Providing Safe Space for Honest Mistakes in the Public Sector Is the Most Important Predictor for Work Engagement after Strategic Clarity
Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Multiple studies highlight the link between engagement at work and performance, influencing organizations to put more effort into improving employee engagement levels. In this study, we begin to examine the influence of multiple psychological parameters on employees’ work engagement (WE) within the public sector. The idea is to break the concept of WE down into eight individually measurable parameters that will allow for a better understanding and development of stronger interventions. Based on this analysis, we reproduce the outcome that strategic clarity is the most connected property to WE. More importantly, we introduce a new concept, honest mistakes, and show that having a safe space for making mistakes and learning from it is the second most important property of WE. This result is of interest, as allowing mistakes, even if they were made innocently, is considered taboo in the public sector. These outcomes are based on the reports of n=7682 public sector employees from Brazil. In particular, the analysis shows that these outcomes hold for both professional and management positions across the health, administrative, justice, police, social work, and education offices.
Source: Sustainability
DOI: 10.3390/su14127051
Authors: Thais Gargantini, Michael Daly, Joseph Sherlock, Teddy Lazebnik
Institutions: Reichman University, Duke University, University College London
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,094
OpenAlex ID: W4282548353