Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics

The wide-ranging changes that have occurred in the public sector over recent years have placed increasing demands on public-sector employees. A survey of employees within a relatively commercially-oriented public-sector organization in Australia was used to test a demand-oriented generic model of em...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Noblet, A., Teo, Stephen, McWilliams, J., Rodwell, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2005
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17002
_version_ 1848749338393575424
author Noblet, A.
Teo, Stephen
McWilliams, J.
Rodwell, J.
author_facet Noblet, A.
Teo, Stephen
McWilliams, J.
Rodwell, J.
author_sort Noblet, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The wide-ranging changes that have occurred in the public sector over recent years have placed increasing demands on public-sector employees. A survey of employees within a relatively commercially-oriented public-sector organization in Australia was used to test a demand-oriented generic model of employee well-being and a variety of situation-specific variables. The presence of support at work and the amount of control an employee had over their job were found to be key predictors of employee-level outcomes. Perceptions of pay and the perception of a lack of human resources (HR) were also found to predict employee outcome variables. The results emphasize the impact that middle managers and HR managers can have in terms of reducing the detrimental employee effects that can be caused by the introduction of new public management (NPM) and the potential for a positive impact on employees. In particular, public-sector managers can use the design of jobs and the development of social support mechanisms, such as employee assistance programmes, to maintain, if not improve, the quality of working life experienced by their employees. More broadly, this study has found that the job strain model is a useful tool in a public-sector environment and is likely to be of increasing utility with the continuing introduction or consolidation of NPM over time. Managing these issues in the new public sector could be a key means of protecting the key resource of the Australian public sector – the employees.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T07:19:21Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-17002
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:19:21Z
publishDate 2005
publisher Routledge
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-170022017-09-13T15:44:33Z Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics Noblet, A. Teo, Stephen McWilliams, J. Rodwell, J. The wide-ranging changes that have occurred in the public sector over recent years have placed increasing demands on public-sector employees. A survey of employees within a relatively commercially-oriented public-sector organization in Australia was used to test a demand-oriented generic model of employee well-being and a variety of situation-specific variables. The presence of support at work and the amount of control an employee had over their job were found to be key predictors of employee-level outcomes. Perceptions of pay and the perception of a lack of human resources (HR) were also found to predict employee outcome variables. The results emphasize the impact that middle managers and HR managers can have in terms of reducing the detrimental employee effects that can be caused by the introduction of new public management (NPM) and the potential for a positive impact on employees. In particular, public-sector managers can use the design of jobs and the development of social support mechanisms, such as employee assistance programmes, to maintain, if not improve, the quality of working life experienced by their employees. More broadly, this study has found that the job strain model is a useful tool in a public-sector environment and is likely to be of increasing utility with the continuing introduction or consolidation of NPM over time. Managing these issues in the new public sector could be a key means of protecting the key resource of the Australian public sector – the employees. 2005 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17002 10.1080/09585190500220531 Routledge restricted
spellingShingle Noblet, A.
Teo, Stephen
McWilliams, J.
Rodwell, J.
Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics
title Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics
title_full Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics
title_fullStr Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics
title_full_unstemmed Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics
title_short Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics
title_sort which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? an examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17002