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Impact of tenure on the professional motivation of civil servants

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Impact of tenure on the professional motivation of civil servants

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Impact of Tenure on the Professional Motivation of Civil Servants
by
Alejandro M. Cabrero

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education

May 2022

© Copyright by Alejandro M. Cabrero 2022
All Rights Reserved

The Committee for Alejandro Cabrero certifies the approval of this Dissertation

Monique Datta
Sourena Haj-Mohamadi
Helena Seli, Committee Chair

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2022

iv
Abstract
The risk of decreased productivity once tenure is granted introduces an added burden to
determine how to best incentivize tenured civil service professionals in sustaining pre-tenure
levels of professional motivation and performance. Participants included tenured and non-
tenured civil service employees, employed by eight distinct federal organizations from
education, human resources, defense, national security, and technical industrial disciplines. This
study aimed to examine the relationship between tenure and motivation and further, specifically
explore the factors that influence motivation for post-tenure employees. Through the application
of the workforce extrinsic intrinsic motivation scale (Tremblay et al., 2009) and purposefully
selected interview participants, the study sought to answer the levels of motivation reported by
civil service employees, how post-tenured civil service managers and non-managers described
their motivation, the aspects of work civil service tenured employees found motivating versus
demotivating and how managerial practices impacted tenured civil service employee levels of
professional motivation. Key findings included the relationship between tenure, dynamic work
environments, managerial practices and relationships of trust on tenure. Recommendations based
on these findings led to the recommendation of cultivating relationships of trust and professional
independence, implementing dynamic environments and the modification of existing tenure
policies to uphold universal standards of professional motivation.

v
Dedication
To my wife Karla and kids Gaby and Erick whose love and support proved invaluable in staying
the course through the various challenges faced through the journey to completion of this
academic work. I also dedicate this to those that follow, who may doubt their will and capacity to
complete a dissertation. This process is an example of the power that resides in collaborative
effort; a journey of discovery where the seemingly unachievable becomes a possibility.

vi
Acknowledgements
A special thank you to Dr. Helena Seli whose guidance and mentorship scaffolded this
unforgettable educational journey. Thank you to Drs. Monique Datta and Sourena Haj-
Mohamadi whose challenging feedback was invaluable in ensuring the educational work was
structurally sound and accurate according to the limitations posed by the circumstances
surrounding the study. A special thank you to Dr. Doug Lynch who was the first to test my
previously held beliefs on a myriad of topics. He forced me to prove why I thought I was correct
and taught the value of expanding academic and social boundaries through careful consideration
of my sources and challenging those sources by asking why and how. To my cohort, a heartfelt
thank you for the mutual guidance shared and the fascinating conversations that allowed me to
learn from your varied professional and socio-cultural backgrounds to see previously accepted
norms through a better informed, tuned, and more inclusive lens.
Dr. Maxime Tremblay, graciously granted authorization to use the workforce extrinsic
intrinsic motivation scale, translated by his team of researchers. The use of this motivation
instrument rooted the quantitative phase of the study to help identify the levels of motivation
reported by civil service employees. With a greater sample size, the tool would have offered the
opportunity for more detailed analysis of the reported motivation results.

vii
Table of Contents
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x
List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………..xi
Chapter One: Overview of the Study .............................................................................................. 1
Background of the Problem ................................................................................................ 2
Organization's Context and Mission ................................................................................... 4
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions .................................................................... 6
Importance of the Study ...................................................................................................... 6
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology .................................................... 7
Definitions........................................................................................................................... 8
Organization of the Dissertation ......................................................................................... 9
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ........................................................................................ 10
Tenure as an Instrument in Professional Motivation ........................................................ 10
Self-Determination Theory (SDT)……………………………………………………….21
Characteristics of Professional Motivation………………………………………………24
Effective Practices in Managing Employee Professional Motivation in the Context
of Tenure…………………………………………………………………………………31
Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………………………..36
Summary ........................................................................................................................... 38
Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 40
Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 40

viii
Overview of Methodology ................................................................................................ 41
The Researcher .................................................................................................................. 42
Data Sources ..................................................................................................................... 50
Ethics................................................................................................................................. 50
Chapter Four: Results or Findings ................................................................................................ 51
Participants ........................................................................................................................ 53
Research Question 1 ......................................................................................................... 56
Research Question 2 ......................................................................................................... 63
Research Question 3 ......................................................................................................... 66
Research Question 4 ......................................................................................................... 74
Summary ........................................................................................................................... 81
Chapter Five: Recommendations and Discussion ......................................................................... 83
Recommendations for Practice ......................................................................................... 89
Limitations and Delimitations........................................................................................... 93
Recommendations for Future Research ............................................................................ 94
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 95
References ..................................................................................................................................... 96
Appendix A: Survey ................................................................................................................... 103
Appendix B: Interview Protocol ................................................................................................. 105
Appendix C: Information Sheet for Exempt Studies .................................................................. 107
Appendix D: Information Sheet for Exempt Studies .................................................................. 109

ix
List of Tables
Table 1: Data Sources 41
Table 2: Inferential Analysis 45
Table 3: Survey Participants 54
Table 4: Interview Participant Demographic Data 55
Table 5: Interview Participant Comments Regarding the Impact
of Tenure on Professional Motivation 60
Table 6: Interview Data Supporting Adaptive Environments to
Promote Professional Motivation 68
Table 7: Professional Independence 76
Table 8: Support for Positive Employee-Manager Trust
Relationships 79

x
List of Figures
Figure 1: Employee Relationship with SDT-Framed Influences 38
Figure 2: Non-Tenured Participants’ WEIMS Motivation Results 57
Figure 3: Tenured Management and Non-Management Participant Aggregated
WEIMS Motivation Results 58

xi
List of Abbreviations
OPM Office of Personnel Management
RIF Reduction in Force
SDT Self-Determination Theory
WEIMS Workforce Extrinsic Intrinsic Motivation Scale
1

Chapter One: Introduction to the Problem of Practice
A coveted benefit of working in academic and government institutions is the ability to
achieve tenure which grants employees an added layer of protection from unwarranted
termination. In addition to employee benefits, tenure also grants employers an increased level of
organizational experience in the workforce by retaining longer term employees. Academic
institutions use tenure tracks to vet and groom their professors prior to granting tenure, but once
granted, professors enjoy an increased academic freedom and a protected employment status
(Becker et al., 2018). Civil service and international public service organizations offer a similar
level of employment protection for employees that meet a minimum time requirement as long
they fulfill their position descriptions and follow established policies (Office, 2005). Although
tenure remains a highly coveted milestone that fuels professionals to achieve the status,
organizations also face pitfalls introduced by the increased job security linked to tenure-based
incentives. Drawbacks associated with tenure include decreases in productivity and decreased
professional motivation to perform above the expected minimum to retain employment (Estes &
Polnick, 2012). The risk of decreased productivity once tenure is granted introduces an added
burden to determine how to best incentivize tenured professionals in sustaining pre-tenure levels
of professional motivation and performance.
Tenure does not impose its motivation-dampening effects universally as not all
employees experience declines in job-related motivation and commitment. This study aims to
examine the relationship between tenure and motivation and further, specifically explore the
factors that influence motivation for post-tenure employees. The study of pre- and post-tenure
employees in federal service organizations will seek to identify if the correlation between tenure
2

and motivation exists in the civil service industry and determine how this influence, if present,
affects tenured employees.
Background of the Problem
Tenure has been utilized throughout the world in public service organizations and
institutions of higher learning to grant employees who have served a previously established
period of service an increased level of job protection against unjustified employment termination
(Role, 2021). The requirements to achieve tenure can vary from one industry to the next, but one
common criteria through all industries with tenure policies is for an employee to invest a pre-
determined amount of time in the organization prior to receiving tenure. On the surface, tenure
appears to offer a beneficial influence in the workplace, but its benefits are shrouded in an
ongoing debate questioning if tenure’s protective benefits outweigh tenure’s impact on employee
motivation in the workplace (Bess, 1998). Arguments against tenure discuss the option of
shifting tenure policies to short term contracts to curb tenure’s effect on employee motivation
and complacency. While these short-term contracts may reduce complacency by increasing the
competitive energy in an organization, they may also decrease the organization’s workforce
knowledge through increased employee turnover rates. For example, the University of Southern
California uses annual short-term contracts in its tenure track to vet tenure candidates prior to
granting tenure (University of Southern California, 2019). USC’s tenure approach is a hybrid
tenure model, which employs both short-term and long-term contract for differing career goals.
In institutions of higher learning, tenure grants faculty an increased level of protection
against employment termination (Webb, 2007). In addition to added employment protection,
tenure in academic institutions grants faculty greater flexibility or freedom to express original
ideas, shielding faculty from reprisal if their studies or teachings stray from a majority accepted
3

norm (Becker et al., 2018). Achieving tenure becomes a lucrative position for those introducing
new ideas that challenge the status quo. This academic freedom allows faculty a greater
flexibility to innovate and challenge existing theories creating new avenues of study in their
respective organizations. Upon achieving tenure, one observed drawback amongst faculty is that
tenured professors may cease to care about performance criteria due to increased employment
guarantees, opting to invest more energy in their private academic ventures (Gourley, 2021).
Professors who exhibit this behavior tend to ignore their responsibilities as educators in the
classroom (Bess, 1998). The exhibited lack of involvement in the classroom leads to the
perception of lower levels of motivation tracked back in part to the professional freedom buffer
offered by the professors’ tenured status.
Public service and U.S. government organizations share a similar definition and
application of tenure although it differs in purpose to the implementation of tenure in colleges
and universities. The Office of Personnel Management defines tenure as the transition from
temporary to permanent appointment affording the employee added protection from reduction in
force measures (Code, 2005). Employees can still lose their employment for serious infractions,
but in situations requiring downsizing or dissolution of divisions and departments within U.S.
Government agencies, tenured employees are afforded an alternative to termination through
opportunities to transfer to other available positions in the global organization. Sturman (2003)
discusses the tenure challenges faced in the government and public service organizations in his
study on the relationship between time and performance where he presented the direct and
inverse proportional relationship between time and motivation. In this study, Sturman discussed
the how organization’s knowledge increases with time, increasing the employee’s value for the
company. As organizational knowledge increases, however, the amount of new information to be
4

gained decreases, creating the possibility of stagnation for the employee who has mastered his
role and has little left to learn (Sturman, 2003). It is in this stagnation that decreased motivation
is observed, leading to a possible correlation between time served after tenure and decreased
levels of work-related motivation.
A 2015 study of 679 public service professionals in India, spanning diverse occupational
specialties from engineering to human resources, established a negative correlation between
tenure, job commitment and employee burnout in jobs with poor motivational climates (Uppal,
2015). The same study also revealed a positive correlation between tenure, job commitment and
intrinsic motivation for employees in jobs with rich motivational climates. In 2018, Becker et al.
studied 237 academic professionals in United States’ business schools, revealing a positive
correlation between intrinsic motivation, commitment and productivity levels in tenured
professionals. Academic professionals in Becker et al.’s study, who experienced high extrinsic
motivation, exhibited lower levels of productivity and an increased commitment to the
organization instead of commitment for the job they were hired to fulfill. Considering the
relationship between higher intrinsic motivators and increased levels of performance identified
by Uppal in a public service setting and Becker in an academic setting, employers would benefit
from establishing policies that cultivate intrinsic motivators to sustain high performance.
Through application of self-determination theory, this study intends to go beyond the definition
of tenure and motivation to identify the relationship between tenure and motivation to support
healthy motivational climates for pre- and post-tenure employees via informed management
policies and practices.

5

Organization’s Context and Mission
The study included participation of eight distinct sub-organizations fulfilling 6
professional disciplines within the federal government representing four overarching
organizations by way of the employees who volunteered to participate in the survey and
interview phases. The Maritime Department’s mission statement is to train, equip and upkeep
seafaring vessels capable of supporting the nation’s international interests and upholding
worldwide freedom of the navigation, according to the organization’s website. The Maritime
Department’s demographics include 170,000+ employees where 70% are men, 30% women,
70% White, 13% Black, 10% Asian, and approximately 5% Hispanic. Locations for the sub-
organizations whose members participated in the study are located in various locations
throughout the country.
The Office of Human Resources’(OHR) mission statement is to serve the Federal
Government by delivering policies and services in support of sustaining an effective workforce.
OHR establishes core human resource policies for all federal agencies to adopt or build upon as
required by varying mission needs across the Federal Government. According to the
organization’s website, the Federal Medical Services organization’s mission statement is to care
for the health of those who have served the country’s defensive services. Employee demographic
composition was not available for either site, instead demographic-based statistical information
reflected the population served by the two organizations. The specific participating branches of
the OHR and Federal Medical Services who contributed to the study data obtained are located in
the southeastern United States.
The Tourism Protection Organization’s (TPO) mission statement is the safeguarding of
the country’s transportation paths to uphold freedom of travel and commerce. Demographic
6

makeup of the employee force includes 50% men, 45% women, 60% White, 18% Hispanic and
10% Black as stated in the organization’s site. The participating TPO branch was located in the
Midwestern United States.
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a statistically significant
difference in professional motivation between pre- and post-tenure civilian employees and
explore the factors that influence motivation for post-tenure civil service employees. In addition,
the study will examine how post-tenure managers and non-managers describe their motivation
and which aspects of work tenured employees find motivating versus demotivating. The study
culminates with recommendations to inform organizational leadership about strategies and
policies that support increased levels of intrinsic motivation among tenured employees to sustain
organizational performance for all members of the organization throughout their employment
periods. The following research questions will guide the study:
Research Question 1: What levels of motivation do civil service employees report?
Research Question 2: How do post-tenure civil service managers and non-managers
describe their motivation?
Research Question 3: Which aspects of work do civil service tenured employees find
motivating versus demotivating?
Research Question 4: How do managerial practices impact civil service tenured employee
professional motivation?
Importance of the Study
Failure to study the relationship between tenure and the professional motivational levels
of civil servants would perpetuate the negative impact of motivational loss for both the
7

organization and the employee. Although the researcher found no literature regarding the effect
of tenure in the Maritime Department, all organizations depend on employees to function and
employees have psychological needs at work that, if met, support higher levels of productivity,
commitment and effectiveness in the workplace (Deci & Ryan, 2014). The role that tenure,
managerial practices and policies play in either motivating or demotivating employees is directly
tied to the employee values they seek to engage (Campbell et al., 2014). Misalignment of
motivational incentives to employee values could lead to a number of detrimental employee
motivational states including burn-out and high turnover rates which could impact organizational
productivity (Campbell et al., 2014). Without understanding the relationship between tenure and
motivation, organizations would remain uninformed and fail to identify how managers can adjust
motivational incentives to target intrinsic motivation and curb amotivation through an increased
understanding of employee values.
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
The study will employ Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory (SDT) to determine
how tenure affects workplace motivation in civil service employees. Self-determination theory
focuses on the difference between autonomous, controlled motivation, and amotivation,
associating autonomy with intrinsic motivation and controlled motivation with extrinsic
motivation (Gagne, 2005). SDT is appropriate for this motivation-focused study because it
allows the researcher to determine if tenure is considered an intrinsic or extrinsic motivator and
if levels of motivation evolve over time towards the intrinsic or extrinsic spectrum due to tenure.
Methodology of the study will be based on a mixed-methods approach, incorporating elements of
quantitative and qualitative research. An established valid and reliable workforce external and
internal motivational survey (Tremblay et al., 2009) will serve as the initial quantitative
8

instrument. Individual interviews will offer the opportunity to obtain qualitative data to explore
the motivational patterns in post-tenure employee groups and reveal the factors that affect the
motivational tidal patterns in the organization. The survey method will use census sampling
while purposeful semi-structured interviews will allow for an exploratory dive into the patterns
revealed by the surveys.
Definitions
 Amotivation is the absence of motivation (Gagne, 2014). Autonomy in motivation refers
to freedom of behavior (Tremblay et al., 2009).
 Civil service employee is an employee of the United States federal government (OPM,
2021).
 Controlled motivation pertains to pressured behavior (Gagne, 2014).
 Extrinsic motivation involves an employee’s engagement in an activity due to an external
influence (Gagne, 2014).
 Intrinsic motivation involves an employee’s engagement in an activity because of
personal interest in the activity or satisfaction received (Tremblay et al., 2009)
 Job enlargement involves increasing the number of horizontally aligned tasks for
employees to increase job diversity (Alias, 2018).
 Job enrichment offers the employee managerial level job roles in their current positions
to increase job related autonomy (Alias, 2018).
 Motivation is a combination of emic and etic influences that prompt work-based behavior
(Tremblay et al., 2009).
9

 Reduction in Force (RIF) is the term used by the United States’ government for layoffs,
which occur when a specific agency must eliminate specified employment positions
(OPM, 2021).
 Tenure, as defined by the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is
one of four categories an employee falls in ranging from temporary to permanent that
offers varying degrees of protection from reduction in force actions.
 Workforce extrinsic intrinsic motivation scale (WEIMS) consists of an 18-item
assessment rooted in the Self Determination theory that assesses work-based motivation
(Tremblay et al., 2009).
Organization of the Dissertation
Chapter One introduced the problem of practice, offering insight into the background
behind the problem, the purpose of the study, the organization, and the theoretical framework to
be used in studying the effect of the problem of practice. The following chapters will cover the
various stages of the study of the impact of tenure on employee motivational levels. The second
chapter will review existing literature surrounding the topics of motivation, tenure, and best
practices to sustain employee engagement in the workplace. The chapter will also cover the
arguments for and against the use of tenure as a long-term incentive in professional organizations
and present the study’s conceptual framework. Chapter Three introduces the mixed methods’
methodology to be employed in the study. Chapter Four will present the study’s results and
findings and Chapter Five will present the discussion and recommendations for practice in civil
service organizations.

