewards, image and tendency to work for the local government
M SD 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14 . 1. Gender (women) .37 .48 1 2. Age 1.89 .711 -.16 1 3. Job tenure 1.84 1.23 .09 .66** 1 4. Number of children 1.07 1.12 .02 .48** .25** 1 5. Employer (local government) 1.5 .5 .14 .19* .11 .05 1 6. Connections public sector (yes) .59 .49 -.09 .09 -.02 .01 -.08 1 7. Hard benefits (promotion and pay) 3.52 .65 -.08 -.21** -.30** -.27** -.36** .02 1 8. Job security 3.75 .89 .06 -.07 -.05 -.08 .00 .02 .19* 1 9. Non pecuniary benefits 3.35 .53 .25* .16* .10 .07 .10 -.01 .15 .49** 1 10. Interesting work 4.64 .69 -.02 .03 .05 .07 .03 .07 .02 .05 .06 1 11. PSM 3.21 .59 .02 .18* .16 .22** .23* .16 -.16* .17* .29** .18* 1 12. Intrinsic motivation 3.96 .55 -.08 .09 -.02 .04 -.03 .14 .15** .08 .17* .61** .26** 1 13. Image of local government 3.18 .56 .23* .01 .08 .02 .42** .07 -.23** .16 .25* -.01 .35** -.1 1 14. Willingness
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Results
Hypothesis 5 and 6 are according to the correlation analysis accepted. The job characteristics of intrinsic motivation do not have a significant influence on image of the local government as well as the tendency to work there and do not differ between employees working for the local government and private sector. Finally the last two hypotheses 7 and 8 are accepted. There is a strong significant positive relation between employees who have a positive image towards the local governmental sector and tendency to work for the local government (r = .55 at a significance level of .01). And this more positive image is more profound under public sector employees than private sector employees (r = -.42 at a significance level of .01).
Some remarkable results are found in this correlation analysis, which are not described in a hypothesis and is therefore not found in literature. Described below are some results which deserve extra attention. One of those relations, is the positive relation between age and PSM (r = .18 at a significance level of .05). This indicates that an employee has more public service motivation when he/she gets older. The same counts for PSM and number of children. When you have more children, you have a higher PSM. Furthermore, younger or childless employees care more about hard benefits like a high salary and promotion than older employees and employees with children. However, older employees care more about non pecuniary benefits than younger ones and women care more about them than men. Another notable result, women have in general a more positive image of the local government than men have.
4.2 Regression analysis
To apply a regression analysis four assumptions must be met and are tested. First of all, the variables used in this investigation are normally distributed. Furthermore, the assumption of a linear relationship between the dependent and independent variables holds in this research. Moreover, the variance of errors is the same across all levels of the independent variable, which fulfils homoscedasticity. Finally, the respondents are independent from each other, which is the last necessary condition.
4.2.1 Results regression analysis
described the definition ´mediating relationship´ and they formulated four conditions that must be fulfilled.
Table 2
Results regression analysis control variables, extrinsic reward, intrinsic rewards to image and tendency to work for the local government
Independent variables General image of local government (Organizational view)
Tendency to work for the local government
b SE b SE
1. Gender (women) b=.16* SE=.09 b=.21 SE=.2
2. Age b=-.04 SE=.09 b=.38** SE=.18
3. Number Children b=-.04 SE=.04 b=-.18* SE=.09
4. Job tenure b=.02 SE=.05 b=-.13 SE=.1
5. Hard benefits b=-.17** SE=.07 b=-.67*** SE=.15
6. Job security b=.03 SE=.06 b=.14 SE=.12
7. Non pecuniary benefits b=.17** SE=.1 b=.18* SE=.21
8. Interesting work b=.02 SE=.08 b=-.11 SE=.16
9. PSM b=.30*** SE=.08 b=.27* SE=.16
10. Intrinsic motivation b=-.16 SE=.1 b=-.09 SE=.22 11. Connections public (yes) b=.07 SE=.09 b=.31* SE=.18
R2 (adjusted) .25 (.20) .22 (.16)
F 4.32*** 3.67***
N = 152
b= Beta unstandardized coefficients SE= Standard error
R2= Explained variance F= F value
* = p <.1 ** = p < .05 ***= p<.01
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Results
row) and therefore image is not a complete mediator, but a partial mediator. Baron and Kenny (1986) allow for partial mediation, when the effect of the independent variables on the
dependent variable is larger when the mediator (image) is not partialled than when it is
partialled. This is can be seen in table 2 and 3. Almost all independent variables have a higher effect on tendency to work for the local government when the mediator is not partialled. Concluding, the first three conditions hold in this investigation (see table 2 and table 3) and this indicates that hypothesis 9 can be accepted. However, the mediation effect of image is not complete but partial mediation.
