The Structure and Measurement of the Work Values of Chinese Civil Servants

Abstract

A stable and efficient team of civil servants facilitates high performance for their government. With further standardization of civil servants' salary and bonuses, the tendency of turnover becomes apparent in public service. Under this context, it seems to be a critical issue regarding how to reduce the turnover intention and how to motivate civil servants to improve their work performance. Hangzhou City in China has historically demonstrated high performance and a low turnover rate. We developed an instrument and conducted a mixed-methods research to measure the work values of 349 civil service employees from Hangzhou City. The results indicate that the work values of Chinese civil servants show a second-order structure, which includes self-actualization, interpersonal harmony, utilitarian orientation, personal growth, comfort, stability, autonomy, and flexibility. The results also show significant difference in the six factors of the work values of 349 civil servants who are from Hangzhou City. This study contributes to our understanding of the work values of Chinese civil servants and provides theoretical support to administrators who are making and implementing policies to reduce the turnover intention and enhance the performance of Chinese civil servants.

Personal values and value congruence of public administration graduate students: An exploratory study in China

“…It suggests a strong benefit‐oriented motivation system for them, given their cardinal value types of Hedonism and Security. Particularly, considering the recent shrinking of employee benefits in Chinese public organisations (Zhang & Chen, ), a new and proper benefit system should be considered if these organisations intend to retain their employees. From the perspective of recruitment, the stability and benefits should be communicated clearly and loudly to potential employees.…”

“…These students are current and prospective employees in Chinese public organisations. As the country has been experiencing fundamental public organisation reforms, their value profiles could be profoundly affected (Zhang & Chen, ). Particularly, there are three types of public organisations in China: the core public service, parapublic sectors, and public enterprises.…”

Beyond Efficiency or Justice: The Structure and Measurement of Public Servants’ Public Values Preferences

“…Prospect theory revealed that managers did not always make rational decisions because the complexity of preferences arose from fact that experience values and decision values were not always perfectly matched (Kahneman & Tversky, 1984). Thus, values preferences have been a matter of widespread concern (Choi & Chung, 2017; Connor & Becker, 2003; Song, Kwon, & Cha, 2017; Van der Wal & Huberts, 2008; Van Ryzin, 2016; Zhang & Chen, 2015). Theoretical and empirical studies of public servants’ values have been explored in the field of public administration and political science (Ciuk, 2017; Högström, Davoudi, Löfgren, & Johnson, 2016; Schuh, 2006; Schwartz et al, 2014).…”

Conceptions of value as family resemblances

“…In proposing priorities for marketing research, Ostrom et al (2010) identify measuring and optimizing the value of service as key areas for research, although the focus is on measurement and metrics rather than on understanding what value actually means. Elsewhere, attempts to measure value are proposed in the development of an assessment model (Xing et al , 2013) and in a study of municipal workers (Zhang and Chen, 2015). In other research, Ojasalo (2010) highlights the importance of customers’ experiences in understanding value and in the value creation process.…”