10

Chapter Two: Literature Review
This chapter begins with the literature review covering the history and application of
tenure in both academic and civil service settings. The review will then introduce the theoretical
framework and how it relates to the study of tenure and its impact on the levels of motivation in
civil service employees. The chapter closes with a description of and a graphic of the study’s
conceptual framework, presenting the hypothesized relationships between tenure, motivation and
managerial practices as framed by the self-determination theory.
Tenure as an Instrument in Professional Motivation
In professional organizations, tenure can refer to the number of years a person has been
employed by the organization or an employment protective status achieved after pre-defined
criteria are met, but tenure can also be used as an instrument in professional motivation. Tenure
in academic institutions is used as a professional incentive for faculty to gain a permanent
position with the university, gaining increased employment protection (Webb, 2007) and
academic freedom to contribute original thoughts to challenge and advance their fields of study
with little or no risk of reprisal (Becker et al., 2015). The United States’ Government’s Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) defines tenure as an employee’s transition from temporary to
permanent appointment affording the employee increased protection from reduction in force
(RIF) events (Code, 2005). Reduction in force is the term used by the U.S. Government for
organizational layoffs or downsizing events. This increased freedom in academic settings and
added protection for both academic and non-academic government environments serve as a
possible source of professional motivation (Becker et al., 2018; Deci & Ryan, 2014; Hardre,
2011).

11

History of Tenure
Before reviewing application of tenure in civil and public service environments, the next
section will introduce the origins of tenure as it was first professionally applied in the field of
education. Understanding how tenure was first applied in higher education, granted a
comparative context with which to view the strengths and challenges of tenure on the workforce
and the organization in two distinct professional settings. The discussion then covered the
application of tenure in federal service settings.
The modern application of tenure in the United States was first established in January
1915 with the release of the Declaration of Principles by the Committee on Academic Freedom
and Tenure of the American Association of University professors (Wilson, 2016). The
committee, headed by Dr. John Dewey, established the initial principles governing academic
freedom and tenure in education (Ludlum, 1950) that still influence tenure policies today
(Wilson, 2016). The principles, later modified in 1925 and finalized in 1940, were meant to
clarify the meaning and application of tenure and academic freedom to the general public to
garner support from the general public and establish the protective status enjoyed by qualifying
professors. Tenure and academic freedom, as a protective status, allowed tenured professors to
challenge existing practices and promote the advancement of thought in their fields of study
without risk to employment (Ludlum, 1950). The principles were meant to protect educators
from academic disagreements with the administrative elements of their organizations and other
religious and government authorities, but they also established guidelines for the boundaries that
existed within the responsible application of academic freedom. If a tenured professor was at risk
of removal, the university was responsible for presenting the reasons for expulsion, and the
professor had the right to a hearing to plead their case (Ludlum, 1950). A professor was not
12

immune to dismissal, but grounds for dismissal of a tenured professor had to be presented and
validated by other educators and the American Association of University Professors. The
document also turned its protective properties inward, by recognizing the importance of
protecting the increased reputation of faculty by charging educators with the responsibility of
preventing abuse or misuse of tenure by weeding out and expulsing those deemed to be
incompetent or unworthy of its protective benefits (Wilson, 2016).
Throughout the history of tenure, the concept has allowed the support for and resistance
to change depending on which side of the argument the employee happened to be on. Prior to the
modern application, defined by the Declaration of Principles, tenure existed as an undefined and
unenforced concept, where the appropriateness of academic ideas was subject to acceptance by
administrative, government and religious authorities (Kahlenburg, 2016; Ludlum, 1950). During
the 1950s, after the controversial Brown vs Board of Education case that declared segregation in
schools unconstitutional, Alabama, Florida, North and South Carolina rescinded tenure rules
allowing Caucasian principals to terminate employment for thousands of Black tenured teachers
(Goldstein, 2014). Ludlum discusses another example of a challenge to tenure during the 1800s
when a series of educators were fired from academic institutions for introducing revolutionary
concepts of change by hosting and supporting abolitionist discussions in 1833, when such
thinking was socially unacceptable (Ludlum, 1950). At the time, thirty years prior to the
abolition of slavery, society resisted the concept of a free Black person, but the abolitionist
movement gained traction and eventually fueled social change in favor of those previously
enslaved (Ludlum, 1950). If academic freedom had been upheld then as it is now, the
propagation of abolitionist thoughts may have increased and the historical timeline surrounding
the abolition of slavery may been accelerated with or without the need for a war. Once the
13

American Association of University Professors was established however, unfounded reasons for
dismissal were studied, challenged and in some cases overturned depending on the details of the
case being reviewed. The association and its principles proved supportive of tenure and academic
freedom, creating a set of policing guidelines to keep both the educational faculty and
administrative staff aligned to a defined and defensible standard.
Tenure in Higher Education
Tenure in higher education is used to both protect members who have earned the status
and incentivize newcomers to the profession with the offer of protected employment and the
eventual ability to influence, expand and advance existing academic thought through research
and original work in their chosen field of practice (Schmalz et al., 2019). Institutions of higher
learning do have two broad professional tracks employees can opt from when pursuing a career
in education, the first being tenure track and the second being the non-tenure track (Kezar, 2012).
Each track presents the employee with several pros and cons, the most salient of differences
being the opportunity offered by the tenure track of receiving a lifelong contract and the added
benefit of enjoying greater academic freedom (Ashcraft, 2020). Under this protective status, an
educator is offered the opportunity to explore new concepts and do their job of challenging
minds well (Kahlenberg, 2016).
Benefits and Challenges of Tenure in Higher Education
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) still defines tenure as a
career assignment or contract that can only be ended for cause or special circumstances (AAUP,
2021). Following these guidelines, University of Southern California, Pennsylvania State
University and the University of California Los Angeles coincide in their definition and
application of tenure. All three institutions, representing private and state organizations of higher
14

learning, grant tenured professors the right to maintain their academic employment with pay until
retirement (Pennsylvania State University, 2018; University of California Los Angeles, 2020;
University of Southern California, 2019) and the academic freedom for professors to share
truthful knowledge as they understand it and to, “exercise critical self-discipline and judgement
in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge” (University of Southern California, 2019). The
definition of tenure, across universities reviewed, remains close to the standard established and
policed by the AAUP and the rights mentioned in their respective faculty handbooks and
policies. The process to achieve tenure varies by university and the exact requirements to achieve
tenure by an aspiring educator varies by academic program, carrying a degree of confidentiality
to protect the process (Pennsylvania State University, 2018; University of California Los
Angeles, 2020; University of Southern California, 2019).
Considering the benefit of guaranteed employment associated with tenure in academic
institutions, the road to tenure is purposefully challenging. While on the tenure track, educators
are expected to conduct research and required to publish their research to establish themselves in
their chosen fields. Educators on the tenure track are asked to prove their teaching effectiveness
in the classroom and expected to be of service in the school’s academic community and
administrative duties (Ashcraft et al., 2021). Published work, teaching effectiveness,
administrative involvement and academic community service recorded on a tenure dossier and
reviewed by academic leadership, after a period of three to seven years (AAUP, 2021). If found
suitable, tenure is granted and the educator can enjoy the benefits already described with
increased job security, if found unsuitable, the employee is given ample notice prior to dismissal
or choosing to follow an alternate career path.
15

The views on tenure are not all positive, however, considering the perceived benefits of
tenure, the AAUP (2021) listed that only 20% of university level educators have achieved or
retained academic tenure. Tenured status in universities and other academic systems has
introduced a number of motivational and productivity challenges based on the number of
educators that take advantage of their protected employment status to be less productive
(Underwood, 2018). Bess (1998) argued that tenure-based job security led to complacency,
where tenured professors began to ignore their classroom or publishing responsibilities and
produce less for their academic communities. Hardre (2011) countered this thought through a
study of 781 educators from 28 research universities, that revealed higher productivity levels
among tenured faculty vice untenured faculty. In 2017, a study of 89 educators across 11
universities found results favoring Bess’s point, where productivity and motivation lessened as
tenure and increased rank were achieved, which lead to the possibility of other influential factors
affecting the output of tenured educators (Leech, 2017).
The states of Florida, North Carolina, Kansas, and Idaho filed to eliminate academic
tenure in higher education to gain greater flexibility in eliminating poor performers but
succeeded only in adding screening measures for teachers aspiring to achieve tenure (Thomsen,
2021). Under the states’ revised policies poor education performers can be removed from office,
but the state regulations make the dismissal process lengthy and costly (Kahlenberg, 2016),
which dissuaded state and academic institutions from initiating the process except for extreme
cases. Alternatives to the use of tenure as a professional motivator will be discussed later in this
chapter, but these arguments reveal the importance of studying the effect of tenure in civil
service environments to determine is parallel motivational patterns exist.

16

Tenure in Civil Service Environments
Literature surrounding the history of tenure in public service environments is not as
abundant and not as contested as the available literature discussing tenure in academic settings,
but the premise behind the application of tenure is similar in both professional settings. In the
context of this study, the terms public service and civil service can be readily interchanged. In
civil service organizations, tenure is known as career tenure or career employee status, and it is
achieved after an employee accumulates three years of total cumulative service (Federal
Register, 2016).
Background of Tenure in Civil Service environments
The process to achieve tenure in civil service positions is simpler than the process
experienced by an educator in an academic institution. In civil service, the tenure process is
granted through satisfactory performance, recommendation of your supervisor and time, with
time being the most influential parameter in determining eligibility for career tenure (Federal
Register, 2016). Directly proportional with the relative simplicity of achieving tenure in the civil
service, employees are only protected from reduction in force events (RIF) and the rights to
contest an unjustified dismissal from employment. In RIF events, the employee gains the
opportunity to search and be hired to fill existing vacancies, related to the skillsets in their
present occupation, without competing; as long as there is an available position anywhere else in
the federal government, the employee could continue their service for the U.S. Government
(Federal Register, 2016). Tenured employees would still have to abide by all organizational
regulations to maintain employment. Non-tenured employees facing a RIF event would simply
be dismissed, without the opportunity to transfer to another available position or the right to
17

contest the dismissal. Non-tenured employees could still compete for available positions in the
U.S. Government.
Benefits and Challenges of Tenure in Civil Service Environments
In addition to the previously discussed increase in job security, tenure offers both the
organization and the employee a number of valued benefits including reduced turnover,
increased level of resident job experience, and increased organizational knowledge (Sturman,
2003). Employees benefit from the opportunity of life-long employment, as long as
organizational policies are followed (Sturman, 2003) and annual and policy established pay
raises (CPSC, 2016). Increased time in an organization, increases the employees’ level of
familiarity with organizational policies and expectations, proportionally increasing the
employees’ job expertise and value to the company (Cho, 2012; Kim, 2018). As found in Kim
2018), longer terms in the company also tend to increase the employee’s ties with the company,
increasing their levels of commitment and loyalty.
If improperly managed by the organization or abused by employees, tenure in civil and
public service environments is beset by similar challenges to those revealed in the discussion on
academic tenure. One of the challenges caused by tenure in civil service environments is reduced
employee turnover. Reduced employee turnover was discussed as a positive benefit of tenure
since increased time with an organization tends to increase the employees’ organizational
knowledge and reduces new employee training costs (Cho, 2012), increasing the overall return
on investment on initial training costs. Campbell et al. (2014) countered the positive aspects of
reduced turnover by discussing the inherent risk of reduced employee turnover, in that it allows
unmotivated or poor employees to stay in the organization for a longer period. Longer tenure
periods with poor employees limits the ability to refresh the workforce with the fresh ambition,
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commitment, ideas, and motivation of new employees seeking to establish themselves in a new
position (Bright, 2008). Without the influx of fresh ideas brought on by a healthy turnover
percentage, the organization risks stagnation or a loss of innovation with an organizational
impact that varies depending on the level of responsibility of the retained yet burnt out employee.
A second risk of prolonged tenure is employee burnout or productive plateauing
(Tremblay et al., 2009). Over time, an employee may become accustomed to the routine of a
particular job and reach a level of repetitive complacency with the job and environment. A job
that loses its sense of challenge and innovation for the employee, may result in decreased
motivation to perform; a phenomenon associated with longevity of tenure (Ng, 2013). An
employee may become accustomed to the daily routine of a job over an extended period of time,
even if the job is not conducive to higher levels of commitment and motivation, making it harder
for the employee to seek another employment (Kim, 2018). This second risk is closely associated
with the relationship between tenure and motivation and will be covered in greater depth later in
the chapter.
Alternatives to Tenure as a Workforce Motivator
Tenure is not the only tool available to employers to enhance motivation and productivity
in their workforce. Critics standing against tenure, state that thanks to the modern employment
and anti-discriminatory laws, the concept of professional and academic tenure has become
obsolete (Bess, 1998). Based on the challenges faced by employers in removing unproductive
tenured employees, critics of tenure offer short-term contracts (Bess, 1998) and job enrichment
(Alias, 2018) as options to address the loss of motivation witnessed in tenured employees. The
two options address the demotivating effects of tenure from differing angles.

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Short-Term Contracts
Short term contracts enter the tenure discussion as an alternative method to employee
motivation that seeks to eliminate an employee’s temptation to under-perform and rely on the
employment protective benefits of tenure to maintain employment. Bess (1998) defines contracts
as a short-, medium-, or long-term transactional agreement between the employer and the
employee for an exchange of services during a pre-determined amount of time. At the end of the
contract, the employer can decide to renew the contract and the employee can choose to accept
the terms with no additional obligations to either party if not accepted. A benefit of shorter-term
contracts over tenure is that it allows the employer the opportunity to cycle underperforming
employees out of the organization and bring in new hires with fresh perspective on a periodic
basis. A second benefit of shorter-term contracts is that the organization can establish a
competitive environment to renew contracts for a pre-determined percentage of its top
performers (Bess, 1998).
The downside of shorter-term contracts includes decreased organizational memory and
organizational commitment based on the high turnover amongst its employees which raises new
employee training costs (Kim, 2018). Another downside of short-term contracts is its inherent
extrinsic motivational appeal which may negatively affect the employee’s intrinsic motivation to
engage in a task for the sake of performing the job well (Cho, 2012), a factor that has direct ties
to employee productivity (Maxwell, 2008). If the employee perceives that their time in the
organization is finite, their level of commitment to the job may never reach maximum
productivity levels. One key area where short term contracts and academic tenure diverge is in
the invaluable benefit of academic freedom offered by academic tenure. Through academic
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tenure the scholar is freed from political and organizational influences that may affect what and
how they research.
Job Enrichment
If short-term contracts seemed to offer an advantage to the organization, job enrichment
is an option that presents a more balanced solution to maximize the professional relationship
between the employer and employee at various stages of the employees’ tenure in the
organization. Job enlargement is defined as the modification of an employee’s job by adding a
variety of additional task requiring the same skill level, in an effort to fight redundancy and make
the job more interesting and fulfilling for the employee (Berdicchia, 2015). Instead of increasing
the number of responsibilities requiring a similar skill level, job enrichment involves the addition
of higher lever responsibilities to the employee (Maxwell, 2008). In one type of job enrichment
the employee would be granted increased decision-making autonomy, which would build their
understanding of management expectations and add professional complexity to the job (Alias et
al., 2018).
Both job enlargement and job enrichment strategies seek to maintain or increase
motivation and productivity in the workplace by keeping the employee challenged. The
challenge of job enrichment is that the organization has to invest funds and energy in
understanding the employee to successfully adapt the job’s skillsets to the employee rather than
have the employee adapt to the skillsets required by the job (Maxwell, 2008). The remaining
challenge for civil service organization and institutions of higher learning is to determine where
their professional workforce priorities lie to inspire increased motivation and productivity. The
organization would have to determine if a short-term contract-based environment with high
competition and high turnover is preferred over a tenure-based job enrichment environment that
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values increased experience and expertise based on length of employment. Both environments
carry risk to motivation, but management practices may hold the solution in the application of
proper motivational strategies to support an environment conducive to high motivation and high
productivity. To best gauge which strategy would best fit the organization’s workforce and
climate, the organization would benefit from a deeper understanding of what factors influence
the various types of motivation at play in a professional environment. This study views these
factors through the lens of the self-determination theory.
Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a motivation theory developed by Edward L. Deci
and Richard M. Ryan (Gagne & Deci, 2005) to address the conceptual gaps revealed in previous
motivation theories. The theory was derived from and now includes the cognitive evaluation
theory (CET) which poses that external reward factors such as awards and evaluations tend to
impinge on an individual’s intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2014), thereby affecting their self-
drive to perform. Expanding on the CET model, the central premise of self-determination theory
revolves around the influential differences between autonomous and controlled motivation and
their influence on the core psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence
(Tremblay, 2009). Autonomy is defined as the employee’s sense of control over their own
decisions and actions (Greguras et al., 2014). Relatedness refers to an employee’s connection
with those around them and competence refers to the employee’s belief that their performance
and actions can positively influence their organization or environment (Gagne & Deci, 2005;
Greguras et al., 2014). Intrinsic motivation would qualify as a type of autonomous motivation
and extrinsic motivation would be included in the controlled category (Gagne & Deci, 2005). In
the same study, the authors added amotivation as a third central concept of SDT and defined
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amotivation as the absence of intention and motivation. Due to the absence of intention in
amotivation, this concept stands in contrast to both autonomous and controlled motivation which
involve a deliberate or intentional will to act, regardless of the source of the influence. The SDT
literature then breaks the concepts of autonomous and controlled motivation into sub-concepts.
Autonomous Motivation
In a professional setting, autonomous motivation refers to an individual’s innate desire to
perform an action free of external influence (Fall & Roussel, 2014). When autonomously
motivated, the individual performs the action because they enjoy the action, want to engage in
the action and find an intrinsic fulfillment in the action with no external influences acting on
their decision to act. To display or experience true intrinsic motivation, an employee needs to
feel a sense of autonomy and competence to perform a job or given task (Dysvik et al., 2013). In
a study of 128 students in the University of Rochester, participants showed a marked difference
in attainment and level of effort towards intrinsically motivated goals vice attainment of
controlled goals (Sheldon, 1998). A 2015 study of 679 public service professionals in India
effectively demonstrated a positive correlation between tenure, job commitment and intrinsic
motivation in jobs with rich motivational climates (Uppal, 2015). In a more recent study
examining the motivational profiles of 510 participants, organizations that focused employee
work profiles around task importance and task autonomy lead to increased autonomous
motivation in the workforce, which supported Sheldon’s earlier findings about the relationship
between autonomy and intrinsic motivation (Howard et al., 2021). These studies are a few of
many examples that demonstrate a positive correlation between intrinsic motivation, increased
effort and increased productivity when associated with autonomous motivation. To meet the
requirements of autonomous motivation, the action must be self-driven and voluntarily intrinsic
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to fulfill a self-satisfaction (Ryan & Deci, 2000), anything outside of this level of influence
would fall under amotivation or one of the various categories that compose the controlled
motivation category.
Controlled Motivation
Controlled motivation, also referred to as extrinsic motivation, is the performance of an
activity due to an external influence to achieve a non-intrinsic outcome (Ryan & Deci, 2000) or
incentive (Sheldon & Elliot, 1998). Gagne (2005) clarified that employee engagement in a task
would be present as long as the extrinsically motivating influence is present; the will to engage in
this task would cease or lessen when the extrinsically motivating influence ceases or lessens.
Extrinsic motivation is composed of a scale of categories that bridge the gap between
amotivation and intrinsic motivation. The categories in extrinsic motivation range from external
regulation, with a clearly discernible influence by external factors (rewards) to integrated
regulation motivation, where the external influence has been internalized by the individual to the
point of becoming autonomous motivation (Tremblay, 2009).
According to Deci (2005), true intrinsic motivation in a professional setting is difficult if
not impossible to achieve. This challenging reality associated with intrinsic motivation would
leave organizations with the goal of establishing motivational policies that lead the employee to
behavior that internalizes extrinsic motivators, identified by integrated regulation motivation
(Tremblay, 1998). Motivational policies that drive the employee’s autonomous will to engage in
job-related tasks stand a better chance of increasing employee engagement, productivity, and
level of effort (Sheldon, 1998).