Table 3
Results regression analysis image, control variables, extrinsic reward, intrinsic rewards to tendency to work for the local government
Independent variables Tendency to work for the local government image of local government as IV
Tendency to work for the local government all independent variables inclusive image
b SE b SE
1. Image (Organizational view) b=1.17*** SE=.15 b=1.03*** SE=.16
2. Gender (women) b=.04 SE=.18
3. Age b=.42** SE=.16
4. Number Children b=-.14* SE=.08
5. Job tenure b=-.15* SE=.09
6. Hard benefits b=-.50*** SE=.14
7. Job security b=.10 SE=.11
8. Non pecuniary benefits b=.03 SE=.19
9. Interesting work b=-.13 SE=.15
10. PSM b=-.04 SE=.16
11. Intrinsic motivation b=.08 SE=.19
12. Connections public (yes) b=.24 SE=.16
R2 (adjusted) .31 (.30) .39(.35)
F 65.74*** 7.70***
∆R2 .09
N = 152
Conceptually, the findings in table 2 half support hypothesis 1 and 3 and provide strong support for hypothesis 5 and 7. Hypothesis 1 predicted that pay and promotion (hard benefits), job security and non pecuniary benefits preferences would be related to image of the local government and tendency to work there. The first part of hypothesis 1 is significant supported by the data. Employees who have a high preference for hard benefits have a lower image of the local government and tendency to work there. Job security on the other hand seems not to be related with image of the local government and tendency to work there. Non pecuniary benefits have a significant positive influence on image of the local government and weak positive influence in relation to tendency to work for the local government.
This means someone who has a higher preference for i.e. part-time work, flexible working times and healthcare insurance also have a higher image of the local government as well as tendency to work there.
Hypothesis 3 predicted that interesting work and PSM would be related to image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. This hypothesis is partially supported by the data. Preference for interesting work seems not to be related to image of the local
government and tendency to work there. The non significant relationship is even negative instead of an expected positive one. PSM on the other hand is significant related to image of the local government and tendency to work there. A higher public service motivation stands for a higher image of the local government and a higher tendency to work there. This relation is stronger when related to the mediator image.
Furthermore, hypothesis 5 predicted that the job characteristics of internal motivation have no influence on the image of the local government and tendency to work there. This is strongly supported by the results, which show no significant relationship between these two variables.
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Results
average age in the sample is higher for employees working for the local governmental sector than employees working in the private sector (sample bias). Remarkable, women have a higher image of the local government than men.
4.3 Comparisons
In this paragraph comparisons are made between the differences in answers from public and private sector employees. This is done with the Independent-samples T-test in table 4
presented on the next page. The normality and independency assumption are also tested here and they both hold. The last assumption for the T test is that the two groups (employees in the private and local governmental sector) have approximately equal variance on the dependent variable. This is for every factor checked with the Levene‘s Test (α must be higher than .05).
Table 4
Independent sample T test between private en local governmental employees
Dependent variables Mean local government Mean private T-value
1. Hard benefits 3.29 3.75 -4.65***
2. Job security 3.75 3.75 .00
3. Non pecuniary benefits 3.40 3.29 1.28
4. Interesting work 4.66 4.62 .35 5. PSM 3.35 3.09 2.84*** 6. Intrinsic motivation 3.97 3.95 .15 7. General image 3.41 2.94 5.71*** N = 152 * = p <.05 ** = p < .01 ***= p<.001
(M= 4.66 on 4.62). Moreover, hypothesis 6 is accepted, there are no significant differences found in means between the two groups on intrinsic motivation (M=3.97 on M=3.95). Finally, hypothesis 8 is accepted. Employees in the local governmental sector have a significant better image of their own sector than employees in the private sector (M=3.41 on 2.94). This
number of 2.94 means that employees in the private sector rate the image of the local government as negative (3 is the average answer).
