Public service motivation, employee engagement and turnover intention among public sector employees, a case study of the Ministry of Public Service.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between public service motivation, employee engagement and turnover intention among employees of the ministry of public service. The study adopted a quantitative study design which was correlation in nature with a population of 60 employees. Convenient sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 50 respondents from the population. Data was collected from respondents using self-administered standard questionnaire and entered in the computer for analysis using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 23. Descriptive statistics showed that 58.0% of the respondents were female and 42.0% were male, majority were between 30-39 years (52.0%). Results from Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) further indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between public service motivation and employee engagement, (r= 0.375**, p=0.007) however there was no relationship between public service motivation and turnover intentions ((r= .111, p=0.442).), as well as employee engagement and turnover (r= .193, p=.173). Therefore, the present study provides a basis and implications for further investigation on the relationship between public service motivation, employee engagement and turnover intentions among employees in different ministries. It was recommended that, the management at the Ministry of public service needs to ensure that employee motivation is conducted fairly in order to enhance employee engagement and reduce turnover intentions among employees.