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Amotivation
If intrinsic motivation refers to an employee’s will to perform a task out of their own free
will to achieve an internal satisfaction, amotivation represents the opposing spectrum, where
there is a lack of desire or motivation to engage in a task (Meyer, 2014). A number of factors, to
include employee burn out, can lead an employee to display this level of behavior. Other
possibilities that may lead to amotivation are when organizational motivation strategies and
incentives fail to connect with the employee’s needs and values, the employee does not believe
they can accomplish the task or when the employee does not connect at any level with their job
or task (Tremblay et al., 2009). Organizations with employees displaying amotivation would
benefit from investing time and energy in cause identification, review of their organizational
incentives and employee task alignment to increase the opportunity of achieving some degree of
the deliberate action present in extrinsically or intrinsically motivated employees.
Characteristics of Professional Motivation
How motivation is encouraged in an environment, be it professional or academic,
depends on the theory employed to interpret motivation as a concept, but regardless of where the
differing priorities lie in the varying motivational theories, they do tend to agree on the roles of
motivation and competence in driving organizational behaviors (Ryan & Moller, 2017). The
authors defined motivation as that which encourages a person to engage, to move, and to act and
competence as the level of success a person can expect to experience in accomplishing a task
(Ryan & Moller, 2017). Even if the person decides to act and accomplish a task, how they act
establishes a difference between meeting minimum standards, exceeding standards or missing
the task objective entirely depending on the person’s level of desire and commitment to do the
job (Kim, 2018). In a competitive environment, misunderstanding what influences drive a person
25

to willingly engage in a task or disengage from their responsibilities could define the difference
between inspiring a team to new innovative successes or forcing a team to meet the minimum
standard that fails impress customers (McKenzie & Mohr, 2014). While both competence and
motivation play a crucial role in determining employee behaviors, this study will lean more on
the influence of motivation in determining employee behaviors.
Professional Motivation as a Factor in Professional Environments
Motivation represents a variety of subtle and overt influences acting on an employee or
group of employees in fulfilling their organizational responsibilities. For an organization,
understanding the “what” and the “why” behind an employee’s desire to act could be used to
improve organizational policies, incentives and the professional environment to achieve greater
levels of productivity from the workforce (Tremblay et al., 2009). Policies and incentives that
inspire motivation in the workforce tend to positively influence productivity through self-drive,
increase employee organizational knowledge by reducing employee turnover rates (Cho &
Lewis, 2012), two elements that are tied to positive organizational behavior (Kim, 2018).
Organizational policies and incentives that fail to consider employee needs can lead to
frustration, high turnover rates and burnout, characterized by workforce exhaustion and loss of
motivation (Leiter & Maslach, 2018). Motivation may not be the only factor determining
whether an organization succeeds or fails in an endeavor, but referring to the initial definition of
motivation, a workforce that falls victim to amotivation will cease to move. Without the ability
to move its workforce professionally, the organization will eventually fail.
Factors that Influence Professional Motivation
Professional motivation is impacted by a complex set of factors and influences that affect
employees in different ways. Motivation studies employing the self-determination theory
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recommend an increased focus on developing intrinsic motivational triggers to achieve
automation of behavior (Tremblay et al., 2009), but organizations may not have the time,
resources or expertise to tailor motivational policies to each employee. The strategies to affect
motivation would then vary if the goal of the company is to focus on motivating overall group
characteristics vice targeting the needs of the individual (Fall & Roussel, 2014). Armed with
increased understanding of the role that professional motivation occupies in the workplace and
how different types of motivation can affect employee behavior, the organization would then
have to determine the strategies and policies that can aid healthy levels of motivation in the
workplace. A secondary objective involves determining if certain factors predict higher or lower
levels of professional motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation Factors

The SDT discussion covered earlier in the chapter addressed the difficulty of achieving a
truly intrinsic motivational response in an employee (Dysvik et al., 2013). While difficult, a 1998
study in the University of Rochester discussed that the increased levels of attainment,
productivity, and effort of an autonomously or intrinsically motivated employee far outweigh the
results witnessed in employees experiencing controlled or extrinsic motivation (Sheldon, 1998).
These results support the value for an organization to understand which types of factors fuel the
internal employee drive to engage in a task.
When discussing intrinsic motivation, not all employees can be grouped as one, under the
assumption that the motivational incentives that fulfill one person’s intrinsic priorities, fulfill the
intrinsic priorities of all. Cho (2012) affirmed that the path to intrinsic motivation on the job lies
more in the psychological realm. Increased job security (Cho & Lewis, 2012), fulfilling job
tasks, professional independence, respect, organizational culture, positive work environment and
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upward mobility (Kim, 2018) are some of the intangible factors listed by previous research that
affect how an employee perceives their place in the professional environment. To add increased
complexity to the goal of triggering intrinsic motivation, the influence these factors have on the
workforce may vary from one employee to the next and from one industry to another.
When discussing intrinsic motivation, an argument can be made regarding what
motivational category the intangible factors introduced by Cho, Lewis and Kim would fall under.
The founders of the self-determination theory clarified that choice, professional autonomy, and
acknowledgement are the root ingredients of intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000);
incentives that target these three elements have a strong possibility of triggering intrinsic
motivation in an employee. Tenure in civil service environments, when applied as an incentive in
professional motivation, is earned through time and competitive performance evaluations,
meeting the psychological requirement for acknowledgement (OPM, 2021). Having met the
requirement for acknowledgment through tenure, the organization would then have to clarify
how tenure influences the employee’s perception of professional autonomy and choice through
the organization’s environment and leadership. Implementing either individual or global
motivational strategies that grant increased professional independence would shore up the
remaining elements of choice and professional autonomy to create an environment conducive to
intrinsic motivation. This study seeks to explore if tenured employee participants, if found to be
in alignment with existing research, experience decreases in intrinsic motivation and which of
the three elements that support intrinsic motivation could be bolstered to best motivate the
employee.

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Extrinsic Motivation Factors
As defined by the self-determination theory, controlled or extrinsic motivation relates to a
drive initiated by the desire to achieve or satisfy an external influence or reward (Ryan & Deci,
2000). Organizational factors related to an external influence can vary and, depending on the
individual, may be interchangeable with intrinsic motivational factors. The organization should
exercise care in the implementation of extrinsic motivation factors, since their effect has been
proven to be transactional with an expiration date dictated by the presence of the extrinsic trigger
(Gagne & Deci, 2005) and their influence proven to impinge on intrinsic motivation, if not
introduced correctly (Tremblay et al., 2009). Examples of extrinsic motivation factors can be
fully tangible or intangible, yet verifiable.
Extrinsic motivation factors are more tangible than intrinsic factors and their influence
may be simpler to identify for the employee. Examples of extrinsic factors in this tangible
category include salary, rank, non-monetary benefits and certificates of recognition (Cho &
Lewis, 2012). Status benefits and symbols that highlight the employee’s value or importance in
an organization can also serve as intangible yet extrinsic benefits that an employee may strive to
achieve.
Next are examples of extrinsic motivational factors that exist between the tangible and
intangible depending on the symbols employed by the organization to identify them. Seniority
based influence in organizational decisions (voice), education opportunities, and increased
advancement opportunities (Kim, 2018) may offer the employee the opportunity to grow
professionally and affect change within the organization. These opportunities for professional
growth and to affect change could influence the level of job satisfaction experienced (Quratulain
& Khan, 2015) leading to an internalized level of motivation and eventually autonomous action
29

(Gagne & Deci, 2005). The answer to a balanced, efficient and nearly autonomous workforce
capable of self-stimulus, resilient to change, that displays a tangible commitment to both the
organization and the job before and after tenure may not reside in favoring intrinsic over
extrinsic motivational factors, but in shaping an environment whose policies support both
motivational influences.
Measurement of Professional Motivation
Measuring motivation is challenging considering it is an innate influence that manifests
differently in every person. A highly motivated person may be engaged quietly, engrossed in the
accomplishment of a task while a person experiencing amotivation may be singing in the
workplace to distract themselves from the drone of a job they are not motivated to engage in.
Without the benefit of telepathy, determining the resident levels of motivation present in an
organization or what type of motivation is affected by organizational incentives challenges
managers and supervisors interested in addressing motivational concerns (Tremblay et al., 2009).
The workforce extrinsic and intrinsic motivation scale (WEIMS), rooted in the self-
determination theory and adapted from the French Blais Inventory of Work Motivation (BIWM)
scale, is used to measurement of the six motivation types covered by SDT (Tremblay, 2009). The
six motivation categories are intrinsic, integrated, identified, introjected, external and
amotivation. Chapter Three discusses how the scale is employed in measuring motivation in this
study.
Relationship Between Tenure and Motivation
The previous sections covered the background and discussions behind tenure and
motivation as independent concepts. The discussion began by discussing the positive and
negative aspects of tenure to include the policies surrounding tenure in the workplace. As
30

grounded in Ryan and Deci’s (2000) research, the discussion then branched into motivation’s
palpable and psychological reactants or factors that act on an employee in overt and subtle ways.
In professional environments that offer tenure, these two concepts tend to intersect on multiple
levels creating a symbiotic relationship where one influences the next.
A 2015 study of 679 public service professionals in India, spanning diverse occupational
specialties from engineering to human resources, established a negative correlation between
tenure, job commitment and employee burnout in jobs with poor motivational climates (Uppal,
2015). The same study also revealed a positive correlation between tenure, job commitment and
intrinsic motivation for employees in jobs with rich motivational climates. In 2018, Becker et al.
studied 237 academic professionals in United States’ business schools, revealing a positive
correlation between intrinsic motivation, commitment and productivity levels in tenured
professionals. Academic professionals in Becker’s study, who experienced high extrinsic
motivation, exhibited lower levels of productivity and an increased commitment to the
organization instead of commitment for the job they were hired to fulfill (Becker et al., 2018).
Considering the relationship between higher intrinsic motivators and increased levels of
performance identified by Uppal in a public service setting and Becker in an academic setting,
employers would benefit from establishing policies that cultivate intrinsic motivators to sustain
high performance. Through application of self-determination theory, this study intends to go
beyond the definition of tenure and motivation to identify the relationship between tenure and
motivation to support healthy motivational climates for pre- and post-tenure employees via
informed management policies and practices.
Depending on the industry, the purest form of tenure offers employees increased
academic freedom in academic environments and increased job security, in both civil service and
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academic environments. Focusing on the effects of tenure in civil service environments, both
Kim (2018) and Cho (2012) list job security as both an intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factor.
As with a number of modern drugs, administering job security as curative treatment in an
organization, is accompanied by side effects.
Increased job security leads to organizational commitment and stability which fuels
intrinsic motivation needs (Kim, 2018). Increased job security also leads to longevity and
seniority in the organization, which depending on organizational policies, may offer the
employee a source of extrinsic motivation. While the behaviors of longevity and organizational
commitment have been associated with higher levels of intrinsic motivation and loyalty (Cho &
Lewis, 2012) other research demonstrates that long term tenure, as associate with continuance
commitment (Meyer, 2014), does not always align with high levels of motivation (Bright, 2013).
This brackish mixture of tenure-influenced commitment and motivation leaves managers with
the task of deciphering the ebb and flow of motivation in their organization to best inspire their
workforce to healthy levels of autonomy and productivity.
Effective Practices in Managing Employee Professional Motivation in the Context of
Tenure
There are several factors that affect how tenure influences an employee. A 2018 study of
203 civil servants in South Korea revealed that the longer an employee spends with an
organization, the more resistant they are to leaving the organization for fear of losing their sense
of belonging, employment security granted by tenure, or financial benefits associated with
organizational pension plans (Kim, 2018). As introduced in the previous section, these factors
would increase the employment-protective value of tenure, but they would also affect how an
employee would prefer to stay in an environment where they do not fit or perform well because
32

of the psychological risks associated with switching jobs and losing job security the older they
get (Cho & Lewis, 2012). Faced with the conflicting challenges of developing commitment in
the workforce and removing elements that impinge motivation, managers would have to balance
the architectural skills required to build motivation-enriching environments and remove the
processes that diminish motivation and the employees afflicted by amotivation. The next section
will discuss best practices for satisfying individual motivational needs while balancing the global
motivational needs of the organization.
Managing the Environment
Management plays a significant role in an employee’s level of motivation (Gilbert &
Kelloway, 2014). Although more experienced employees are more tolerant of poor-quality
management, the longer they have been with an organization (Cho & Lewis, 2012), it is
management who implements the organizational policies and leadership strategies that shape the
environment where motivation can flourish. Aligning organizational policies to meet the
intrinsic needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence in its employees is more likely to yield
positive professional motivation (Gilbert & Kelloway, 2014). Failure to align organizational
policies to meet these core needs identified by SDT, would increase the risk of demotivating
employees resulting in decreased professional motivation and performance. If summarizing the
principles of SDT as a search to best comprehend the satisfaction of employee needs to achieve
healthy levels of autonomous motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2014), the organization would have to
tailor its motivational policies to best meet the motivational needs of its employees to best
promote autonomous behavior (Gilbert & Kelloway, 2014).
Employee professional and personal priorities may shift over time based on age, family
needs, and other life and career events, making it difficult for the organization to single out just
33

one winning strategy to incentivize the workforce even at the individual level. An example of
shifting employee priorities is evident in a study of 36,926 white-collar federal employees where
older workers displayed increased organizational commitment and resisted new job opportunities
based on the psychological risk of losing job security benefits (extrinsic influence) which
outweighed the possible financial gains of a new position (extrinsic incentive) (Cho & Lewis,
2012). The same study revealed that younger workers show an increased drive to follow
opportunities of upward mobility and increased financial rewards (Cho & Lewis, 2012). If the
implemented motivation strategies favored the priorities of one of these employee groups over
the other, the neglected group could begin to display a decrease in professional motivation. With
the appropriate motivational strategies, management could identify motivational trends and
triggers in its workforce to establish the correct organizational tools to best inspire autonomy,
relatedness, and competence.
To avoid neglecting the intrinsic or extrinsic needs of any one or group of employees, a
promising management practice is the establishment of an employee feedback mechanism to
identify challenges. Through an employee feedback mechanism, the workforce would have an
opportunity to voice their concerns and play an active role in the organization’s process
improvement system (Campbell, 2014). This knowledge would offer the organization insight on
what motivational policies may assist in meeting employee needs to sustain healthy levels of
autonomy, relatedness, and competence.
With feedback, the organization would have the option to implement goal setting
strategies tailored for the overall workforce, for independent departments and the individuals.
Locke and Latham’s goal-setting theory stated that clearly identified yet challenging goals lead
to increased task accomplishment (Fall & Roussel, 2014). By using the principles offered by
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Locke’s goal-setting theory, companies could include employees in the goal creation process, to
identify what drives them individually and identify their personal and professional goals. This
process would lay the groundwork to establish informed, measurable, challenging, yet achievable
goals that support fulfillment of the employee’s psychological needs of autonomy and
competence as stated in SDT. Management’s active involvement would be required in the goal
creation process, since goals that veer too far into the challenging side where they now become
unachievable, could negatively affect the employee’s sense of competence.
The previously discussed environmental tools allow the organization to establish a
methodological approach to identification of psychological needs, identification of
organizational challenges through employee feedback and an informed goal development process
that can be applied at any level of the organization. Another effective practice to establish a
healthy motivational environment involves the implementation of efficiency reviews. In essence,
efficiency reviews would canvass employees after the implementation of the previous tools to
gauge who is performing well according to the mutually established goals and who is not
meeting expectations. After completion of the efficiency review, poor performers would be
flagged for probation and possible employment termination. The purpose of cycling poor
performers out of the organization would be to refresh the organization with new employees with
fresh energy and reward preferred performance habits in tenured personnel raising the value of
tenure in the organization (Bess, 1998).
Managing Incentives
An incentive, by definition, is a reward meant to influence a predetermined behavior (Fall
& Roussel, 2014). According to the basic principles of SDT, how this object, policy, or reward
inspires a person to act depends on its appeal to a person’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivational
35

