Does Stress Type Matter? Clarifying the Relationships between Public Service Motivation, Work-Related Stress, and Employee Attitudes

Abstract

This study explored the relationship that public service motivation (PSM) has to environmental, organizational, and job stressors, as well as the relationships that those stressors have to job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Based on a sample of frontline federal employees working as airport baggage and security screeners for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the state of Oregon, the findings of this study revealed a complex pattern of relationships. PSM was found to be positively related to the environmental stressors, negatively related to the organizational stressors, and not directly related to the job stressors. The primary path through which PSM impacts turnover intentions and job satisfaction was found to exist through its relationship with the organizational stressors. The respondents with high levels of PSM reported significantly lower organizational stress, which increased their job satisfaction, which then lowered their turnover intentions. While PSM had no direct relationship to the job stressors, it was found to be indirectly related through organizational stress. That is, high levels of PSM were related with lower organizational stress, which lowered the salience of the job stressors, which then increased job satisfaction. The implications of this study are discussed.