Towards Developing an Organisational Commitment - Public Service Motivation Model for the Maltese Public Service Employees

Abstract

Many European public service organisations are undergoing major reforms related to their European Union membership. Therefore, the development of a model to explore and understand the dynamics of the relationships between dominant antecedents, organisational commitment and public service motivation is perceived to be essential for the successful implementation of the change management process. Five categories of antecedents were considered in examining their relationship with the dimensions of organisational commitment and public service motivation. Structural equation modelling outcomes indicate that organisational commitment strengthens public service motivation, and that affective organisational commitment has a direct effect on all the dimensions of public service motivation. Furthermore, the employee perception of the organisation antecedent is the best predictor for affective and normative organisational commitment; whilst alternative job opportunity is a better predictor for continuance organisational commitment. Moreover, family life cycle status has a direct relationship with most public service motivation dimensions but not with the organisational commitment dimensions. Finally, the cross model validation has provided satisfactory results particularly for the public service motivation dimensions.