needs. Depending on the nature of the incentive and following the previous definition if the
incentive were to be removed the resulting action may also stop.
The goal of an employee incentive program would be to grant understanding of employee
psychological needs as they differ and align with the needs of the overall workforce. The
organization must be able to see the forest and the individual trees when implementing
motivation enhancing policies and incentives. There are a number and combinations of
incentives an organization could use to motivate employees, but this study focuses on the use of
financial, training and empowerment motivational incentives.
Through a study of 219 companies in the United Kingdom, the efficiency wage theory
established a positive correlation between the level of financial compensation to employee
motivation and employee productivity (Fall & Roussel, 2014). Higher wages yielded increased
performance and lower wages diminished performance. Since this financial incentive is extrinsic,
the boost in motivation tended to be temporary in the organizations studied (Fall & Roussel,
2014). Higher wages fuel the employee’s sense of relatedness and competence but paying
employees for performance is a form of extrinsic motivation which may turn transactional and
the strategy of paying employees increasingly higher wages may negatively affect the financial
health of the organization. Therefore, a measured approach is required when relying on this
incentive to motivate the tenured workforce.
Employee training is another incentive the organization can offer its workforce and it is
an incentive that can be mutually beneficial for the employee and the organization. The three
basic motivational requirements specified by SDT are autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Through increased training, the employee’s level of professional knowledge, expertise and
competitiveness may increase, fueling their level of competence and autonomy and avoiding
36

employee stagnation after tenure (Kim, 2018). This increased level of competence resulted in
increased levels of motivation and commitment to the organization. The organization not only
benefits from employees with higher levels of motivation but also from an increased level of
resident expertise in its tenured employees, possibly increasing the quality of task performance
by the trained individual.
Empowerment as an incentive relates directly to the development of autonomous
behavior. In this context, empowerment refers to the process where a leader or manager shares
higher level managerial functions and decision-making abilities with their employees (Gilbert &
Kelloway, 2014). When granted or employed by management, management grants employees
greater control of their environment and decisions increasing the ownership and meaningfulness
of their role in the organization (Cho & Lewis, 2012). Empowered employees who find meaning
in their jobs are predicted to display high levels of motivation after tenure and well into their
careers (Gilbert & Kelloway, 2014). This managerial best practice shifts organizational
environments away from extrinsically controlling environments to intrinsically autonomous
environments where intrinsic and internalized extrinsic motivation thrives (Tremblay et al.,
2009) in pre- and post-tenure employees.
Conceptual Framework
This motivational study will explore if there are differences in civil service employee
motivation in the pre-tenure and post-tenure period. The study will then explore which aspects
of work tenured civil service employees find motivating versus demotivating and how
managerial practices impact motivation in civil service employees. The conceptual framework,
grounded in SDT, will be used to answer the research questions guiding the study on the impact
of tenure on professional motivation of civil service employees. Self-determination theory is a
37

motivational theory introduced by Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan that identifies the
influence of three motivation types on the core psychological requirements of autonomy,
relatedness and competence (Greguras et al., 2014). The three previously introduced motivation
types of interest in the self-determination theory are intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation
and amotivation. The value of intrinsic motivation is that it inspires voluntary, self-encouraged
action based on the employee’s desire to accomplish the task and not based on an external
influence driving their behavior (Gagne & Deci, 2005). Extrinsic motivation involves the use
external triggers and incentives to move the employee to action (Gagne & Deci, 2014). These
external triggers and incentives could be financial, or benefit related, affecting the individual
directly or affecting the individual through the organizational environment (Cho & Lewis, 2012).
Deci and Ryan’s work would provide an understanding of how intrinsic and extrinsic motivators
and incentives influence employee behavior and motivation in the workplace. Understanding
these factors would enable organizational leadership to evaluate the environment and existing
motivational processes to develop new strategies, grounded in the data acquired, to keep tenured
employees engaged at higher performance levels before and after tenure.
The study focuses on the application of the self-determination theory to gauge the
behavior and levels of motivation in organizational employees before and after tenure. U.S.
Federal Organizations define tenure as the increased employment protection benefits enjoyed by
employees who have served three or more years of service with the organization. The concepts
of SDT are applied to gauge how the present organizational strategies affect motivation levels
among non-tenured and tenured professionals in the Department of Defense. The study will
culminate with recommendations that are based on research but anchored in and contextualized
for the Centers for Tactical Development and Tactical Training. Figure 1 offers a hypothesized
38

visual representation of how managerial practices influence the policies and environment that
fulfill the tenured employee’s core psychological needs through intrinsic or extrinsic triggers.

Figure 1
Employee Relationship with SDT-Framed Influences

Management
Practices
Org
Policies/Professional
Incentives/Environmen
t
Tenure
Pre/Post
Type of
Motivation
Intrinsic/Extrinsic/
Amotivation
Employee
Autonomy/Competence/
Relatedness
39

Summary
This chapter introduced the self-determination theory as the grounding theoretical
framework for the study to be performed in a Department of Defense training organization. The
literature-supported arguments surrounding the concept of tenure were introduced along with the
positive and negative effects of the use of tenure in academic, public service and federal
employment organizations. The discussion then turned to motivation, discussing the SDT-
associated terms of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation and the role they
have in influencing employee behavior. Concluding arguments centered around research-
supported best practices to aid organizations in the assessment of their personnel and
environments to determine how to best meet the employee core psychological needs of
autonomy, relatedness and competence. This knowledge would assist a motivation-challenged
organization to shift from a controlled motivation environment to an environment that inspires
autonomy and self-drive in its employees. The following chapter will discuss the methodology to
be used in the study of two of the Maritime Department’s training organizations as framed
through the principles of SDT.

40

Chapter Three: Methodology
The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a statistically significant
difference in work motivation between pre- and post-tenure civilian employees in the Center for
Tactical Training and the Center for Tactical Development within the Maritime Department and
explore the potential causes for the difference, if any. Chapter Two introduced the existing
literature surrounding tenure and motivation in the workplace. Chapter Three covers the
methodology used in researching the effect of tenure on the levels of motivation among the
Maritime Department’s civil service employees, which motivational influences motivate tenured
employees and how managerial practices affect motivation among tenured employees. This
chapter introduces the reasoning behind the use of survey and individual interview data gathering
instruments and how that data was analyzed. Based on the use of both qualitative and
quantitative elements, the chapter describes the processes to achieve validity, reliability,
credibility, and trustworthiness of the data obtained. This chapter concludes with a discussion of
the ethical measures implemented during the study along with the study’s limitations and
delimitations.
Research Questions
This study on tenure and motivation was guided by the following research questions:
What levels of motivation do civil service employees report?
How do post-tenure civil service managers and non-managers describe their motivation?
Which aspects of work do tenured civil service employees find motivating versus
demotivating?
How do managerial practices impact the professional motivation of tenured civil service
employees?
41

Overview of Methodology
This study employed a mixed methodological design and began with survey
implementation, containing the work extrinsic intrinsic motivation scale (WEIMS) (Tremblay et
al., 2009). Prior to implementing the WEIMS tool in this study, permission to use the WEIMS
tool was granted by the primary author with no fee requirements. The purpose of the WEIMS
survey was to determine the existing motivational patterns among tenured and non-tenured civil
service employees and to determine the differences and similarities within the two tenure groups.
The second part of the study sought twelve tenured employees to participate in personal
interviews. Personal interviews were used to explore the patterns identified by the WEIMS
survey, determine which organizational influences motivate tenured employees and how
managerial practices affected motivation among tenured employees. Table 1 displays how the
research questions were explored in this study.

Table 1
Data Sources
Research Questions Survey Individual Interviews
What levels of motivation do civil service
employees report?
X
How do post-tenure civil service managers and
non-managers describe their motivation?
X
Which aspects of work do civil service tenured
employees find motivating versus demotivating?
X
How do managerial practices impact the
professional motivation of tenured civil service
employees?
X

42

The Researcher
My positionality as a Hispanic male, recently retired from the military after 25 years of
service informed my role as a pre-tenure government employee working with the Maritime
Department. Professionally, I am immersed in the civil service environment and with one of the
organizations I studied. Having been with the civil service organization as a program manager
for less than two years, I enjoyed the benefit of seeing the organization with the eyes of a
newcomer, allowing me to identify motivational patterns in the organizational environment set
by the Maritime Department. This perspective allowed me to observe the environment as a
participating outsider, seeing patterns where long-term employees may only see routine
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). My predisposed assumption was that I would find lower levels of
professional motivation among tenured civil service employees based on interaction with
similarly employed personnel in my past and current career. I intended to counter act this
assumed bias through reflexivity by focusing on the data on fluctuating motivation levels,
revealed by the survey and interviews, to identify best management practices that enhanced
levels of motivation amongst tenured employees.
Data Sources
To support the study about the impact of tenure on motivation in the Maritime
Department, data was gathered in two stages. The first stage involved sharing a link via email
that took participants to a Qualtrics survey site. The Qualtrics survey included basic demographic
questions to categorize participants between tenured, non-tenured and those who fall outside the
scope of the study. At the conclusion of the survey, participants could choose to volunteer for the
semi-structured interview phase of the study. Only tenured participants were purposefully chosen
for the interviews based on their varying years of tenure as civil service employees.
43

Surveys
The study’s first phase consisted of a two-part survey shared via e-mail. The goal of the
survey was to screen survey participants as either tenured or non-tenured employees and gather
information regarding participant levels and types of motivation through the workforce extrinsic
and intrinsic motivation scale (WEIMS). Through analysis of survey responses, I determined if
there were statistically significant differences in the motivation of tenured and non-tenured
personnel. Data patterns revealed by the WEIMS survey questions were then used to inform the
discussion with tenured personnel during the semi-structured interviews.
Participants
All employees working for the two organizations being studied received an e-mail
inviting them to participate in the study containing the link to the purposeful sampling Qualtrics
survey. To qualify for the study, participants had to be civil service employees working for a
federal organization. Contractors receiving the e-mail link to the survey were identified and
disqualified from consideration via the demographic screening questions at the beginning of the
survey. The goal sampling size for the survey was between 30 and 40 participants and
considering the tenure-based scope of the study’s first stage, qualifying participants were
categorized as either tenured or non-tenured civil service employees.
Instrumentation
The two-part survey instrument presented in Appendix A took approximately five to
seven minutes to complete and was employed to answer the first research question to identify the
levels of motivation reported by civil service employees. The first part of the survey included a
number of demographic questions to screen post-tenure from pre-tenure participants. The
participants were also asked to indicate their length of employment, and whether they were in
44

management roles. The second part of the survey contained the 18-question WEIMS instrument.
The existing WEIMS instrument gauged the levels of intrinsic, integrated regulation, identified
regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation and amotivation experienced by the
participant and how these motivation types were represented across differences in tenure status
in the organization.
Data Collection Procedures
Applying census sampling, the survey was distributed to the various organizations in the
fall of 2021, via an email containing a link to the Qualtrics site. All qualifying participants fell in
the tenured or non-tenured categories of interest, supporting the decision to use purposeful
sampling to gather feedback from the various federal organization populations to increase
reliability of the sample (Robinson & Leonard, 2019). Based on peer feedback, the 25-item
survey took approximately five to seven minutes to complete, keeping the amount of time
required to answer all questions brief to encourage a higher response rate from participants
(Robinson & Leonard, 2019). The last portion of the survey contained an independent link for
participants to share their contact information if they were willing to participate in the interview
process.
Data Analysis
A quantitative approach was used to analyze the data gathered by the initial survey. The
first five demographic questions sorted qualifying tenured, non-tenured and managerial
participants from any participants in the ineligible contractor category. Qualified participants
were then grouped by category prior to the statistical analysis of the WEIMS section. Through
the use of descriptive analysis, tenured and non-tenured participant responses to the WEIMS
questionnaire were compared to identify similarities and disparities in motivational patterns
45

across the tenure and non-tenure categories for further study by the researcher. This data was
also used to inform the questions and conversations that followed in the virtual interviews
through Zoom.
Table 2 displays the inferential analysis associated with the study’s survey. WEIMS, and
specifically, the self-determined motivation (W-SDM) subscale served as the dependent variable
in the study with tenure versus non-tenure as the independent variable. W-SDM aggregated the
sum of the positive motivation traits, represented by intrinsic and extrinsic motivation sub-scales,
into one measurable and differentiable mean. The level of measurement for tenure was nominal
as employees fell in either the tenured or non-tenured categories. I used descriptive analysis as a
basis to report an absolute sense of the data collected from participants in the varying
professional stages described by the independent variables. The data was then parsed to identify
how motivation was sequenced between desirable and undesirable motivation traits among
tenured and non-tenured employees.

Table 2

Inferential Analysis

Research Question Independent
Variable
Level of
measurement
Dependent
variable
Level of
Measure
ment
Statistical
test
What levels of
motivation do civil
service employees
report?
Tenure
versus no
tenure

Nominal

W-SDM Interval

Descriptive
46

Validity and Reliability
Validity measures how accurately an instrument measures what it is meant to measure
(Salkind, 2014). The existing workforce extrinsic and intrinsic motivation scale (WEIMS),
proven effective in measuring the various motivation influences referenced by the self-
determination theory (Tremblay et al., 2009), served as the foundation of the survey’s validity
and reliability. In the original study, the Cronbach’s alpha values associated with WEIMS’
subscales were .77 for intrinsic motivation, .81 for extrinsic motivation, and .6 for amotivation,
supporting the validity of the scale in measuring varying types of motivation in the study’s
participants (Tremblay et al., 2009). Reliability is meant to measure the consistency of
measurement surrounding a data gathering tool (Salkind, 2014). Reliability of the 18 WEIMS
questions was proven through field testing (Tremblay et al., 2009).
Interviews
Shifting from quantitative to qualitative inquiry, the second stage of the study involved
semi-structured interviews with 12 purposefully selected tenured participants. The interview
participants were recruited from the survey respondents. In semi-structured interviews, the
interviewer provided a set of prompts to guide the conversation and allowed the participant the
freedom to express themselves within those topic areas (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). In research,
qualitative interviews are used to inquire about personal opinions and thoughts through the use
open-ended questions (Creswell & Creswell, 2019). By engaging participant personal opinions,
the interview process went beyond the survey’s quantitative scope with a comprehensive
discussion about the employees’ self-assessed organizational aspects that influenced the
participants’ levels of motivation.

47

Participants
To participate in the second stage of the study, participants had to qualify based on
predetermined criteria covered by the initial survey’s demographic questions. To best answer
research questions two, three, and four participants had to be tenured employees. Tenure status in
the civil service organizations reviewed is granted after three years of cumulative service as civil
service employees in any government organization; hence the interview participants had a
minimum of three years cumulative service as civil service employees in the organizations
represented by the study participants.
Initial approval was received from the Center for Strategic Development’s and the Center
for Strategic Training’s management, however, upon receiving the survey products, the
organizations’ legal department rescinded the request to participate. Approval for the
organizations to participate in the motivation study was invalidated by their legal departments
based on the organizations’ inability to task their employees with contractually unsupported tasks
during working hours without higher level authorization. Participation with two additional
government organizations was attempted with similar end results based on challenges in
receiving labor union authorization in time to complete the study within the remaining time in
the academic program. Independent purposeful sampling was employed across six government
organizations, outside of working hours to request study participants. Twelve participants, ten
tenured and two non-tenured, from six federal organizations agreed to participate in the survey.
Ten participants from the same six organizations representing human resources, medical
education, defense, technical, and national security industries within the federal government,
were selected from the pool of voluntary survey participants via purposeful sampling based on
years of employment. Two additional tenured participants agreed to participate in the interviews
48

but not the surveys raising the interview sample to 12 tenured civil service employees. The
sampling categories included recently tenured employees with less than 10 years in the
organization and those with over 10 years of employment from both management and non-
management roles.
Instrumentation
The semi-structured interview approach offered the best data collection option, based on
the exploratory nature of the study. This approach offered the requisite balance between
exploration and structure to uncover relevant data through the use of 14 open-ended interview
questions, with their amplifying probes referenced in appendix B. The use of semi-structured
open-ended questions offered enough flexibility to explore opinions, impressions and other
factors affecting professional motivation in the workplace. The combination of opinion,
experience and knowledge question types was meant to uncover patterns between tenure,
managerial strategies and the levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation felt and displayed by
tenured employees.
Data Collection Procedures
Based on the COVID environment of 2021 and to enhance the confidentiality of
participants, all interviews were conducted online via Zoom. Depending on the comfort level of
the twelve participants, the preferred method to capture the data was Zoom audio recordings and
field notes which offered participants the option to turn off their cameras placing them at greater
ease to share more sensitive information related to their personal thoughts on professional
motivation. If participants preferred to opt out of Zoom recordings, interview data, including
participant responses, was captured via field notes. The 15-question interviews were scheduled to
49

last between 45 minutes to one hour. The researcher offered flexibility after the hour elapsed in
case the participant had additional relevant information to share.
Data Analysis
Data obtained through the virtual interviews was analyzed through qualitative analysis
processes. All recorded Zoom data was first transcribed, and field notes were reviewed for
accuracy. Through inductive analysis, I winnowed the transcribed participant responses to
identify common discussion themes relating to tenure and motivation, highlighting themes
relating to the three research questions (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Common data themes then
underwent a coding process to categorize the topics identified in the winnowed data. Coding
included identification of motivation and tenure-related patterns to include data that both
supported and countered the concepts introduced in the literature review.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Credibility and trustworthiness of the study pertained to the plausibility of the process
employed to gather information and the results obtained. To achieve a verifiable level of
credibility and trustworthiness, I used data triangulation between the winnowed data patterns
reported by the survey and the perspective-based relationship between tenure, motivation and
managerial techniques uncovered during the interviews. Participant interaction and responses
during the interviews were recorded in rich descriptive detail (Creswell & Creswell, 2018)
displaying all motivation and tenure patterns uncovered to attain a higher level of
generalizability of the data to other professional contexts (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I did not
require reengagement of study participants with additional questions to gain additional insight
after analyzing the data. Participants were offered the opportunity to establish follow-on contact
in case new information supporting the study was uncovered. Considering the elements of
50

opinion and perspective involved in the qualitative aspect of this study, the interview data
collection process continued as time and the organizations permitted, until I achieved a point of
data saturation to maximize the opportunity for intersectionality of motivational patterns, among
an increased number of participants. Analysis of intersectionality of motivational patterns took
place after completion of twelve interviews.
Ethics
To reaffirm a commitment to ethical treatment of participants and the information shared,
I clarified the ethical base grounding the study to protect information shared by voluntary
participants. An information sheet for exempt studies, discussing consent and reaffirming
confidentiality of information shared, was presented to all voluntary participants. A $20 dollar
gift card was offered for tenured employees who participated in the interview process. The
survey instrument did not collect any names, e-mail addresses, or phone numbers. The researcher
offered a link in the survey to a separate site where interview volunteers shared their name and
contact information to ensure their information remained separate from the survey data.
Interviews were administered on a one-on-one basis, via individual Zoom interview links. The
participants were in a private setting during the interview to prevent coercion or leaked
information to non-participants, which could have affected future disposition to be candid and
participate. Participant consent was requested via USC’s information sheet for exempt studies,
referenced in Appendix C, prior to recording personal interviews. Video recordings were deleted
once transcribed. Written data was password protected until completion of the research and then
deleted. After providing consent to participate, participants were free to retract their previous
consent to participate at any time during the study.

