Public Sector Employee Empowerment And Its Impact On Employee Motivation And Performance

This paper reviews the literature on employee empowerment in the public sector workplace, with careful attention to the fundamental theoretical assumptions of the body of work and the empirical research on public sector employee motivation and its impact on job performance. This paper highlights important research findings relating to the adverse impacts of economic approaches and financial rewards as motivating incentives for public sector employees in government jobs to be applied as an HRM practice. It further outlines the positive attributes of motivating public employees intrinsically. This study contributes to our understanding of the differences between public and private sector motivational strategies by demonstrating that, public sector employees are generally less extrinsically motivated. The current psychological research on employee motivation in the public sector developed in the literature review emphasizes on the importance of social cognitive theories and practices, such as the application of goal commitment and goal-setting theory, self-affirmation, P-O Fit theory, work autonomy, and transformational leadership as the most effective avenues for public administrators to empower and motivate government employees. Using an explanatory research design, the specific question this research aims to explore is whether or not employee empowerment programs are effective in terms of motivating employees and ultimately enhancing employee job performance in the City of Glendale.