A TALE OF TWO CONTRACTS: Public service motivation and satisfaction between internal and external employees at RVO.

This study examines the relationship between type of contract, internal or external, on public service motivation and job satisfaction among employees at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Because of the increase in reliance on external hires in the public sector, it is important to understand how contract type impacts motivation and satisfaction. This is an important aspect for public service delivery. Using a cross-sectional, quantitative research design, data was collected through surveys (N=153), representing internal (N=116) and external (N=37) employees. The scale of public service motivation (PSM) (α=.775) and job satisfaction (α=.754) were used to measure these key constructs. To test the difference between the two groups, independent-samples t-tests were done that revealed a significant difference in overall PSM between internal and external employees, with internal employees scoring higher. Looking at dimensions of PSM, the self-sacrifice dimension revealed a high difference between internal and external employees as well for this particular construct (p<0.001). Yet, no significant difference was found for job satisfaction between the two groups (p=.910). Regression analyses done for both dependent variables revealed that type of contract does significantly predict PSM, but not job satisfaction. These findings highlight that even though external employees report lower levels of PSM, their job satisfaction level is similar to that of internal employees. This research contributes to the limited research on external employees in the public sector and offers recommendations to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency to suggest human resources policies that align with the organizational message. Limitations include the small sample size and the low reliability reported in the PSM subscales, which could be tackled by future research