51

Chapter 4: Results and Findings
Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to explore the impact of tenure on
the levels of professional motivation of civil service employees through the lens of the self-
determination theory (SDT). The conceptual framework applied the elements of SDT to
determine if and how tenure, managerial roles, managerial practices, and time served in an
organization affect intrinsic and extrinsic levels of motivation in civil service employees. The
mixed methods approach used in the study was intended to reveal the motivational patterns
among the employee types studied, and to best inform the qualitative phase of the study with key
data elements to pursue with personal interview participants.
The original data gathering strategy was to focus on the population of civil servants
working for two organizations within the Department of the Navy where the survey and
interview information sheets would be distributed internally by their respective Human
Resources departments, allowing the products to reach a larger audience. An initial approval
offered by both organizations was placed on hold upon delivery of the research products. The
organizations cited the requirement for a legal department review prior to survey and interview
product distribution. Both legal departments opted not to participate in the study due to the
requirement to acquire higher level permissions that resided outside the organizations. This
decision impacted the population size available for the study. A third organization with civil
service employees associated with internal national defense was contacted, agreed to review the
products, but after a two-month review of the products their legal department opted not to
participate due to the inability to assign a survey of this nature to union employees without the
consent of the labor unions associated with the organization. The unofficial option offered by all
three organizations was to individually contact members of the organization, requesting
52

volunteers if contact and participation remained outside the organizations’ purview and did not
employ organizational time or assets to accomplish. This individual recruitment method
severely impacted the number of possible survey and interview candidates the researcher could
reach within ethical bounds and limited the reliability of the quantitative phase of the study based
on the smaller number of quantitative participants.
Quantitative data was collected first by means of a survey employing the Work Extrinsic
Intrinsic Motivation Scale (WEIMS) as its primary tool to gauge the levels of motivation among
study participants. The WEIMS tool presented participants with 18 Likert-type items varying
from “1” to “7,” where “1” meant the motivation statement did not correspond at all and “7”
meant the motivation statement corresponded exactly with the participant’s self-assessment of
their motivation in the workplace. The WEIMS tool gauged the participant’s motivation along
the six motivation pillars presented by SDT which include intrinsic, integrated regulation,
identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation, identifying a
primary motivational influence for each participant once the survey scores were aggregated.
Each motivation category had three corresponding questions within the tool, the highest a person
could score in any one motivation category was 21 and the lowest score a participant could score
was 3.
Once the scores were aggregated, application of the WEIMS tool offered the means to
measure the levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among the varying participant categories
revolving around tenure, managerial roles, and length of employment as civil servants working
for a number of United States Government agencies. Survey data was reviewed by employee
categories to identify SDT-based motivational trends.
53

After completion of the surveys, individual interviews were employed to view the
research from a qualitative lens and gain insight into the aspects of work and managerial
practices that most impacted the motivation of tenured civil service employees. Interviews were
also used to further develop the motivational themes based on differences in tenure, years of
service, and managerial variables uncovered by the survey. In contrast to the survey, the
qualitative sample size did allow the opportunity to study motivational patterns revealed by the
interviews. A pattern emerged if two or more participants out of twelve expressed similar
thoughts and reactions to the motivational variables being measured. These shared patterns were
confirmed as a theme if five or more participants expressed the same thoughts. Interviews were
coded within a day of the discussion with the participant, using previously identified a priori
codes, while remaining open to emerging themes.
Participants
A core eligibility requirement to participate in the study was for the participants to be
civil service employees. Recruitment originally focused on two organizations within the
Maritime Department but due to recruitment challenges, recruitment was expanded to include
civil service employees from multiple government agencies to include security, national defense,
human resources, technical, medical, and education fields. Non-civil service personnel were
excluded from the study to prevent tainting the study with employees working for the federal
government whose organizations did not employ tenure as a professional incentive.
Survey Participants
Participants for the survey phase of the study consisted of pre- and post-tenure employees
from security, national defense, human resources, technical, medical, and education fields.
Twenty-five civil servants were invited to participate in the online survey of which 12
54

volunteered to complete the survey. Of the 12 participants, 10 were tenured and two were non-
tenured, participant years of employment were evenly distributed at six and six, and management
status was equally distributed with six management and six non-management participants. Table
3 presents a breakdown of the participants along with the variables tracked by the survey.

Table 3
Survey Participants
Participant Tenure status Years of employment Management status
Tenure Non-
Tenure
0- 9 10 or
more
Management Non-
Management
1   
2   
3   
4   
5   
6   
7   
8   
9   
10   
11   
12   

Interview Participants
Interview phase participants consisted of tenured civil service employees from security,
national defense, human resources, technical, medical, and education-based United States
Government organizations. Survey participants were invited to participate in the interview phase
55

once they completed the survey. Two survey participants were ineligible to participate in the
interviews based on their non-tenure status. Two additional participants invited to participate in
the survey chose not to participate in the survey but did volunteer to take part in the interview
phase bringing the total number of interview participants to 12. The participating demographic
consisted of tenured civil service employees fulfilling managerial and non-managerial roles with
varying ranges of time served with their respective organizations. Interview participants were
assigned pseudonyms to protect their privacy and prevent identifiability. Table 4 displays the
demographics associated with the interview participants.

56

Table 4
Interview Participant Demographic Data
Participant Management
Status
Role Type Tenured/Non-
Tenured
Time in Civil
Service
Daenerys No HR Tenured 20-30 years
Robert No Healthcare Tenured 5-10 years
Ned Yes Technical Tenured 10-15 years
Jon No Defense Tenured 10-15 years
Tony Yes Defense Tenured 10-15 years
Bronn Yes Defense Tenured 1-5 years
Jaime Yes Defense Tenured 5-10 years
Jorah Yes Maintenance Tenured 10-15 years
Tormund No Security Tenured 1-5 years
Brann Yes HR Tenured 5-10 years
Tyrion Yes Defense Tenured 1-5 years
Robb No Education Tenured 10-15 years

Research Question 1: What Levels of Motivation do Civil Service Employees Report?
Research Question 1 used the WEIMS tool to examine the motivational levels reported
by civil service employees across tenure and longevity-based variables. Of the 12 survey
participants, 10 were tenured and only two were non-tenured, presenting a challenge to the
reliability of the comparative results. Interview findings, however, discussed later in the chapter,
57

revealed a more concrete answer to the research question, as viewed from the tenured employee
perspective.
WEIMS Pre-Tenure Employee Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Results
Civil service participants were considered pre-tenure if their cumulative number of years
working for civil service organizations numbered less than three years. Pre-tenure employee
candidates encompassed two categories within the pre-tenure bubble, pre-tenure management
and pre-tenure non-management. Participants self-identified as management or non-management
employees with no pre-qualifying statements in the survey.
Qualtrics was used to capture the data, but a t-test was not attempted due to the low
quantitative sample. With a range of possible scores being between 3 and 21, the two non-
tenured participants scored a mean score of 16 in intrinsic motivation and mean score of 16. 5 in
extrinsic motivation. The lowest WEIMS scores were reported in the amotivation dimension.
Figure 2 presents a visual representation of the data revealed by the WEIMS scale for non-
tenured participants.

58

Figure 2
Non-Tenured Participants’ WEIMS Motivation Results (n = 2)

WEIMS Post-Tenure Employee Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Results
Survey participants were considered post-tenure employees if they had served three or
more years of cumulative service with their civil service organization. Post tenure survey
participants self-identified as post-tenure employees based on the prequalifying statements in the
survey. Considering only the absolute sense with scores ranging from 3 to 21, post-tenure survey
participants (n = 10) scored mean scores of a middle ranged 16.4 for intrinsic, middle range 15.7
for integrated regulation, mid-range 14 for identified regulation, mid-low 13.5 for introjected
regulation, middle ranged 16.5 for the external regulation motivational dimension. The lowest
scores were in the amotivation category with a mean score of 4.6.
Individual review of post-tenure categorical group scores on the WEIMS tool revealed
differing motivational patterns as roles and time with the organization increased. The mean score
for tenured management participants displayed middle-level intrinsic motivation (15.2), high
0
5
10
15
20
25
Intrinsic Integrated
Regulation
Identified
Regulation
Introjected
Regulation
External
Regulation
Amotivation
WEIMS Score
Motivation Type
Management Non‐Management
59

integrated regulation motivation (17.2), mid-level external regulation motivation (16.8), and a
slight presence of amotivation (5.8). The mean scores for tenured non-management participants
displayed high intrinsic motivation (17.6), mid-level integrated regulation (12.4), mid-level
external regulation (16.2) and no amotivation (3.4). Figure 3 displays the aggregated mean scores
for tenured participants.

Figure 3
Tenured Management and Non-Management Participant Aggregated WEIMS Motivation Results
(n = 10)

Tenure-Based Qualitative Findings
Research Question 1 focused on a quantitative view of the relationship between tenure
and motivation. The interview protocol went beyond the results revealed by the WEIMS scores
and asked participants to reflect on their impression of tenure to share if and how tenure
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Intrinsic
Motivation
Integrated
Regulation
Identified
Regulation
Introjected
Regulation
External
Regulation
Amotivation
WEIMS Score (Mean)
Motivation Type
Tenured Management Tenured Non‐Management
60

impacted their levels of personal motivation. This reflection offered an opportunity to explore
how tenure impacted the 12 participants interviewed.
Tenure in civil service organizations occurs after the employee completes three years of
cumulative service with a participating government organization. Aside from the requisite time,
the additional requirements to achieve tenure include supervisor endorsement in progress
reviews and a sustained ability to follow the organization’s rules. In two separate interview
questions, participants were asked to describe their professional motivation before and after
tenure. Participant responses to the two tenure-based questions were in agreement, the levels of
motivation for all interview participants had remained the same before and after achieving
tenure. Thoughts shared by Jon S. were in line with other participants’ sentiments by stating,
“My motivation was pretty strong, I had no concern about honestly, I didn’t have any concern
about not making it through the tenure period. I mean I actually wasn’t even thinking about it.”
Ned was one participant who did not believe in tenure as an organizational incentive based on
experiences with other co-workers who abused the job security benefits tenure granted civil
service employees in his organization, but his response fell in line with all participants when he
stated,
I don’t believe in tenure. I want to make it so my supervisor wants me every bit
as much as I want my job, and I think that’s the way everybody should be, tenure
has had no impact on me whatsoever.
Ned continued to say, “I think that the benefits of tenure in the civil service are to the people who
abuse the system…I’m not a fan of it for any organization.” The self-reported reasons why the
participants’ levels of motivation remained unchanged differed from one another, but they all
reported that their levels of motivation had not changed after acquiring tenure. The impact of
61

personnel who abuse the employment protection offered by the tenure, mentioned by Ned will be
reviewed when discussing research questions 4 and 5. Table 5 presents additional participant
comments on the impact of tenure on their professional motivation.

62

Table 5
Interview Participant Comments Regarding the Impact of Tenure on Professional Motivation
Interview Question Participant Comments
Q12: How would you describe your
professional motivation prior to tenure?
“I was on top of the world, I was doing
everything.”

But it's in it's on the back of my head, “hey
you got to be a good guy for the first three
years you gotta be you gotta listen you gotta
follow up you know you've got to do all the
right thing during those times.” (B. Stark)

“My motivation was was pretty strong, I had
no concern about honestly I didn't have any
concern about not making it through the
tenure period, I mean I that actually wasn't
even thinking about it.”

Q13: How would you describe your levels of
professional motivation after tenure?
“Maybe, for the first 16 years I was on fire, I
was you know all over the place, running all
the bases and after that things started changing
the administration change.”

“that's who I am so I don't think I have
changed from those to know a pre-tenure time
to now.”

When after three years, I still I still be
motivated because I want to you know my
goal is continuing to see if I can get to this
leadership position

“The same, no change”
So I continue to do the same work with the
same motivation, I had before, and and I can
tell you, even after 13 years that hasn't
changed…My motivation and dedication to
the job is still there.”

