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The Effects of Making Public Service Employees Aware of Their Prosocial and Societal Impact: A Microintervention study

Author

Listed:
  • Vogel, Dominik

    (University of Hamburg)

  • Willems, Jurgen

Abstract

Over the past decade, practitioners and scholars have intensified the discussions around people’s expectations from their jobs and how public and private organizations can succeed in the war for talent. In this context, it has become obvious that people not only seek high salaries and career opportunities but also meaningfulness in their daily tasks. Although many public service jobs offer opportunities to help others (prosocial impact) or contribute to society (societal impact), employees tend to become accustomed to these positive aspects or forget about them. This article tests whether a microintervention that emphasizes employees’ prosocial or societal impact can positively affect their well-being, intention to stay in the job, and willingness to recommend their respective jobs to others. The combined results of three preregistered experiments reveal that microinterventions can indeed have these effects, particularly if they focus on creating awareness about the jobs’ societal impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Vogel, Dominik & Willems, Jurgen, 2020. "The Effects of Making Public Service Employees Aware of Their Prosocial and Societal Impact: A Microintervention study," SocArXiv xatcn, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:xatcn
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/xatcn
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Di Stefano, Giada & Gino, Francesca & Pisano, Gary P. & Staats, Bradley R., 2016. "Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning," HEC Research Papers Series 1181, HEC Paris.
    2. Robert Dur & Max van Lent, 2019. "Socially Useless Jobs," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 3-16, January.
    3. Barlösius, Eva & Philipps, Axel, 2015. "Felt stigma and obesity: Introducing the generalized other," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 9-15.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vogel, Dominik & Willems, Jurgen, 2020. "Einen Beitrag leisten und davon profitieren? An den gesellschaftlichen und sozialen Einfluss erinnern und damit die Motivation steigern," SocArXiv 8nasu, Center for Open Science.
    2. repec:osf:socarx:xatcn_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:osf:osfxxx:dukz3_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Fischer, Caroline & Kalucza, Janne, 2023. "Behavioural Approaches to Public Management and Governance," OSF Preprints dukz3, Center for Open Science.
    5. Yinnon Dryzin-Amit & Dana R Vashdi & Eran Vigoda-Gadot, 2022. "The publicness enigma: Can perceived publicness predict employees’ formal and prosocial behavior across sectors?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-23, February.
    6. repec:osf:socarx:8nasu_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Willems, Jurgen, 2020. "Citizens’ attitudes towards the public sector, public servants, and politicians – Development and validation of practical survey scales," OSF Preprints rnjua, Center for Open Science.

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