Professional vitality and career success: Mediation,age and outcomes

We propose a model that explains the complex phenomenon of successful career at work, and focuses on the antecedents of professional vitality at the workplace. The model sheds light on the role of professional vitality as an essential ingredient for successful careers. Using a survey design, we tested our model with a sample of 545 managers and professionals. The findings suggest effects of career attitudes on career outcomes, mediated by professional vitality. The relationship between professional vitality and age at work environment forms an inverse U shape curve, peaking at age of fifties, an optimistic note for the global aging workforce.     

Public Servants’ Trust in Citizens: An Extension of Theory and an Empirical Examination with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

This study examined trust that public servants have in citizens. We build on the reciprocal nature of trust and applied Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test both the antecedents to public servants?? trust in citizens (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational politics, public sector motivation and generalized trust) and several of its potential outcomes (exit, voice, loyalty, neglect and cynicism) among Israeli civic servants. A revised and improved model found that organizational politics and generalized trust are the strongest predictors of public servants?? trust in citizens and that exit intention is its major outcome. Implications and suggestions for future studies are presented.     

Citizens' Perceptions of Politics and Ethics in Public Administration: A Five-Year National Study of Their Relationship to Satisfaction with Services, Trust in Governance, and Voice Orientations

In recent decades organizational politics (OP) has become agrowing field of interest in managerial studies. To date, themajor scholarly effort has been dedicated to the explorationof intraorganizational politics based on employees' perceptions.However, one of the important aspects of this phenomenon isthe way in which it is viewed by the external organizationalenvironment—by customers, clients, and as far as governmentalagencies are concerned, by the general public as well. Thisarticle examines citizens' perceptions of organizational politicsand ethics in public administration systems. It focuses on therelationship between these perceptions and several key outcomesof modern bureaucracy such as satisfaction with services, trustin governmental institutions, and the resulting voice orientationsand actions by the public (i.e., political efficacy, politicalparticipation). The data for the study were gathered from ahalf decade's worth of national surveys in Israel. The resultspoint to meaningful direct and indirect relationships betweenorganizational politics and ethics in the public sector, satisfaction,trust, and voice orientation. The article ends with a discussionof the theoretical and practical implications of the findingsand suggestions for future studies.     

Testing an organizational innovativeness integrative model across cultures

Most previous within-discipline research on innovativeness as an organizational trait does not account for cross-disciplinary perspectives, leading to incomplete findings. This paper develops an integrative model of organizational innovativeness, based on research in several disciplines to identify antecedents to, characteristics of, and outcomes of organizational innovativeness. Cross-sectional, questionnaire-based data from Israeli, Lithuanian, and Slovakian public organizations were used to test the model. Market and learning orientation enhanced organizational innovativeness, whereas internal politics and centralization reduced it. Organizational innovativeness enhanced two individual-level outcomes (satisfaction and commitment), as well as innovation performance, which, in turn, improved overall organizational performance.     

Public Sector Management and the Democratic Ethos: A 5-Year Study of Key Relationships in Israel

This article deals with the nexus between bureaucracy and democracyin a management-oriented public sector. The article developsthe idea that public administration plays a major role in determiningcitizens’ political attitudes and behaviors. A theoreticalmodel is suggested to examine the relationship among citizens’perceptions of involvement and participation in administrativedecision making, perceived managerial quality, perceived publicsector performance, and democratic participatory behavior (i.e.,trust in administrative agencies, political participation, andcommunity involvement). A sample of 2,281 Israeli citizens providedinformation on the research variables over a 5-year period (2001–05).Findings reveal that citizens’ perceptions of involvementand participation in administrative decision making are positivelyrelated with perceived managerial quality but are not relatedwith perceived public sector performance. In addition, perceivedmanagerial quality is positively related with trust in administrativeagencies as well as with political participation and communityinvolvement. Finally, public sector performance is a mediatorin this relationship. These findings lead to a discussion aboutthe linkage between the bureaucratic and the democratic ethosin modern managerial governance, theoretical and practical implications,as well as suggestions for future studies.