Skip to main content
Log in

Ηοw Work Context Affects Public Employee Cognitions

  • Published:
International Advances in Economic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to identify the capabilities and cognitions of employees and specify the reasons why they were or not satisfied with their job tasks. The employees of one public organization (a Greek ministry) were chosen to participate in the research. The findings of the analysis indicated that we can identify specific leverage points that can increase job satisfaction. Unvaried descriptive statistics are presented to give a first insight about employees’ demographics, abilities, previous working experience, description of their current working context, working problems and motives associated with their working position and, finally, job satisfaction. It is the first attempt which took place in the frame of a Greek Ministry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baldwin, N. (1990). Perceptions of public versus private sector personnel and informal red tape: their impact on motivation. The American Review of Public Administration, 20(1), 7–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beetham, D. (1987). Bureaucracy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Behn, D. (1995). The big questions of public management. Public Administration Review, 55, 313–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damanpour, F. (1987). The adoption of technological, administrative, and ancillary innovations: impact of technological factors. Journal of Management, 13(4), 675–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fottler, M. D. (1981). Is management really generic? Academy of Management Review, 6(1), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanfer, R., Wanberg, C. R., & Kantrowitz, T. M. (2001). Job search and employment: a personality–motivational analysis and meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 837–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, D. H. (1993). The link between individual and organizational learning. Sloan Management Review/Fall, 35(1), 37–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial & organizational psychology. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Locke, E. A., Latham, G. P., & Englewood, C. (1990). A theory of goal setting & task performance. NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, R. O., & Mitroff, I. I. (1981). Challenging strategic planning assumptions: Theory, cases, and techniques. N.Y.: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCall, M., & Kaplan, R. (1985). Whatever it takes: Decision makers at work. Prentice-Hall Inc: Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice-Hall, Inc.

  • Mintzberg, H. (1996). Managing government/governing management. Harvard Business Review, 1, 75–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, H., Raisinghani, D., & Theoret, A. (1976). The structure of understanding of ‘Unstructured’ decision processes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21(4), 246–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mouzelis, N. (1967). Organization and bureaucracy. Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, J. L., & Porter, L. W. (1982). Factors affecting the context for motivation in public organizations. Academy of Management Review, 7(1), 89–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philippidou, S. (2007). Towards a holistic theoretical framework for the unfolding of planned change in the Greek public sector. PhD Thesis submitted at: Department of Management Science and Technology. Athens: Athens University of Economics and Business.

  • Rainey, H. C. (2003). Understanding management public organizations (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultze, U., & Boland, R. J. (2000). Knowledge management technology and the reproduction of knowledge work practices. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 9(2–3), 193–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. E., Kendall, L., & Hulin, C. L. (1969). The measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement. Chicago: Rand McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starbuck, W. H., & Milliken, F. J. (1988). Executives’ perceptual filters: What they notice and how they make sense. In D. C. Hambrick (Ed.), The executive effect: Concepts and methods for studying top managers (pp. 35–65). Greenwich: JAI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J. P. (1995). Managerial and organizational cognition: notes from a trip down memory lane. Organization Science, 6(3), 280–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, R., & Bandura, A. (1989). Social cognitive theory of organization. The Academy of Management Review, 14(3), 361–384.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dimitri Mardas.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mardas, D., Theofanidis, P. & Philippidou, S. Ηοw Work Context Affects Public Employee Cognitions. Int Adv Econ Res 18, 102–110 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-011-9329-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-011-9329-9

Keywords

JEL

Navigation