FActors AFFecting Job PerFormAnce in Public Agencies
JAmes gerArd cAillier The College at Brockport, State University of New York
ABSTRACT: Articles empirically examining job performance in the public sector are scant. As a result, in this article a theoretical research model is developed to examine job performance, and it is subsequently tested on state government workers. The findings are clear: Role ambiguity negatively affects employee job performance; mission contribution is fully validated (i.e., employees who directly contributed to the mission of the agency reported higher performance); government employees reported higher performance levels when they believed agencies received enough funding to fulfill their goals; and individual job performance was higher when employees believed that their agency spent appropriated funds efficiently. The implications these findings have for public agencies and officials are thoroughly discussed. KEYWORDS: funding, job performance, job satisfaction, mission contribution, public service motivation
ince the early 1900s, several work-related processes and theories have been proposed that were designed to help organizations get the most output from their workers (e.g., march & simon, 1958; mayo, 1933; taylor, 1911). because individual worker productivity is difficult to measure in some sectors (e.g., government), these job performance models have mainly been applied to employees in private sector organizations where outputs are more easily quantified (bohnet & eaton, 2003). As a result, few researchers have empirically studied job performance in public sector organizations. this article assists scholars, as well as human resource personnel, supervisors, and government officials, by empirically examining how several individual, environmental, and job-related factors affect job performance in government agencies. specifically, a theoretical research model is developed that predicts job performance in government