These results do not give very detailed information about the differences on a lower level, without using constructs (hard benefits, general image). For that reason a more detailed analysis of the t-test can be found in appendix 2. The main conclusions from this analysis are that employees in the local governmental sector have a higher preference for part-time work and a lower preference for high pay, promotion, wage growth and a business car, in
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Discussion
5. DISCUSSION
The aim of this study was to investigate how the local government of Zwolle could improve their attractiveness for employees in the private sector, who have the profession of a plan economist, legal estate expert or town planning expert. The results of this study should lead to better insight in the motivational aspects and preferences employees in the local governmental and private sector find important and gives an indication of the image of the local
government. Based on findings of previous research, eight variables are picked which can have an influence on willingness to work for the local government. These variables are bundled in 5 independent variables (hard benefits, non pecuniary benefits, job security, interesting work, PSM and intrinsic motivation) and one mediator (image).
Based on the results of previous studies it was hypothesized that non pecuniary benefits, job security, interesting work, PSM positively influence the image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. These factors are expected to be more profound under
employees working for the local government than employees working in the private sector. On the other side it was hypothesized that preference for pay and promotion (hard benefits) negatively influences the image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. This factor is expected to be more profound under employees working in the private sector than employees working for the local government. In between was the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation has no influence on the image of the local government and tendency to work there and do also not differ in importance between employees working for the local governmental and private sector. Finally it was hypothesized that image of the local government mediates the relationship between the independent variables and tendency to work for the local government.
have a higher preference for a high salary, wage growth, promotion and a business car are not likely to have a positive image of the local government and would therefore not like to work for the local government in the future. It can be concluded that employees do not expect these items to be present at the local government as employer. Furthermore, in both analyses significant positive results were found between the factor PSM and image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. This means that employees with a higher public service motivation, also called social motivation, tend to have a higher image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. Moreover, in both analyses significant positive results were confirmed between the factor non pecuniary benefits and the mediator image of the local government. This means that employees with a high preference for non pecuniary benefits like part-time, healthcare insurance and not too much overwork have a higher tendency to work for the local government. Finally, no significant relationship is confirmed between intrinsic motivation image of the local government as well as tendency to work there as hypothesized. This indicates that, for instance the preference of autonomy in a job, does not influence the image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. Moreover, the results of the Independent-Samples T-test also confirmed almost all hypotheses tested. First of all, the T-test confirmed that there are significant differences with respect to hard benefits, PSM and image of the local government between employees working for the local government and employees working in the private sector. Employees in the private sector place more value on hard benefits and employees working for the local government score higher on PSM and indicate a more positive image of the local government.
In contrast to earlier mentioned studies, job security and interesting work have with both the correlation and regression analysis no significant relationship with image of the local government as well as tendency to work there. Only a very weak not significant relationship to organisational image is found. Therefore it can be concluded that plan economists, legal estate and town planning experts are not security seeking or they suppose that working for another sector than the local governmental (private sector) provides them with the same amount of security. A more legitimate explanation for the variable interesting work, is that the local government does not have projects that are more or less interesting than projects offered by distinct employers. Furthermore, these two variables do not differ between employees in the private and local governmental sector. This indicates that the often hold perception of employees working for the local government because of job safety, is outdated and is not applicable nowadays.
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Discussion
of this study is that it is focused especially on three targets groups, which are legal estate and town planning experts and plan economists. In this way this investigation is complementary to previous research, which is in general focused on all kind of employees with only one
distinction, namely the difference between public and private sector employees. Furthermore this research is focused on the difference between employees in the private sector and
employees in the local government sector. Most research is focused on employees in the public sector in general, and not in specific to the local government. A final strength of this study is the highly diverse sample and response rate. The sample consists of employees from seven local governments (more than 100.000 civilians) chosen a select and many
organizations active in the private sector (26 in total) . In fact, this questionnaire was send to 300 relevant employees and 152 employees participated in this research. This is an overall response rate of 50.67%.
