Worker Motivations, Job Satisfaction, and Loyalty in Public and Nonprofit Social Services

Abstract

Exploiting a unique data set created in 1999 on a sample of 228 public, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations operating in the social service sector, and on 2,066 workers, the article tests whether workers’ satisfaction and loyalty to the organization is influenced by workers’ motivations and by the incentive mixes offered by different organizational forms. As for satisfaction, intrinsic and relational attitudes toward work exert the greatest influence, whereas workers motivated by economic interests are less satisfied. As for loyalty to the organization, satisfaction with economic and process-related aspects of the job appear to have the greatest impact. The behavior of nonprofit organizations, which form the largest part of the sample, is consistent with these results. The specific strength of their incentive mix is represented by worker involvement and other process-related aspects of the job. By contrast, workers in public bodies are the least satisfied, higher monetary incentives notwithstanding.