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This paper uses Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Positive Organizational Behaviour (POB) as frameworks for comparing the impact of individual and organizational support on the engagement and turnover intentions by one type of employee - nurses and nursing assistants in one sector - healthcare, in one country -Australia across public, Not-For-Profit (NFP) and For-Profit (FP) organizations. Paper-based survey data was collected from 250 public, 11 NFP and 280 nurses and nursing assistants (n=643) working in public, NFP and FP organizations. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS and an ANOVA were used to undertake analysis. The SEM findings indicate a good fitting model, with most paths confirmed, indicating that individual and organizational support significantly impacted engagement, and engagement predicted turnover intentions. Also the ANOVA results show significant differences in the working context for employees across public, NFP and FP working contexts. In particular, NFP and FP employee means were similar and significantly higher than those of the public sector cohort for (a) satisfaction with management, (b) engagement and (c) lower for turnover intentions. The implication of the findings is that previous conceptualizations suggesting significant similarities for employees within public and NFP organizations are challenged by these empirical findings. The findings suggest the work context in NFP and FP organisations is similarly significantly better than working in public sector organisations, indicating that people management is where public sector reforms need to focus. This is especially the case for healthcare, which is often subsidized by the taxpayer; hence achieving better public sector people management is a necessity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This symposium examines the impact of organizational change and potential intervention strategies on different types of public sector employees. It addresses a call by Kuipers, et al. (2014) for more in-depth comparative empirical research examining the roles, behaviours and work practices of those involved in the change process. In this symposium, we have four papers that explore how organizational change has occurred in countries considered to be part of the "core NPM group" (such as Australia and UK), which have implemented reforms aggressively, plus papers that examine change in other countries considered "NPM laggards" (such as Malta), which have been selective in implementing NPM reforms, and at a much slower the pace. After the presentations, two academics (Stephen Proctor and Yvonne Brunetto) will act as discussants and lead a discussion on the theoretical and practical perspectives of the impact of such changes upon public sector employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the individual and organisational factors and the impact these have on police officers' perceptions of red tape, stress, discretionary power, affective commitment and turnover intentions. We argue that police with high levels of management support and psychological capital are likely to experience less stress and red tape and are more likely to have higher discretionary power and affective commitment, and lower turnover intentions. A survey was used to collect information from 588 police officers in the USA. AMOS was used to analyze the hypothesized path model. Results of the path analysis provide support for the proposed structural model. Both perceived organizational support (POS) and police officer's perception of their exchange relationship with their supervisors (LMX) were positively associated with psychological capital. POS, in particular, was found to reduce perceptions of red tape and police stressors. Red tape contributed positively to police stressors and police officers' intentions to turnover. Red tape contributed negatively towards discretionary power. Police officers' levels of psychological capital and perceived discretionary power contributed positively towards their affective commitment, which subsequently led to a reduction to their intentions to turnover. The contribution of the paper is that it identifies the alleviating impact of an individual factor (psychological capital) upon perceptions of negative factors (stress, and indirectly, red tape) and enhances positive drivers of high employee outcomes, such as perceptions of discretionary power and organizational commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper compares the link between workplace relationships with management and employee's perceptions of discretionary power and performance in the public and private sector post NPM within three countries: two Anglo-American countries (Australia, United Kingdom (UK)) and in one classical Continental country (Italy). The study used survey data from 1945 employees and the analysis using SEM and ANOVAs found that whilst management impacted employee perceptions of discretionary power and performance in all three countries, there were significant differences in public and private sector employee's engagement performance in all three countries, however, satisfaction with management differed only in Anglo-American countries. The findings suggest evidence of poor management practices across the public and private sector in each of the three countries, suggesting that the post NPM management practices waste scarce public resources by negatively impacting employee performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]