Abstract
Despite the growing significance of work engagement in public administration, the effect of organizational politics on engagement in public hospitals remains underexplored. This study develops a new moderated mediation model based on the Job Demands-Resources framework to examine how public service motivation mediates the relationship between organizational politics and work engagement, and how psychological safety climate moderates this relationship. A structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze data from 487 public sector employees in Pakistan.
Results demonstrated that organizational politics negatively impacts on public sector work engagement. Public service motivation mediates between them, indicating that as the intrinsic desire to work for others declines due to politics, public service motivation, in turn, further declines engagement. However, a strong psychological safety climate buffers the negative effects of politics on moderates-mediation process.
The study offers actionable strategies for HR managers and public administration professionals to promote public sector engagement