Employee Trust and Performance Constraints in Public Sector Organizations

60 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2022

See all articles by Philip Keefer

Philip Keefer

Inter-American Development Bank

Razvan Vlaicu

Inter-American Development Bank; University of Maryland

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 22, 2022

Abstract

Theory suggests that employee trust is key to productivity in organizations, but empirical evidence documenting links between trust and constraints on performance is scarce. This paper analyzes self-collected data on public sector employees from eighteen Latin American countries and finds that individual-level trust is relevant to three types of performance factors. First, high-trust employees are more willing to collaborate and share information with coworkers and are more supportive of technological innovation. Second, high-trust respondents have different perceptions of organizational constraints: they are less concerned with low staff quality or lack of discretion to innovate, and more concerned with staff shortages. Third, trust in coworkers is associated with stronger mission motivation. Instrumental variable strategies based on the transmission of trust through social and professional channels account for potential sources of endogeneity. A survey experiment on preferences for social distancing policies provides further evidence that trust enhances mission motivation: employee policy preferences align better with the implied government policy when their trust in the public sector is higher.

Keywords: trust, performance, public sector, mission motivation, survey experiments

JEL Classification: D23, D73, H83

Suggested Citation

Keefer, Philip and Vlaicu, Razvan, Employee Trust and Performance Constraints in Public Sector Organizations (August 22, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4197172 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4197172

Philip Keefer

Inter-American Development Bank ( email )

1300 New York Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States
202-623-1961 (Phone)

Razvan Vlaicu (Contact Author)

Inter-American Development Bank ( email )

1300 New York Ave NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States

University of Maryland ( email )

3114 Tydings Hall
College Park, MD 20742
United States

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