Abstract
To generate public value, Street Level Organisations (SLOs) draw on the public service motivation (PSM) of their staff, so as to ultimately overcome the public service gap (i.e., the gap between the demands for public services and the resources provided). The aim of this empirical paper is to examine whether PSM and Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) serve as antecedents of Street Level Bureaucrats’ (SLBs’) discretionary power. Second, this paper aims to identify the indirect and direct pathways from PSM and PSC, discretionary power, work stress, wellbeing and finally SLBs’ and the Public Value (PV) generated by SBLs. The paper is informed by data from 195 fire, police, ambulance, and emergency services workers in one public organisation in Australia. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data. Results show that PSC had a much more significant role in explaining PV than PSM did. In light of the increasing public service gap, this research indicates that public organisations can no longer solely rely on employees’ intrinsic drivers (such as PSM). Instead, these organisations need to bolster supportive management practices which support wellbeing, and ultimately, public value. To generate public value, Street Level Organisations (SLOs) draw on the public service motivation (PSM) of their staff, so as to ultimately overcome the public service gap (i.e., the gap between the demands for public services and the resources provided). The aim of this empirical paper is to examine whether PSM and Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) serve as antecedents of Street Level Bureaucrats’ (SLBs’) discretionary power. Second, this paper aims to identify the indirect and direct pathways from PSM and PSC, discretionary power, work stress, wellbeing and finally SLBs’ and the Public Value (PV) generated by SBLs. The paper is informed by data from 195 fire, police, ambulance, and emergency services workers in one public organisation in Australia. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data. Results show that PSC had a much more significant role in explaining PV than PSM did. In light of the increasing public service gap, this research indicates that public organisations can no longer solely rely on employees’ intrinsic drivers (such as PSM). Instead, these organisations need to bolster supportive management practices which support wellbeing, and ultimately, public value.