IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v11y2021i3p87-d620350.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Weaknesses in Motivation and in Establishing a Meritocratic System: A Portrait of the Portuguese Public Administration

Author

Listed:
  • Adriana Z. F. C. Nishimura

    (GOVCOPP (UA), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal)

  • Ana Moreira

    (Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, University Institute of Psychological, Social and Life Sciences (ISPA-IU), 1149-041 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Maria José Sousa

    (Business Research Unit (BRU-Iscte), University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira

    (GOVCOPP (UA), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
    INESC TEC, Campus da FEUP, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

The complexities of Public Administration have gained the growing attention of scholars around the world, mainly due to the impacts of the reforms implemented under the doctrine of New Public Management (which aims to apply concepts and practices of private management in public management) on civil servants. The aim of this study is to find out how Portuguese citizens evaluate the Portuguese Public Administration under the aspects of bureaucracy, organisation of human resources, innovation, skills and attitudes of civil servants, its motivation and recognition; and to verify if there are differences of opinion between respondents working in public sector and respondents from other sectors. This study follows a quali-quantitative approach, and data were collected through an online survey in the period from June to December 2020. The survey was answered by 1119 citizens from all districts of Portugal. The main findings reveal a still high level of bureaucracy in the Portuguese Public Administration; weaknesses in the management of human resources, namely regarding the motivation and recognition of civil servants; and difficulties in the establishment of a meritocratic system of recruitment and performance evaluation of civil servants. Statistically significant evaluation differences (chi-square test and non-parametric Mann–Whitney U tests, involving five hypotheses) were found between the public sector and other sectors, except for the motivation variable.

Suggested Citation

  • Adriana Z. F. C. Nishimura & Ana Moreira & Maria José Sousa & Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira, 2021. "Weaknesses in Motivation and in Establishing a Meritocratic System: A Portrait of the Portuguese Public Administration," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-26, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:87-:d:620350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/11/3/87/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/11/3/87/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Albury, 2005. "Fostering Innovation in Public Services," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 51-56, January.
    2. Patrícia Alves & Vasco Santos & Isabel Reis & Filipa Martinho & Domingos Martinho & Marta Correia Sampaio & Maria José Sousa & Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira, 2020. "Strategic Talent Management: The Impact of Employer Branding on the Affective Commitment of Employees," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Gonçalo Santinha & Teresa Carvalho & Teresa Forte & Alexandre Fernandes & Jéssica Tavares, 2021. "Profiling Public Sector Choice: Perceptions and Motivational Determinants at the Pre-Entry Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Ongaro Edoardo, 2015. "Five challenges for public administrations in Europe," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 63(3), pages 67-77, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. A. Georges L. Romme & Harry van de Loo & Ben Dankbaar, 2022. "How to Control Civil Servants: Designing and Testing a Solution Informed by Game Theory," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Marta Dmytryshyn & Roman Dmytryshyn & Valentyna Yakubiv & Andriy Zagorodnyuk, 2021. "Peculiarities of Ukrainians’ Approval of Decentralization Reform," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-33, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Misbah Haque & Imran Ali, 2016. "Uncertain Environment and Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Organizational Innovation," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 124-124, September.
    2. Clark, Richard & Griffith, Garry & Madzivhandila, Tshilidzi & Mulholland, Cynthia & Nengovhela, Nkhanedzeni & Timms, Janice, 2012. "Learning by Writing: Applying Continuous Improvement and Innovation Principles to Project Management by Formal Documentation and Publication," Papers 234293, University of Melbourne, Melbourne School of Land and Environment.
    3. Pedro César Martínez-Morán & Jose Maria Fernández-Rico Urgoiti & Fernando Díez & Josu Solabarrieta, 2021. "The Digital Transformation of the Talent Management Process: A Spanish Business Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Rinor KURTESH, 2018. "A Systematic Review Of The Internal And External Barriers To Public Sector Innovation In Kosovo," Business Excellence and Management, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 8(3), pages 12-23, September.
    5. Faiz Gallouj & Luis Rubalcaba & Marja Toivonen & Paul Windrum, 2018. "Understanding social innovation in services industries," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 551-569, July.
    6. Nachemson-Ekwall , Sophie, 2019. "A Swedish market for sustainability-related and socially labelled bonds. Institutional investors as drivers," SSE Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2019:3, Stockholm School of Economics.
    7. Marta Orviska & Juraj Nemec, 2015. "Public Sector Innovation Support by European States: Its Characteristics and Impact on Firms," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(1), pages 19-31.
    8. Razul Ikmal Ramli & Norihan A.Hassan & Aini Suzana Arifin & Adibah Najihah Jasmi, 2017. "Factors Influencing Public Sector Innovation Performance in Malaysia: Structural Equation Modelling Approach," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(2), pages 629-645, February.
    9. Bennich, Amelie & Engwall, Mats & Nilsson, David, 2023. "Operating in the shadowland: Why water utilities fail to manage decaying infrastructure," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    10. Ingo Kregel & Bettina Distel & André Coners, 2022. "Business Process Management Culture in Public Administration and Its Determinants," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 64(2), pages 201-221, April.
    11. Tate, Mary & Bongiovanni, Ivano & Kowalkiewicz, Marek & Townson, Peter, 2018. "Managing the “Fuzzy front end” of open digital service innovation in the public sector: A methodology," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 186-198.
    12. Aarthi Raghavan & Mehmet Akif Demircioglu & Araz Taeihagh, 2021. "Public Health Innovation through Cloud Adoption: A Comparative Analysis of Drivers and Barriers in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-30, January.
    13. Philip Mark Plotch, 2024. "Innovation, collaboration, and chief innovation officers," Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(1), pages 13-16, July.
    14. Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira & Maria José Sousa, 2022. "Sustainable Marketing and Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-3, March.
    15. Aaron M. Lane, 2020. "The destruction phase of public sector innovation: regulations governing school closure in Australia," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 1151-1169, September.
    16. Soyoung Park & Yinglee Tseng & Sungchan Kim, 2016. "The Impact of Innovation on Job Satisfaction: Evidence from U.S. Federal Agencies," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(1), pages 274-286, January.
    17. Krndzija Lamija, 2021. "Public sector innovation performance in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: An exploratory factor analysis," Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 7(1), pages 13-30, May.
    18. Gomez, Rebecca J. & Travis, Dnika J. & Ayers-Lopez, Susan & Schwab, A. James, 2010. "In search of innovation: A national qualitative analysis of child welfare recruitment and retention efforts," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 664-671, May.
    19. Oscar F. Bustinza & Ferrán Vendrell-Herrero & Francisco J. Sánchez-Montesinos & José Antonio Campos-Granados, 2021. "Should Manufacturers Support the Entire Product Lifecycle with Services?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, February.
    20. Andreea-Alexandra ANECHITEI, 2018. "Social Innovation through Urban Regeneration – A Local Model. Case study: IT Companies between 2009-2018," REVISTA DE MANAGEMENT COMPARAT INTERNATIONAL/REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(3), pages 244-251, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:87-:d:620350. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.