Comparing Organizational Trust and Public Service Motivation Influence on Job and Organization Engagement Between Public and Private Sector Organizations Employees

This study investigates sectoral differences in the socio-motivational mechanism behind job engagement and organization engagement. Relying on the Job Demands-Resource Model and using a cross-sectional study of 350 employees in the Israeli labor market, we conduct a multiple group comparison and analysis within an SEM framework to identify the mechanisms by which the employment sector relates to the mediating role of PSM via the link between organizational trust and job and organization engagement. Differences were observed between sectors as the presence of PSM empowered the organizational trust effect on two engagement factors (job, organization) only among public servants. More specifically, the findings underline that, first, an individual’s PSM is expressed differently among private than public organizations; second, organization and job engagement are differentially related to antecedents; third, employees may vary in terms of the extent to which they are engaged in their organization role and in their job.