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Collective Impact of Tenure Status on Civil Service Employee Motivation
Review of the of Research Question 1 occurred in three stages to determine the impact of
the civil service’s version of tenure on employee motivation. A t-test was not performed on the
impact of tenure on civil service employees due to the limited sample. The WEIMS scores
displayed the self-reported WEIMS scores by tenured and non-tenured categories. The low
survey sample prevented the implementation of a t-test to determine the fluctuations in the type
of motivation experienced by the employees depending on their role and time in the
organization. The data involving the role of management on motivation will be reviewed later in
the study when discussing Research Question 3.
Longevity-Based Motivational Findings
Interviews revealed an additional dimension associated with motivation in the later years
in civil service employment. Increased time in an organization often led to feelings of acceptance
and belonging that created a comfortable environment for the employee. However, increased
time with the organization did not always equate to increased motivation, stagnation emerged as
a factor that influenced how employees perceived their roles after 10+ years with an
organization.
Experience as a Positive Influential Factor in Motivation
According to 50% of interview participants, a sense of belonging serves as a source of
positive influence for their continued levels of professional motivation. With over 25 years of
service with one specific organization Daenerys shared, “So I’ve been with the same group of
people for 28 years … so one of the benefits of tenure is getting to know how they work.” She
added that after 25 years working with the same group of people, with few exceptions, the team
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understood their individual strengths, preferences, and challenges. For Daenerys, this knowledge
led to a feeling of acceptance.
Comments by Jon, who has worked in technical maintenance role for the over 10 years,
were in line with Daenerys’ sentiments on the importance of belonging, “You're established in an
organization for more than a few years, it’s kind of a sense of acceptance and belonging … you
realize yourself that this is probably where I want to be.” Jaime summarized the value of
increased time in an organization, “on a personal level, there is comfort and, knowing that your
work and your effort within the organization has led to certain amount of stability and credibility
within the organization.” These factors of comfort, acceptance and belonging were common
positive factors voiced by 50% of participants, as opposed to the negative influence on
motivation that amotivation and stagnation played in the stories shared by 58% of participants.
Relationship Between Amotivation/Stagnation and Professional Longevity
The interview participants were not asked direct questions pertaining to their thoughts on
motivation in relation to time served with their respective organizations. However, the impact of
time served on motivation was mentioned without prompting by seven of 12 interviewees when
asked what aspects of their job they find motivating and demotivating. Longevity based
challenges to tenure were both from management and non-management perspectives.
Robert offered an example of stagnation rooted in longevity based on his experience with
a supervisor who has been with the organization for over 40 years who, according to Robert, is
ineffective as a leader but does not change based on the high level of job protection enjoyed by
his civil service employee protected status. As an example of the challenges that stagnation
introduces in management, Robert noted, “I think that's the problem with the Federal
Government is that the people like my supervisor 45 years…they don’t want to change anything,
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… they are not doing anything to make it better for anybody else.” Tyrion quoted a non-
management tenured coworker who is in his second career after completing a career in the
military who allegedly admits to only working four out of eight hours a day because, “I already
did my time in the military and now this civilian job is what I deserve, and I deserve to not do
much.” This second example displays stagnation that transfers from one organization to the next.
Collective Impact of Longevity on Motivation
The qualitative phase of this research question revealed both positive and negative
influences pertaining to increased time in an organization. Positive motivational influences
discussed included the increased sense of acceptance and belonging felt by Daenerys, Jon, and
Jaime that admittedly fueled their levels of positive motivation in the organization. Challenging
this sense of belonging, powerful statements by Robert and Tyrion presented the drawbacks of
tenure-based longevity in the form of amotivation and disconnected employees who, according
to the interviewed participants, share in the monetary and job security benefits enjoyed by their
peers without earning them. The next section will describe how post-tenure employees describe
their motivation.
RQ2: How do Post-Tenure Civil Service Managers and Non-Managers Describe their
Motivation?
Only tenured participants were invited to the study’s interview phase. Of the 12 tenured
participants, six participants occupied managerial roles and six occupied non-managerial roles in
their respective organizations. The quantitative review of this question was limited due to the
sample size, but the qualitative review revealed increased tools available to management that
affected the environmental factors that influenced their levels of motivation.
Impact of the Professional Environment
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In reviewing Research Question 1, participants mentioned the impact of witnessing
stagnant and professionally disconnected employees enjoying the same extrinsic benefits in their
workplace. Frustration of the presence of stagnation, disconnected employees, and tolerance of
these behaviors due to the increased job security offered by tenure or management’s inaction was
evident in 8 of 12 or 66% or interviewees. During the interview, Tyrion mentioned this
frustration associated with sharing equal benefits with poor tenured performers when stating,
“some people just jump from one job to the next and they just can’t do a good job and they never
bring them down in pay or rank … that part can kind of get frustrating.” Tony’s comments
reflected a similar sentiment when stating, “It’s nearly impossible to fire a person for the cost of
not producing. They get their paycheck … and still get a reward for something that they’re not
giving something in return.” Jorah added, “you have people that are simply watching the clock
and collecting a paycheck and they don’t appear to be in it for the right reasons.” According to
these participants the disparity of expectations introduces an element of professional frustration.
Ned mentioned the impact that disconnected employees have in his organization as he
recalls having to absorb the work of the unmotivated tenured employees, “you get more work
piled on … and management responds that we do it better so that’s kind of like demotivating and
it’s like jeez man hold these other guys accountable to the same standard as us.” When speaking
of disconnected employees in his organizational environment Jorah mentions, “in my experience,
it seems to be a little more prevalent in government service that you have people that kind of stay
within the bounds of their position description, not step up to help.” Jorah described an observed
behavior during the COVID period where disconnected employees chose to take full advantage
of the voluntary teleworking status, stay home past the voluntary teleworking period and
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diminish their direct contributions in the workplace. These elements tend to professionally
frustrate both management and non-management personnel.
Influence Over the Professional Environment
When discussing workplace frustrations that affected personnel in management and non-
management roles, management participants seemed to highlight one prevalent theme that kept
them professionally engaged, the ability to influence change over the behaviors that negatively
impacted their motivation. Where Robert, a non-management employee who expressed
frustration over his inability to influence a manager, who according to Robert, was disengaged
with personnel and did not offer avenues for employee progression, management employees
could influence change. When addressing the value of influencing the environment to remedy
motivational challenges 41% of interview participants echoed Jorah’s sentiments, “to be honest, I
don’t have a lot of motivation challenges, because I’m in a position where I can work through
them … I can manipulate things to where I can get more out of those people.” Bronn mentioned
that his drive to effect change and influence the unmotivated to perform comes from pride in his
role when admitting, “I am a manager, I have to do well, it reflects badly on (my organization) if
we don’t do well and we don’t want to look bad.” The inability to influence or change the
environmental factors that negatively affected motivation was a key theme mentioned by both
management and non-management personnel that helped answer one “why” in exploring the
motivational gap between the two employee categories in the civil service.
Collective Impact of Managerial Status on Motivation
Exploring Research Question 2 through a qualitative lens revealed how management and
non-management employees experience motivation in the workplace. The ability to affect the
environment to remedy motivation impacting factors, was described by participants as a means
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to remedy motivation impacting situations. Based on discussions with the non-management
participants this ability to affect the environment, particularly poor supervisors, did not seem to
be available to non-management employees like Daenerys and Robert. Review of the data
obtained by Research Question 3 may reveal additional details on if and how personnel
interactions and organizational elements affect motivation in management and non-management
civil service employees.
Research Question 3: Which Aspects of Work do Tenured Civil Service Employees Find
Motivating Versus Demotivating?
Research question 3 was intended to be purely qualitative and therefore not covered by
the WEIMS assessment. The intention behind the question was to allow a free conversation with
interview participants to gauge how each individual’s motivation was impacted by organizational
factors and determine if the conversation revealed any commonalities in motivation enhancing or
detracting factors. All 12 interview participants were eligible to answer the two questions
associated with Research Question 3. Common themes discussed during the free conversation
were the strong motivational influence evident in an adaptive environment with supportive peers
with an organizational mission the employee could identify with or believed. This section will
explore how the presence or absence of these elements affected participant professional
motivation in their respective organizations.
Organizational Aspects that Encourage Motivation
The participants interviewed in the study came from differing industries within the U.S.
government/civil service construct. Participants included representatives from education,
national security, national defense, technical and human resources backgrounds. The motivation
themes identified by the qualitative phase of the study transcended professional backgrounds and
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revealed commonalities in the organizational elements which employees found motivating versus
demotivating. Adaptive environments, compensation, supportive peers, identification with
organizational mission were identified as common factors conducive to increased motivation.
The next section will cover how disconnected peers, and professionally unsupportive
environments suppressed motivation in the workplace for the participants interviewed.
Adaptive Dynamic Environment
Of the 12 participants interviewed, 25% admitted to experiencing a type of demotivation
in the workplace. The sources of demotivation stemmed from interaction with their managers,
negative interactions with other co-workers or stagnation. A resonating source of motivation for
50% of participants including those battling with demotivation was an adaptive or dynamic
environment that offered change in their daily routine or challenged them professionally to do
more. Daenerys, who has been with the civil service for over 25 years, mentioned that in her HR
related role, she enjoyed taking on new cases, considering the cases as puzzles that required her
professional expertise to solve. She equated the new case experience to a Rubik’s cube where the
HR expert had to look at problems from different angles, first piecing the components of the
problem to then find the correct solution. Ned, with 15+ years of experience with his
organization, mentioned that the ever-changing projects in his research and development role
with the department of defense kept him engaged and motivated in his organization. Table 6
displays the comments offered by the participants identifying the benefits of a dynamic, non-
stagnant, challenging environment to promote motivation.

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Table 6
Interview Data Supporting Adaptive Environments to Promote Professional Motivation
Interview Question Participant Comments
Question 4 – What aspects of your job do
you find motivating?
“One of my cases I try to solve the puzzle
and I add the puzzle, and I, and I try to see
from every aspect from the different parts it's
like a, what do you call that, a Rubik’s Cube.
That is something that I really enjoy that
aspect of my work that I have to be it's not
something that you do automatically it's not
like robotic it's even though you do the same
kind of work every day.
And every each one is different, everyone,
you cannot take it like Okay, this is the same,
no they're not the same they're not the same,
the end something changes, even if it's small
but something changes.”
“Management assigns projects that you're
capable of going outside of your comfort
zone of doing that job so it'll give you
something in a different organization or
different group within the organization, so
you learn something different, and you do,
you know a little bit of extra work, but you're
learning more than just your job”.

“Like it's cool didn't really get old cause
there’s always stuff coming down the pipe so
even like our oldest projects now that we
started when I first came on are still going.
It’s really, the job that motivates me”

Impact of Compensation on Motivation
When discussing the aspects of their respective jobs that encouraged motivation, 41% of
participants mentioned compensation as an organizational factor that encourages their
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motivation. Compensation in the context discussed involved monetary and time-based rewards
for professional services rendered. Tony, with over 10 years in the civil service, mentioned that
one of his main drives was increased retirement benefits; in his organization retirement benefits
improve the longer he remains with the organization. Tyrion, Jorah, and Bronn explained a
program their organizations employ to motivate employees to continue to perform regardless of
the roles or the amount of time they have spent with the organization. Their respective
supervisors receive a number of pay percentage increase points and assign them to employees at
the end of the year depending on performance. The points assigned correspond to pay increase
percentages where they employee could either receive a bonus at the end of the year or a pay
raise of more than 5%. The only drawback to the program, according to Tyrion, Jorah, and
Bronn, is that employee pay ranges are capped, so when the employee reached their positional
pay cap, the program lost its intent to drive motivation through performance-based pay increases.
Jorah clarified the program as an incentive to perform and stay with the organization when
stating, “So that is actually a kind of a motivator to stay in that organization. And that's what
you're after is the financial part of it … we're all working to be able to live and have something
leftover when … we retire.” Compensation was one factor that positively influenced these
participants to stay engaged, but the impact of the environment also played a role in influencing
their level of professional involvement with their organizations.
Supportive Peers and Employee Engagement
The positive impact of working in a supportive environment with supportive peers was
mentioned by 100% of participants. Two participants admitted that their present organizations
did not offer an environment they would consider supportive, but they remembered how prior
supportive organizations impacted their levels of professional motivation. Daenerys alluded to
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working for a supportive environment where supervisors and peers had been working together
for over 20 years and any one of them required time to address both planned and unplanned
situations, the team came together and covered each other’s responsibilities. Tormund, a civil
servant in the security industry, mentioned his peers come together based on their common
purpose, “the majority of employees are really committed. Even when we find shortcomings, we
just overcome them by our commitment.” This sense of shared purpose was shared by Jorah,
The majority of the people I work with are in it for the same reason I am, they
want to continue to help, to serve they want to continue making a difference.
So those are the folks that help motivate you and keep you going.
These statements represent sentiment shared across the participants identifying a supportive
environment with supportive peers as an influential element in maintaining high levels of
motivation in the civil service workplace.
Belief in Purpose and Organizational Mission
The discussion with Jorah touched on the powerful motivational influence that belief in
one’s purpose within the organization or identification with the organizational mission can have.
Employees who worked in both supportive and unsupportive environments mentioned the effect
of belief in purpose in driving them to stay engaged in the workplace. How the employees
identified with their purpose and organizations varied depending on the industry they worked in
or their previous backgrounds in other industries of service.
For 60% of the participants, belief in purpose manifested in the form of mentorship,
training, and passing on experience to the next generation. For Bronn, Brann, Robb, and Jon, as
prior service members, they found purpose in training the younger generation of service men and
women sharing their experience to help enhance their journey through the armed forces. Jon, a
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technical expert working for the defense industry, recalled a number of memories when he was a
young service member struggling with technical challenges, tech experts would arrive and share
invaluable training and experience to remedy admittedly impossible challenges that allowed him
to succeed then. He finds his current role as mentor as an opportunity to give back and return the
favor for the younger generation of service members learning their trade.
For the remaining 20% that mentioned identification with their organization’s purpose as
a motivator, this identification was due their belief that the role or the organization’s role offered
a greater purpose to the country or their fellow private citizens. Tormund’s role resided in the
national security industry, and he finds purpose in the belief that his actions help avert situations
that could cause public harm and disorder. Tony’s role helped support the armed forces complete
their missions and he identifies the opportunity to continue serving his country in that capacity as
one of his biggest motivators.
Based on the data acquired from the interviews understanding an employee’s values
would help connect them with tasks they identify with, fulfilling the intrinsic need for purpose. A
supportive environment would help fulfill the employee’s need for acknowledgement,
acceptance and belonging. Adaptive environments assist in staving off professional stagnation
which can set in at any experience level if the employee does not feel engaged. As admitted by
the interview participants, these factors helped promote healthy motivation levels, but the
absence or inverse application of these motivational factors have the ability to drive the
employee towards demotivation or amotivation.
Organizational Aspects that Suppress Motivation
If identification with professional purpose or organizational mission, adaptive and
supportive environment can encourage positive motivation, participants reported elements that
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discourage or suppress motivation in the workplace. Aside from managerial policies, stagnation,
disconnected peers and unsupportive environment have the ability to discourage employees in
the workplace. Management’s influence over workplace motivation will be covered by Research
Question 4.
Stagnation and Disconnected Peers
Several participants claimed that witnessing stagnant and professionally absent
employees retain employment and continue to earn the earned pay that engaged employees
received impacted their levels of professional motivation. Tyrion’s quote about the employee
who believed they deserved to not do much shared when discussing Research Question 1,
illustrated how challenging it would be for an employee to keep motivation high when burdened
with the work of a disengaged employee. Jon shared a story of a fellow coworker who slept
during the workday and was never engaged, peers explained that management had lost
confidence in the coworker and preferred not to assign the employee any work-related
assignments based on his inability to complete tasks competently. According to Jon, they were
allegedly unable to fire the employee due to his protected tenure status and were waiting for the
employee to retire. When speaking of working with disengaged peers Ned shared, “They don’t
care as much and they’re getting every bit as much money from the organization, so that part is
the most frustrating. It’s not going to change and demotivate me, but it is going to make me more
cynical.” Jorah’s story of witnessing disengaged tenured employees who failed to contribute
while witnessing other team members pulling double shifts to complete the work, these examples
of uncorrected work behavior negatively impacted motivation levels in the workplace.

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Unsupportive Environment
Of the participants interviewed, 40% explained that they had worked in unsupportive
environments in previous organizations, but only 10% of participants admitted that their current
organizations had unsupportive elements that suppressed their levels of motivation. Conversation
with Daenerys revealed an organization with both supportive and unsupportive elements, where
the long serving peers covered for each other in challenging times, but Daenerys mentioned an
element of favoritism in the workplace where preferred HR assignments were assigned to a
select few, which hindered Daenerys’ ability to continue growing and learning professionally.
Robert’s experience was similar where an in-network benefitted of training opportunities and
preferred work shifts. This experience led him to admit, “I’m still motivated after nine years,
almost 10 years and I love it but, but when you go to the shop itself to deal with what's going on
with the administration and the management. So sometimes it's kind of just drag your feet from
the parking to the shop and you can’t wait until 3:30 to get out.” Although Robert mentioned a
lingering motivation for his job, his statement about “dragging his feet” on his way to work
revealed amotivation based on the unsupportive environment he worked in.
Impact of Organizational Elements on Motivation
Research Question 3 touched on the elements that participants from a number of differing
industries and organizations found motivating and demotivating without delving into the impact
of managerial influence on motivation. Positive elements mentioned included the impact that
adaptive environments or roles had in encouraging continued engagement in the workplace. Four
of twelve participants mentioned the influence of compensation, but a greater majority of
participants mentioned the motivational dividends earned by supportive environments and a
belief in one’s role within the organization or identification with the organization’s mission.
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Non-management related motivation hindering factors included witnessing disconnected peers
earn the same benefits as the engaged personnel, and unsupportive environments where
favoritism affect the equal distribution of professional growth opportunities. Awareness of the
positive and negative organizational factors that influence motivation offer an opportunity for
management to develop motivational policies based on the elements that would promote greater
employee engagement through healthier levels of positive motivation.
Research Question 4: How do Managerial Practices Impact the Professional Motivation of
Tenured Civil Service Employees?
Analysis of the study elements associated with Research Question 3 revealed
organizational elements that influence employee motivation both positively and negatively. In
this section, the researcher will evaluate how management and managerial policies can either
promote healthy levels of motivation in the workplace or suppress it. Participants discussed at
length how they perceived the influence of professional independence, acknowledgement,
relevant training, managerial tolerance of unsupportive behaviors and trust relationships as
managerial practices on their professional motivation.
Impact of Professional Independence on Employee Motivation
Two interview questions initiated the conversation to understand the role of managerial
practices in motivation. One question asked for the leadership strategies that positively impacted
participant motivation and the follow-on question asked for the leadership strategies that
impacted participant motivation negatively. Professional independence was identified by 41% of
participants as a critical factor in maintaining high levels of professional motivation. All
candidates who mentioned professional independence as an influencing factor in their
professional motivation occupied management roles in their organizations.
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When discussing positive managerial practices, Jorah shared he found the freedom to do
his job and make the necessary decisions required by the daily challenges of his job
professionally liberating, calling that aspect of the job, “a lot of fun.” Ned echoed the benefits of
professional independence when describing the division of labor that exists between him and his
supervisors, “they (supervisors) don’t interfere and let me pretty much run the show. They
handle the big picture stuff and get involved only when they need to get involved.” While
speaking about this dynamic all participants who mentioned this professional independence sat
up and spoke enthusiastically about the professional benefits that professional independence
granted them in the execution of their responsibilities.
Several participants mentioned that relationships that depend on micromanagement to
further organizational goals, oppose professional relationships that nurture professional
independence. Ned calls micromanagement tactics as motivation dampers. Tyrion (non-
management participant) mentioned supervisors that impact organizational efficiency by
interjecting themselves in the accomplishment of his duties, “to make themselves more
important” affecting his drive to stay engaged. Robb (non-management) admitted that he enjoyed
a certain degree of professional freedom that helped enhance the value of the training-based
product he offered. He did however mention there were restrictions that reflected a gap in
understanding between how management understood the product and how the product was
received by the customer. The presence of professional independence was closely related the
trust relationships enjoyed between supervisor and those they supervise, a relationship that will
be explored in greater detail later in this section. Based on the influence of this factor in
participant motivation, Table 7 offers a summary of the supporting statements related to
professional independence in encouraging motivation.
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Table 7
Professional Independence
Interview Question Participant Comments
Question 10 Which leadership strategies, if
any, impact your motivation positively?
“They allow me to do for the most part, what
I need to do so, I have quite a bit of freedom
to do and travel down the direction I think I
need to do as long as they're informed. So it's
the ability to do what with that certain amount
of freedom”

“You know nobody's watching over you.
Every single day you, you are free to basically
do your job. So, those are the kind of
motivations that you know…it’s like okay, I
can make decisions today on what we're
going to do as an organization that that's the
other kind of motivators that it's been really
it's really been good it's really been a lot of
fun”
“they don’t interfere, they let me pretty much
run the show for the department. They handle
the big picture stuff you know they get
involved when they need to get involved
when it needs to go to that level”

Question 11 Which leadership strategies,
if any, impact your motivation negatively?
“Restrictions. Every command every
company or whatever, has a certain set of
restrictions and sometimes the things that I
would like to do, especially at sea. There are
restrictions in place for to that you can't
necessarily do everything you would like to
do. The command has a certain set of
missions and they don't necessarily see all the
benefits of what I do, or the events that we do.
So obviously they have to make decisions
based on what they see they don't necessarily
see the entire picture of what some of the
events that I do can provide. Therefore, the
priorities are not necessarily aligned with. The
way I would like to see it”

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Impact of Employee-Manager Trust Relationships on Motivation
In employment settings, based on the feedback received from the interview participants,
trust anchors employee-manager relationships, forming a bidirectional pathway where both
parties own responsibility in maintaining an efficient professional dynamic. When trust is
lacking, employees find the professional environment limiting. Daenerys mentioned that her
employer does not allow her and some peers to be involved in work tasks that challenge the team
based on a perceived lack of trust in their knowledge and skills. She found this situation
motivationally frustrating, interpreting the behavior as offensive based on their lack of trust in
their professional capabilities, driving her to question why she would event try to do more in her
organization. Robert stated that his manager applied micromanagement and controlling
techniques to maintain a sense of job security. In his specific situation, the manager held all
passwords required to perform higher level maintenance functions on health-related systems,
which drove the employees to need his involvement throughout the execution their daily tasks,
affecting job efficiency. These situations eroded professional investment and created resentment
among employees.
Jorah positioned that when trust relationships are strong between management and
employees, the professional freedom to make decisions and “just do the job” created an
environment where the employee believes their actions and decisions serve a purpose. When
speaking of positive trust relationships with the supervisors, 58% of participants voiced how a
healthy trust dynamic fueled their professional motivation. Tyrion equated his interpretation of a
positive trust relationship in the open communication enjoyed between he and his supervisor.
Through communication his leadership gained understanding of how he and his coworkers
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performed the organizational mission to best understand how leadership could support forward
progress,
You know it’s not them that makes all the wheels and cogs turn, it’s all the
worker bees that do it, and so they just need to make sure that everybody’s well
lubricated and not grinding against something they’re not supposed to grind
against.
Ned mentioned the leadership mantra he and his leadership enjoy that creates a positive and
innovative work environment, “Surround yourself with good people, empower them to fully do
their job and fully support them and you stay out of their way and let them do it.” Jorah summed
the collective thoughts of the group by expressing his relationship with his leadership in stating,
“They trust you to make the decisions that need to be made…and that’s what’s been the most
positive leadership strategy.” These supporting comments, illustrated in Table 6, about the role
of trust in the employee-manager relationship propose that trust lays the foundation to the
implementation of managerial practices that encourage employees to plan, decide, act out of
desire to do what’s best for the organization and respect for their fellow peers, managers, and
subordinates.

