The Effects of Bargaining Unit Status and Union Membership on Local Government Employee Public Service Motivation

A challenge public organizations face in motivating their workforces is the strong union influence. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court abolished agency fees in the public sector, changing the landscape of union membership. In examining the unique motivational factors of public sector employees, Perry and Wise developed a theory called public service motivation (PSM). Using PSM as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of bargaining unit status and union membership on the PSM levels of employees. Results of this study provide insight into motivational factors of public service employees and provide implications and recommendations for practice and future research in the field of human resource development (HRD). [For the complete volume, "American Association for Adult and Continuing Education Inaugural 2020 Conference Proceedings (Online, October 27-30, 2020)," see ED611534.]