The results of this investigation should be taken into account with a critical note, because this study has some limitations. The fist limitation of this study is the size of the population which is unknown. It is not possible to get an indication of the number of legal estate experts, plan economists and town planning experts. No real numbers are available and only a rough estimate of the number of town planning experts in The Netherlands exists. This is a total of 739 town planning experts (Architectenregister 2009) (A total number of 50 participated in this research). This number is probably not high enough, because not all the town planning experts are subscribed by this organization, although this is mandatory by law when you want to call yourself an ´architect´. Because of this unknown population it is hard to generalize the results of this research over the whole population. Another limitation of this study is the focus of the research approach itself. This study takes only factors into account which can be of different value for employees and that can be of influence in making your choice to work for a certain employer or not. This view focuses on the employees itself and not on the hard side of the recruitment or selection process from an organization (e.g.. interviews, referrals, selection committee and required competences). However, this research approach is justified in the qualitative research that has been described in introduction chapter. According to this
to blurred statistics. However, previous experience in the public sector does have a positive effect on tendency to work for the local government when you are working at the moment in the private sector, according to the Independent-sample T-test. A final limitation, not all the relationships between the independent variables and the mediator as well as the dependent variable are significant. According to this the mediating relationship of image should be interpret with care and may not be that strong as stated.
Finally, some practical implications can be drawn for the local government of Zwolle, for other local governments and public sector organizations to overcome the problems of finding the right applicants for the functions of town planning expert, legal estate expert and plan economist. Based on this research, image of the local government is the key concept in relation to tendency to work for the local government. This image can be shaped and
influenced. A first relative simple and inexpensive option for this is providing experience at the local government to students in the form of internships. Employees within the private sector with experience in the local governmental sector have namely a higher tendency to work for the local government. Due to these internships the local government can improve their image and increase the tendency to work for the local government in the future. Because the employees in this research are scarce, it is optimal to try to offer jobs to well performing students, even if there is no job opening before one or two years from now. Having them in house will save searching costs later and prevents from hiring an external advisor from a private organization. These students should be reached with a more active approach than is done currently at the local government of Zwolle. The local government of Zwolle should for instance be more active on recruitment days, providing and giving guest colleges at
Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle Discussion
targets is nowadays common in the private sector, but very uncommon in the local governmental sector. Two effects can be accomplished with this change, one: a signaling effect to the outside world, two: a more easy recruitment process. In addition, this could lead to extra publicity for the local government of Zwolle, because they could be the first local government working with such a system. Finally, the local government can in their
recruitment campaigns focus more on the non pecuniary benefits which you can receive at the local government and the social motivation which can be fulfilled when working for the local government. This is especially interesting when recruiting older employees, because they care more about these two aspects (both private and local governmental employees). A distinction in marketing campaigns should therefore be made, one focusing on young employees and another focusing on older employees.
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Hard recruiting times for the local government of Zwolle APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 1
Questionnaire
On behalf of my Master Thesis for the study Human Resource Management, I‘m conducting research about preferences in a job related to the tendency to work for the local government. Filling in this questionnaire will take about 10-15 minutes of your time. Thank you in advance for filling in this questionnaire.
With kind regards,
Eelko van Drongelen (Student HRM at the University of Groningen)
General questions
1. What is your gender?
Man Woman
2. What is your age?
< 30 31- 44 > 45
3. In what profession are you working?
a. Plan economist b. Real estate lawyer c. Town planning expert d. Other
4. What’s your length of job tenure?
<5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years 16-20 years > 21 years
5. How many children do you have?
0 1 2 3 4 > 5
6. Are you mainly working in the private or the local government sector?
1. Private sector Proceed to question 7
2. Local governmental sector Proceed to question 8
7. Do you have prior work experience in the public sector (including internships)?
8. Do you have strong connections with employees working in the public sector (family or friends)?
a. Yes b. No
9. Extrinsic rewards
Important for me in a job is….. Strongly disagree
Disagree General Agree Strongly agree A high pay
A fair pay Growth of salary
Opportunity for promotion Development possibilities Job security
Flexible working times A business car
Part time work possibilities Travel cost dispensation Educational opportunities A good pension plan
A good collective healthcare plan WAO-gap insurance
ANW-gap insurance Good childcare possibilities Exchange paid days off for pension
Company saving
Bonuses and profit sharing Paid days off
Not to much overwork
10. Intrinsic rewards Public service motivation
Strongly disagree
Disagree General Agree Strongly
agree
I am interested in making public programs that are beneficial for my country or community I belong to
Sharing my views on public policies with others is attractive to me
Seeing people get benefits from the public program I have been deeply involved in brings me a great deal of satisfaction
I consider public service my civic duty
Meaningful public service is important to me
I would prefer seeing public officials do what is best for society even if it harms my interest