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Table 8
Support for Positive Employee-Manager Trust Relationship

Interview question Participant comments

Question 10 Which leadership strategies, if any, impact your
motivation positively? So they're more like, how can
we enable you to do what you need to do… You
know it's not it's not them that makes you know all
the wheels and the cogs turn you know it's all the
worker bees that do it, and so they just need to make
sure that everybody's well lubricated and not
grinding against something they're not supposed to
grind against.”

“What they both have in common is that they don’t
interfere they let me pretty much run the show for
the department. Surround yourself with good people,
empower them to fully do their job and fully support
them, and you stay out of their way and let them, let
them do it, and I would say.”

“All of them have been nothing but outstanding
leaders and managers and I know that it's just the
luck of the draw right, I have just been very, very
fortunate that I have I’ve been able to work for
people like that. That being said, I have mad respect
for them. So I don't want to fail ‘em right, I don't
want to fail them I don't want our organization to
fail them. So talk about a motivator.”

“I’ve kind of established in this role and developed
those relationships with my managers and my
leadership. And we just have that respect for each
other that works.
They trust you to make the decisions that need to be
made, they you know they value your inputs and
discussions and allow you those freedoms so it's all
the same thing. And that's what's been the most
positive leadership strategy.”

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Impact of Acknowledgement on Motivation
The impact of acknowledgement on motivation was referred to by 41% of the interviews,
acknowledgement helped the individual feel valued for their contributions. Aside from
contributions the recognition of needs was another avenue in which the employees felt
acknowledged. In the case of Daenerys’s organization, her motivation was impacted when
leadership failed to act or dismissed performance affecting professional challenges that she
brought forward. Daenerys goes on to say, “As soon as I feel not acknowledged I feel like it
doesn’t matter, they will not notice, they will not see… so why bother.” For Bronn, Jon, and
Brann, the opposite is true, where these participants felt valued when their respective
organizations recognized their contributions publicly or privately and stepped in to resolve
challenges that affected the efficient completion of their missions. According to Brann, his
motivation was renewed with a simple pat on the back, a sign of appreciation for services
rendered. Acknowledgement was deemed as a recognition that the participant belonged and was
valued in the organization as summarized by Jorah when he spoke of his organization’s
willingness to listen and incorporate employee input, further strengthening the bond of trust
between the employee and their organization.
Impact of Relevant Training on Motivation
Participants focused on the positive aspects of training, 25% of participants agreed
relevant training helped them feel prepared to perform their jobs. Robert related relevant training
to a trust account, where money fluctuates but employees keep learned knowledge and skills,
boosting his professional confidence. Tormund mentioned that his security related organization
frequently updates the battery of training requirements employees are responsible for to maintain
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relevance with evolving security challenges. The relevance of the training helped him and his
peers trust that they were qualified to perform their roles of service.
Impact of Managerial Tolerance of Unsupportive Behavior on Motivation
One managerial practice that employees unanimously considered to have a corrosive
impact on motivation in the workplace was witnessing managerial tolerance of unsupportive
behavior. Unsupportive behavior was first introduced when discussing organizational aspects
that employees found demotivating including disconnected employees, unsupportive
environments, and witnessing poor performers enjoying the same benefits as those who do invest
energy in supporting the organizational mission. Revisiting Ned’s comments where his
organization valued his performance, but also assigned him the work of disengaged employees
“so that it’s done right.” While Ned stated that the actions do not demotivate him, they do
frustrate him based on the standard imbalance between employees who contribute and those who
do not. Expressing a similar frustration, Tony’s experience with tenured unproductive employees
who still continued to receive the same salary and retirement benefits he enjoyed while not
putting forth the same level of effort hindered his drive to continue producing for the
organization. Jon’s account of the tenured employee who had lost management’s trust in his
competence and therefore allowed to sleep during the workday while the organization awaited
his retirement.
Frustration and apathy set in when managerial practices allow these behaviors to continue
uncorrected. There was no clear evidence tying amotivation to specific managerial practices, but
the frustration expressed when discussing which leadership strategies suppressed professional
motivation, could explain the higher presence of amotivation in management employees with
over 10 years of service. Witnessing the tolerance of poor performance erodes trust in
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management and managerial practices, an erosion of trust would impact the employer-manager
trust relationship, the employees’ sense of acknowledgement, and their will to perform.
Summary
Chapter 4 covered the results and findings associated with the delivery of the WEIMS
quantitative instrument and qualitative interviews to support the mixed methods study of the
impact of tenure on the professional motivation of civil service employees. The first question
was meant to explore the quantitative relationship between tenure, longevity, and managerial
status on employee motivation. While motivational patterns were identified when comparing
these factors, the limited survey sample may have impacted the survey’s ability to reliably
display motivational trends as they exist in the civil service workforce.
The last three questions used a qualitative lens to explore the work aspects employees
found motivating and demotivating and how managerial practices impacted employee
motivation. Research Questions 2 and 4 worked in unison to clearly identify motivation
enhancing and suppressing factors and behaviors that shed light to the quantitative results offered
by the WEIMS tool. In conclusion the mixed methods approach offered a valid glimpse into the
factors that impact motivation and how managerial practices can best use the results and findings
to implement sound strategies that keep civil service employees engaged.

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Chapter Five: Recommendations and Discussion
Discussion of Findings and Results
Chapter 5 represents an overview of the key findings and results and a synthesis with the
literature discussed in Chapter 2. After discussing findings and results, the chapter will include
recommendations for practice that support workplace motivation among civil service employees
and touch on the limitations and delimitations encountered while performing the study. The final
section of the chapter I will discuss recommendations for future research based on the results of
the study.
WEIMS-Based Levels of Motivation Among Tenured and Non-Tenured Civil Service
Participants
During the quantitative phase of the study, Tremblay’s (2009) WEIMS instrument was
used to gauge the survey participants’ self-assessed motivation types among. Based on the low
quantitative sample (n = 12), a t-test was not performed, limiting the study’s ability to perform a
comparative analysis of the data obtained between tenured and non-tenured participants. In
absence of a t-test, a descriptive statistical analysis was used to display participant motivation
scores among the self-determination theory’s range of motivation types including intrinsic,
integrated regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and
amotivation motivation types (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Out of possible scores ranging from 3 to 21,
where 3 meant the absence of a motivation type and 21 signified a strong presence of a
motivation type, the WEIMS scores did display variances in the motivation types between
participants. Tenured participants who completed the WEIM scale scored a mean score of 16.4
for intrinsic and 16.5 for extrinsic motivation. Non-tenured participants who completed the
WEIM scale scored a 16 for intrinsic and 16.5 in the extrinsic motivation scale. Of the 12 survey
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participants, 10 were tenured and only two were non-tenured, impacting the reliability of the
observed results, therefore, no conclusive determination was made between prevalent motivation
types observed in tenured and non-tenured civil servant participants.
Civil Servant Interview Findings
The qualitative phase of the study was not affected by the sample size limitations
experienced in the quantitative phase of the study. The qualitative sample size consisted of 12
tenured civil servant participants representing human resources, medical, education, technical,
defense and security industries within the United States civil service construct. Managerial roles,
tenure, managerial practices and the role of purpose and trust in the work environment surfaced
as prevalent motivation-impacting themes in the study.
Relationship Between Tenure and Motivation
The interview included two questions specifically targeting the relationship between
tenure and motivation. All 12 interview participants communicated their perception that either
their motivation had not changed as they transitioned to a tenured status or that tenure had not
influenced their levels of motivation, identifying tenure as a non-impacting variable on the
professional motivation of civil servants in this study. This finding falls in line with existing
literature that increased time in an organization tends to increase the employees’ level of
familiarity with the organization, proportionally increasing their job-related expertise and value
to the company (Cho, 2012). Longer terms with the company also tend to increase the
employee’s ties with the company, increasing their levels of commitment and loyalty (Kim,
2018). Increased commitment, loyalty, and a sense of value to the company fulfill intrinsic
motivation’s basic need of relatedness covered by SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
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As the interviews progressed, participants revealed a common theme associated with
tenure that negatively impacted the workplace. Fifty eight percent of participants self-reported
challenges with personnel in their organizations who they perceived were abusing the
employment protection benefits offered by tenure status in the civil service. According to the
participants, abuse of tenure revealed itself through employee stagnation, lack of productivity,
and employee disconnection from the workplace. Campbell et al. (2014) found similar results in
his study of 1,407 civil service participants in South Korea where decreased employee turnover
allowed unmotivated employees to stay in the organization for longer periods of time. The
negative impact caused by tenured employees who abuse their employment protection was also
observed by Underwood (2018) in the academic community. These longer tenure periods with
poor or unmotivated employees negatively affect the motivation of employees seeking to
establish themselves in their organizational roles (Bright, 2008).
Motivating Aspects of Work Environment

Half of the participants interviewed identified dynamic environments as a resonating
source of motivation in their respective organizations. Two participants specifically identified
how an adaptive work environment that introduced frequent new challenges in their workplace
was conducive to supporting increased motivation after 25+ and 15+ years as civil service
employees. In addition to promoting support for SDT’s core intrinsic motivation requirements,
Deci and Ryan (2014) reinforced the importance of including workplace variety to sustain
motivation. A professional role that loses its sense of challenge and innovation may result in a
decreased motivation to perform (Ng, 2013). A 2014 study of 136 water treatment plant
employees displayed a greater amount of job satisfaction when given the opportunity to rotate
responsibilities, increase their knowledge about different aspects of the organization, and
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perform different responsibilities on a periodic basis (Alias et al., 2018). This practice was
referenced in the current study by Tyrion and Bronn. They discussed their organization’s
practices with self-admitted positive results in keeping organizational employees engaged
throughout their careers.
The relationship between purpose and motivation was mentioned by 60% of the interview
respondents, but how purpose manifested positively among the participants varied between belief
in the purpose or value of their specific role, or belief in their organization’s greater mission.
Four out of 12 respondents identified with their role’s involvement in training the new or next
generation employees, finding value in sharing their expertise with less experienced employees.
The remaining 20% of participants who identified purpose as a motivator worked in public safety
or national defense organizations. These national defense and public safety participants reported
being motivated through identification with their organization’s greater purpose of serving the
public in a protective capacity, fulfilling SDT’s psychological need of relatedness. Bright (2013)
mentioned that it is challenging to find a job that fulfills an employee’s every psychological and
personal need, but his study found a strong correlation between identification with a role and
greater employee engagement. As described in Chapter 2, relatedness touches on the employee’s
connection with their environment and competence refers to the employee’s belief that their
actions can positively influence their environment (Gagne & Deci, 2005).
Relationship Between Managerial Roles and Motivation
Fifty percent of the study participants involved in the interviews fulfilled management
roles and 50% fulfilled non-management roles in their respective organizations. Participants
expressed frustration over disconnected employees and tolerance of poor employee behaviors in
66% of the interviews. The consistent difference between management and non-management
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employees when expressing these concerns was that management employees acknowledged an
ability to affect change when witnessing these behaviors while non-management employees
experienced a limited ability to effect change. An employee’s ability to affect their environment
was observed as a professional motivator supporting self-identified high levels of motivation in
this study and Kim’s (2018). An employee’s ability to influence their environment supports
SDT’s key finding that feelings of relevance and autonomy in the workplace fulfill two
psychological needs required to attain intrinsic motivation (Tremblay et al., 2009).
Impact of Managerial Practices on Motivation
Interview participants unanimously considered managerial tolerance of unsupportive
behavior as a corrosive influence on their levels of professional motivation. Unsupportive
behavior was described as tenured yet disengaged employees continuing to benefit from the
same or similar monetary and professional compensation as their engaged counterparts.
Interview participants self-reported that witnessing management’s tolerance of poor performance
eroded trust in management and embedded frustration and apathy in 66% of participants. Uppal’s
(2017) study of 679 public service professionals revealed similar results where job commitment
and employee burnout were more prevalent in organizations with poor motivational climates.
The inability to establish environments that promote teamwork, respect, and shared group goals
impact the employee’s psychological need of relatedness (Gilbert & Kelloway, 2014). Through
self-admission by interview participants, management’s inability to uphold uniform standards for
both motivated and unmotivated employees sowed distrust in management and affected the will
to continue to remain engaged.
The impact of a healthy trust dynamic between management and employees was
mentioned by 58% of the study’s participants as impacting their motivation to remain
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professionally engaged in their professional roles. According to the participants, trusting
relationships manifested by means of open communication between leaders and employees
allowed employees to enjoy greater professional freedoms to make decisions and according to
one participant, “just do the job.” An example shared by Maxwell et al. (2008), implementation
of self-managed teams in Chrysler’s Machine and Forge Plant, resulted in increased employee
commitment, efficiency and job satisfaction. This professional flexibility where the employee or
groups of employees feel that they can influence their role, purpose, and organizational
environment through decision making, directly correlates with the psychological need of
autonomy in supporting intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2014).
Relationship Between Findings and Prior Research
Prior studies on the relationship between tenure and motivation reviewed in Chapter 2
established the groundwork for the findings revealed by this study of motivation in the civil
service workforce. The interview data revealed tenure as a non-influential factor in determining
the levels of motivation among civil servants. This finding stood in disagreement to prior studies
that resulted in marked motivational differences between tenured and non-tenured employees
(Bright, 2013; Cho & Lewis, 2012). For two participants involved in this study, time in the
organization played a greater role than their tenure status in influencing motivation which
aligned with the findings discussed by Kim (2018).
Aside from time in the organization, dynamic work environments, tolerance of
unsupportive behavior, and professional independence in the workplace were also recognized
throughout the study as influences acting on motivation. The presence or absence of dynamic
work environments were identified by interview participants as another strong influence on
professional motivation. This finding concurs with the role dynamic environments play on
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motivation presented by Deci and Ryan (2014) and how the absence of innovation and challenge
leads to decreased professional motivation (Ng, 2013). Managerial tolerance of unsupportive
behavior created unsupportive environment for 66% of study participants concurring with
previous findings where employee burnout was more prevalent in poor motivational
environments that failed to meet the psychological need for relatedness (Gilbert & Kelloway,
2014; Uppal, 2017). Study findings about the impact of trust and professional independence on
motivation agreed with previous study revelations about the role the influential role that
autonomy (Maxwell et al., 2008) and trust to make decisions (Deci & Ryan, 2014) had on
employee motivation.
Recommendations for Practice
Analysis of the data collected through the quantitative and qualitative phases of the study
revealed recommendations for managerial practices that can promote and sustain positive levels
of motivation in the civil service workforce. The recommendations presented below range from
the establishment of dynamic environments that curb stagnation to upholding universal standards
for all employees. The last recommendation supports the development of managerial policies
that promote motivation in the civil service workplace through cultivation of trust relationships
between leaders and subordinates.
Recommendation 1: Establishing Adaptive and Dynamic Environments
Interview participants discussed the impact that dynamic environments had on promoting
increased learning opportunities and curbing the elements of stagnation in the civil service
organizations of 66% of study participants. When performing a study of the effectiveness of job
enlargement, job rotation, job enrichment in promoting job satisfaction and reducing stagnation,
Alias et al. (2018) discovered that job rotation had the greatest impact on increasing job
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satisfaction through exposure to new and different roles and skills within the organization.
Instead of adding higher levels of responsibilities onto the employees as discussed in Maxwell
(2008), the job rotation strategy implemented by Daenerys’, Tyrion’s, and Bronn’s organization
could be tailored and applied in other organizations to prevent loss of motivation due to
stagnation or disconnection with the performance of a repetitive task for years. Assigning
employees rotating special projects that involve professional elements outside of their job scope
would create an organizational cross training element where employees could be exposed to new
workplace knowledge and experiences without leaving their roles or organizations. The
employee would gain new professional experiences without sacrificing their longevity with the
organization or the professional roles they are familiar with.
Recommendation 2: Modifying Existing Tenure Policies to Uphold Universal Standards of
Professional Behavior
Management’s tolerance of unsupportive behavior and poor performance was a
motivational detractor reported by 66% of this study’s participants. Participants shared
experiences with unmotivated tenured employees who slept during working hours, were
disengaged in their responsibilities or situations where the engaged employees had to assume the
responsibilities of unproductive team members. Tyrion quoted a non-management tenured
coworker who is in his second career after completing a career in the military who allegedly
admitted to only working four out of eight hours a day because, “I already did my time in the
military and now this civilian job is what I deserve, and I deserve to not do much.” This example
further demonstrates the damage that an impression of entitled stagnation stemming from a
tenure-protected longevity can have in an organization, affecting operational efficiency through a
loss of professional commitment. Establishing a hybrid tenure program where employees could
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still be dismissed for unproductivity or displaying unsupportive behaviors (Bess, 1998) would
help sustain a standard professional expectation for employees regardless of tenure status or
years in the organization (Kim, 2018). The hybrid tenure program would include defined
performance expectations, tailored to the employee’s job description, that if unmet, would result
in probationary periods followed by dismissal from the organization.
Recommendation 3: Cultivating Relationships of Trust and Professional Independence
Over half of the study’s participants emphasized the importance of relationships of trust
and professional independence in supporting positive levels of motivation. Jorah, a tenured
employee of 10-15 years as a civil servant, directly stated the relationship of trust shared with his
leadership to allow him the freedom to make decisions and perform his job duties created an
environment, “so fulfilling” that he did not want to let them down. This positive motivational
sentiment was shared by 58% of participants who reported enjoyed trusting relationships with
leadership in their organizations that offered greater professional independence in the
performance of their responsibilities. Maxwell (2008) revealed the possible levels of increased
productivity achieved when employing self-managed teams. The increased productivity and
motivation witnessed in Maxwell’s study supports SDT’s basic psychological need of autonomy
and capacity for an employee to achieve intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2014). When
properly implemented through organizational policy, the cultivation and sustainment of
relationships of trust and professional independence yield higher levels of job satisfaction and
motivation as revealed by the interviews and corroborated by previous studies.
Integrated Recommendations

As stated in the third recommendation for managerial practices and experienced by 58%
of study participants, cultivating relationships of trust combined with the freedoms of
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professional independence create environments where the employee displays high levels of job
satisfaction and commitment. Over half of the study’s participants were employed in
management positions with greater than 15 years of employment in civil service environments
with high self-reported levels of professional motivation. This trust-fueled motivational behavior
is supported by SDT’s description of the role that autonomy plays in triggering intrinsic
motivation among employees (Deci & Ryan, 2014). Establishing this level of trust in an
organization depends on both the leader and their subordinate(s), but it is incumbent on
leadership to establish the supportive environment and motivational policies that allow a culture
of trust to exist in an organization (Gilbert & Kelloway, 2014).
Allowing poor performers to remain in an organization negatively affects the motivation
of productive employees (Kim, 2018). The impact of management’s tolerance of poor performers
affected 66% of the study’s interview participants. While high turnover is viewed as a negative
trend in organizations (Cho & Lewis, 2012), cycling out unproductive members of the
organization is a healthy organizational practice to refresh the workforce (Kim, 2018). Resorting
to the dissolution of tenure in favor of short-term contracts to cycle out unproductive tenured
employees (Bess, 1998) may not be an easily implemented solution for the government,
considering the cost of changing the benefits structure of the long-standing tenure program.
Instead, a reduction of tenure’s employment protective benefits would allow the organization to
cycle unproductive employees out and infuse the organization with new employees with fresh
ideas and perspectives to support the first managerial practice recommendation of establishing a
dynamic environment that reduces stagnation (Alias et al., 2018). An additional internal review
of the civil service employee evaluation process would be required to determine how the
evaluation process can be used to uphold universal expectations and standards in the workplace.
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Establishing enforceable universal expectations and performance standards would offer an initial
first step in curbing the impact unmotivated employees have on engaged members of the
organization.
Limitations and Delimitations
In research, limitations describe factors affecting the research that are outside of the
researcher’s control and delimitations are research limiting factors imposed by researcher’s
choice in study design, theoretical framework, and the type of organizational participants to be
studied (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The self-reported opinion and perspective-based nature of the
research questions introduced the study’s main limitation during the qualitative phase of the
research. Self-selection bias presented itself during the study’s participant recruitment phase,
where willingness to volunteer determined the pool of candidates available for the study. Once
volunteers were identified, all information acquired to determine the impact of tenure on
motivation arrived in the form of self-reported data. Participants self-reported their opinions and
perspectives regarding which organizational incentives were considered motivating versus
demotivating. Participant awareness of the organization’s motivational incentives and
management’s motivational strategies also impacted how the participants interpreted the
interview questions. Unfamiliarity with which organizational incentives were meant to
professionally motivate employees risked tainting the interview responses with incorrect
feedback. Fifteen questions were not be enough to cover the various ways in which motivation
could be individually interpreted by participants.
This study was performed with civil service employees in nine organizations from the
training, defense, education, human resources, medical, and national security disciplines within
the federal government. although the concepts of the study seem to affect a broader population,
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the small study participant sample size presented a delimitation that affected the reliability and
transferability of the data obtained. Use of purposive sampling to survey the professional
population of employees within these six organizations presented an additional delimiting factor
in eliminating the option to randomize the type of employee that responded to the survey. The
use of purposeful sampling introduced a measure of researcher bias when selecting participants
considered appropriate for the study. An additional observation phase in the study would have
allowed a more strategic purposeful sampling to achieve a comparative analysis between
seemingly unmotivated to motivated workers. A larger participant sample size would have
allowed the opportunity to conduct an inferential statistical analysis to gain reliable and
transferable data applicable to the greater civil servant population.
Recommendations for Future Research
The limitations and delimitations section discussed the impact that a small sample size
had on the reliability of the data obtained in the study. The study’s quantitative phase began to
reveal motivational patterns amongst the employee types represented by the participants, but the
small sample size prevented the inferential analysis of the emerging patterns. Conducting the
same study with a large, randomized sample across a greater number of organizations would
serve to add substance to the results and findings obtained through the survey and interviews and
support the reliability of the patterns established in this study.
A second area of interest revealed by the study that could be explored in a follow-up
study is the relationship between the professional entitlement and amotivation mentioned by 33%
of participants. The sense of entitlement seemed to reside in civil servants fulfilling second
careers after completing careers in the armed forces or other government organizations. A study
focusing on this relationship would prove the validity of this observation to determine the factors
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driving such motivationally detracting behavior and the managerial practices that could be
implemented to shift the behavior from detracting from organizational productivity to behaviors
that enhance professional motivation and productivity.
Conclusion
This study explored the problem of practice surrounding the relationship between tenure
and motivation in pre- and post-tenure employees and an examination of the factors that
influenced motivation in post-tenure employees. Tenure was identified as the primary variable
for review due to the benefits and drawbacks of using tenure as a motivational incentive
identified in the literature review. Implementation of the self-determination theory offered an
ideal motivation-focused theoretical framework to examine the problem of practice due to its
focus on the various motivation types that act on and influence an employee to perform in the
workplace. The workforce extrinsic intrinsic motivation scale (WEIMS), grounded in the self-
determination theory was then used to measure the motivation types experienced by the study
participants, offering a comparison of scores between the levels of motivation identified by
tenured and non-tenured employees. The study was unsuccessful in yielding reliable comparative
results between the tenured and non-tenured employees due to the limited sample size available
for the study. The study was successful in revealing relevant findings affecting the self-identified
positive and negative motivational influences among civil servants. These include identification
of managerial practices that promoted and hindered the levels of professional motivation among
civil service employees. These identified best practices establish a solid foundation from which
organizational policies and future studies can build from to establish the requisite motivational
environments where employees at all career stages can flourish.

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106

Appendix A: Survey Protocol

You are invited to complete a brief survey as part of Alejandro Cabrero’s doctoral study on the
levels of professional motivation of civil servants. The purpose of the study is to identify the
types and patterns of professional motivation in the civil service workforce. Results will be
aggregated and used to identify best management practices to support professional motivation in
the civil service workplace.
The survey should take about 5-7 minutes to complete. There are no right or wrong answers.
Your honest responses will be the most helpful to the study. You may skip any question you do
not wish to answer, and you may stop the survey at any time. All responses are anonymous.
Please proceed to the first question If you agree to participate in the survey.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me:

Alejandro M. Cabrero
cabrero@usc.edu
619-992-1562

Please answer the demographic questions below by following the instructions provided with each
question.

1. Are you a tenured employee? (Over 3 years of cumulative federal civil service) (Select one)
Tenured (over 3 years of cumulative federal civil service)

Non-tenured (Less than 3 years of cumulative federal civil service)

2. Select the number of years of employment in the civil service (Select one)
0-9 years 10+ years

3. Which category best defines your current employment position? (Select all that apply)
Management/Supervisory Non-management/non-supervisory

107

Why Do You Do Your Work?
Using the scale below, please indicate to what extent each of the following items corresponds to the
reasons why you are presently involved in your work

Does not correspond
at all Corresponds moderately Corresponds exactly
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Because this is the type of work I chose to do to attain a
certain lifestyle.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
2. For the income it provides me. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. I ask myself this question, I don’t seem to be able to
manage the important tasks related to this work.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
4. Because I derive much pleasure from learning new
things.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
5. Because it has become a fundamental part of who I am. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. Because I want to succeed at this job, if not I would be
very ashamed of myself.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
7. Because I chose this type of work to attain my career
goals.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
8. For the satisfaction I experience from taking on
interesting challenges 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9. Because it allows me to earn money. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
10. Because it is part of the way in which I have chosen to
live my life.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
11. Because I want to be very good at this work, otherwise I
would be very disappointed.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
12. I don’t know why, we are provided with unrealistic
working conditions. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13. Because I want to be a “winner” in life. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
14. Because it is the type of work I have chosen to attain
certain important objectives.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
15. For the satisfaction I experience when I am successful at
doing difficult tasks.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7
16. Because this type of work provides me with security. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
17. I don’t know, too much is expected of us. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

108

Appendix B: Interview Protocol

Respondent Type: Tenured Civil Service Employee

Introduction to the Interview:

Good morning/afternoon. Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. My name is
Alejandro Cabrero and I am a doctoral student with the University of Southern California
interested in discussing the levels of professional motivation in civil service employees. You
have been selected as an interview candidate because of your status as a tenured employee with
the Center for Tactical Development or the Center for Tactical Training. The interview will
consist of 12 questions and is scheduled for approximately 45 minutes, but the discussion may
take us anywhere you believe the topic should go to clarify your experience impression on
motivation and tenure. Your candid feedback is invaluable in gaining honest insight into the
possible impact tenure may have on tenure. Your feedback and those of your fellow participants
will be used to determine if the organization’s present motivational strategies are effective and
how managerial practices can best address the motivational needs of tenured employees.

Recording of this interview would help me analyze the data after the interview is complete. Any
recordings would remain anonymous and promptly deleted once the interview transcription is
complete. Transcription will be password protected until completion of the study and destroyed
once the study is complete. No names or identifying data will be used in the transcription or the
dissertation. May I record this Zoom interview?

Interview Questions Potential Probes RQ Addressed
1. How long have you been
employed in the civil
service?
How long have you been with your
present organization? RQ1
2. Tell me what you
perceive to be the benefits
of tenure in the civil service. RQ1
3. Tell me about your
organization’s motivational
incentives.
Which ones stand out as positive?
Which ones stand out as negative? RQ4
4. What aspects of your job
do you find motivating?
Would you mind elaborating why
these job aspects motivate you?
How do these job aspects motivate
you? RQ4
5. Which organizational
incentives, if any, encourage
your on-the-job motivation?
Which of these motivating aspects are
related to management policies or
behavior? RQ4
6. What aspects of your job
do you find demotivating?
Would you mind elaborating why
these job aspects demotivate you?
How do these job aspects demotivate
you? RQ4
109

7. Which organizational
practices, if any, discourage
your on-the-job motivation?
Which of these demotivating aspects
are related to management policies or
behaviors? RQ4
8. What aspects of your
organization do you find
motivating?

What role, if any, do leadership
strategies play in your opinion?
Please tell me a little more about
which ones? RQ4
9. Tell me about the role of
leadership in impacting your
motivation. RQ4
10. Which leadership
strategies, if any, impact
your motivation positively? How so? RQ4
11. Which leadership
strategies, if any, impact
your motivation in a
negative manner? How so? RQ4
12. How would you
describe your professional
motivation prior to tenure?
What organizational, job or
managerial aspects influenced you
then? RQ1/RQ4
13. How would you
describe your levels of
professional motivation
after tenure?
What motivational aspects most
influence you now? RQ1/RQ4
14. Has your professional
motivation changed, if at
all, since receiving tenure? How so? RQ1/RQ4

Conclusion to the Interview:
Thank you for your time and I appreciate your feedback. Attached to the information sheet
shared at the beginning of the interview, you will find my e-mail and phone number in case you
remember any additional details you wish to share regarding the scheduling process. Have a
great day.

110

Appendix C: Information Sheet for Exempt Studies

INFORMATION SHEET FOR EXEMPT RESEARCH

STUDY TITLE: Impact of Tenure on Work-related Motivation of Civil Servants

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Alejandro Cabrero

FACULTY ADVISOR: Dr. Helena Seli

You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This
document explains information about this study. You should ask questions about
anything that is unclear to you.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to explore professional motivation. You are invited as a
possible participant because of your status as a civil service employee in the Center for
Tactical Development or the Center for Tactical Training in the Maritime Department.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
If you decide to participate in the study, you will first be asked to complete an
anonymous 5 to 10 minute 24-item survey that includes demographic question to
determine eligibility in the study and 18 study specific questions. The survey will include
a link to an independent site for tenured participants to volunteer for the interview phase
of the study. Participants who volunteer for the interview phase of the study will
participate in a 15-question interview via Zoom, scheduled to take between 45 to 60
minutes. Audio recording will be used, with participant consent, to aid the researcher in
transcribing the topics discussed and ensure participant input is fully captured.
Participants can decline the audio recording and still participate in the study. No names
will be used during the interview or when annotating data.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION

Based on ethical and organizational guidelines, no monetary payment will be offered for
participation in the survey.

CONFIDENTIALITY
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California
Institutional Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors
research studies to protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

The survey instrument will not collect any names, e-mail addresses, or phone numbers.
Tenured survey participants who wish to volunteer for the interview phase can share
111

their name and contact information via an independent link to ensure their information
remains separate from the survey data.

Interviews would be administered on a one-on-one basis in Zoom Video recordings will
be deleted once transcribed. Written data will be stored on a password protected hard
drive, only accessible to the researcher, until completion of the research and then
deleted. After providing consent to participate, participants are free to retract their
previous consent to participate at any time during the study.

A pseudonym will be used in place of the organization’s name as an added protective
measure to prevent deductive identification of the organization and its participants.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, please contact Alejandro Cabrero,
cabrero@usc.edu, 619-992-1562

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.

112

Appendix D: Information Sheet for Exempt Studies

INFORMATION SHEET FOR EXEMPT RESEARCH

STUDY TITLE: Impact of Tenure on Work-related Motivation of Civil Servants

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Alejandro Cabrero

FACULTY ADVISOR: Dr. Helena Seli

You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This
document explains information about this study. You should ask questions about
anything that is unclear to you.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of tenure on the levels of
professional motivation in civil service employees. We hope to learn how tenure affects
levels of motivation in the workforce and which organizational incentives and
managerial strategies are most effective in motivating tenured members of the civil
service workforce. You are invited as a possible participant because of your status as a
tenured civil service employee in the Center for Tactical Development or the Center for
Tactical Training in the Maritime Department.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
If you volunteer for the interview phase of the study, you will be asked to participate in a
14-question interview via Zoom, scheduled to take between 45 to 60 minutes. Audio
and video recording will be used, with participant consent, to aid the researcher in
transcribing the topics discussed and ensure participant input is fully captured.
Participants can decline the audio or video recording and still participate in the study.
No names will be used during the interview or when annotating data.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION

Based on ethical and organizational guidelines, monetary payment is limited to $20 per
participant. The researcher intends to offer $20 Visa gift cards for tenured civil service
participants who participate in the interview process.

CONFIDENTIALITY
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California
Institutional Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors
research studies to protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

Interviews would be administered on a one-on-one basis, via individual links or Zoom to
prevent coercion or leaked information to non-participants. Video recordings would be
deleted once transcribed. Written data would be stored on a password protected hard
113

drive, only accessible to the researcher, until completion of the research and then
deleted. After providing consent to participate, participants would be free to retract their
previous consent to participate at any time during the study.

A pseudonym will be used in place of the organization’s name as an added protective
measure to prevent deductive identification of the organization and its participants.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, please contact Alejandro Cabrero,
cabrero@usc.edu, 619-992-1562

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Cabrero, Alejandro (author)

Core Title Impact of tenure on the professional motivation of civil servants

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2022-05

Publication Date 04/29/2022

Defense Date 04/05/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Civil Servants,dynamic work environments,managerial practices,Motivation,OAI-PMH Harvest,relationships of trust,self-determination theory,tenure

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Seli, Helena (committee chair), Datta, Monique (committee member), Haj-Mohamadi, Sourena (committee member)

Creator Email alcab24@yahoo.com,cabrero@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111159622

Unique identifier UC111159622

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Cabrero, Alejandro

Type texts

Source 20220502-usctheses-batch-935 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu