Does Informal Participation Increase Job Satisfaction in Public Organizations? A Study on Civil Servants in Beijing,China

Abstract

The current literature has deepened our understanding of the participation–job satisfaction relationship in public organizations. However, employee participation has various forms and each form may produce different effects on job satisfaction. The literature often fails to account for the effects of different forms of participation. This article fills this gap by specifically examining the effects of informal participation and the possible moderating effects of interpersonal relationships and career development support. Based on a survey of civil servants in Beijing, the article finds that informal participation has positive and statistically significant influence over job satisfaction. The effects are positively moderated by interpersonal relationships and negatively moderated by career development support. The results help us to gain a fine-grained understanding of the effects of informal participation and may serve as a starting point for more research on different forms of employee participation.

Keywords

job satisfaction employee participation informal participation participative management China

Introduction

Employee participation, which is defined as the involvement of employees in information processing, decision making, and problem solving (Wagner, 1994), has been an important topic in management research. Though it has been studied under different labels such as employee empowerment, industrial democracy, and participative decision making, it generally describes joint decision making or influence/power sharing in organizations. Employee participation faces some unique institutional and cultural challenges in public organizations. Bureaucracy has been the dominant form of government organizations for thousands of years in some countries such as China and is still the dominant form in almost all countries. The strict hierarchical control is the key mechanism to achieve efficiency. Employee participation may disrupt the hierarchical chain of command and thus may increase the likelihood of conflicts between employees and supervisors, causing the loss of efficiency (Harrison & Freeman, 2004). In addition, the rigid hierarchical structure fosters a bureaucratic culture of overconformity (Claver, Llopis, Gascó, Molina, & Conca, 1999; Merton, 1940). The emphasis of conforming to rules and regulations and the corresponding strict control have always been salient features of the civil service system (Benveniste, 1987; Bozeman & Straussman, 1990). Therefore, the bureaucratic culture encourages adherence to orders and rules rather than participation in decision making.

Despite the above barriers in implementation, scholars have been arguing for employee participation in government agencies (Waldo, 1977). A growing literature shows that employee participation in public organizations contributes to job satisfaction (Benoliel & Somech, 2010; Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2013a; Kim, 2002; Lee, Cayer, & Lan, 2006; Wright & Kim, 2004), high performance (Benoliel & Somech, 2010; Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2011, 2013a), employee retention (Grissom, 2012), innovation (Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2013b; Fernandez & Pitts, 2011; Somech, 2006), and employee commitment (Cheung & Wu, 2011; Nyhan, 2000). However, the findings of participation’s effects are not conclusive. Wagner (1994) found through a meta-analysis of literature that the effects of participation on performance and satisfaction are so small that they hardly have any practical significance. Somech (2006) found that participation contributes to innovation but not to performance.

One possible explanation to the inconclusive or even conflicting findings is that employee participation has various forms and each form may produce different effects (Cotton, Vollrath, Froggatt, & Lengnick-Hall, 1988; Koopman & Wierdsma, 1998). Cotton et al. (1988) summarized six forms of participation: participation in work decisions, consultative participation, short-term participation, informal participation, employee ownership, and representative participation. The current literature often fails to account for the effects of different forms of participation. For example, scholars often ignore the fact that the base of legitimization of employee participation may vary from formal, explicitly recorded rules to informal, nonstatutory behaviors (Koopman & Wierdsma, 1998). The failure to make clear distinctions between different forms of participation may obscure their effects and lead to conflicting findings (Smylie, Lazarus, & Brownlee-Conyers, 1996). In addition, due to the limited research, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of variables that may moderate the effects of participation.

This article attempts to fill in the above gap by studying one type of employee participation—informal participation—and its impacts on civil servants’ job satisfaction. Informal participation can be defined as the involvement of employees in information processing, decision making, and problem solving when these practices are not required by laws, contracts, or management policies (Koopman & Wierdsma, 1998; Wagner, 1994). It can be understood as allowing employees to exert more controls over their work and organizational management in an informal manner. The biggest distinction between informal participative mechanisms and other forms of participation is that they are not mandatory or statutory; informal participation usually occurs in the casual interactions between supervisors and subordinates and it is highly contingent on the awareness and initiative of supervisors (Cotton et al., 1988). Informal participative mechanisms may be particularly worthy of studying because of their unique strengths compared with other forms of participative mechanisms. First, they are flexible and can be employed in the daily leader–member exchanges (LMXs). In addition, they are relatively inexpensive and can be implemented relatively easily without wholesale institutional changes. If informal participation can improve civil servants’ job satisfaction, leaders in public organizations may have some handy techniques to motivate their subordinates.

Based on a survey of civil servants in Beijing, China, we found that civil servants are more satisfied with their jobs if they have opportunities to participate in the management of their organizations, even if the participation is informal. We also extended our finding by showing that the effects are moderated by interpersonal relationships and career development support.

This article makes several contributions to the current literature. First, it is one of the first attempts to specifically examine the effects of informal participation on job satisfaction. The current literature focuses mainly on formal mechanisms of participation or does not make distinctions between different forms of participation. Though it is tempting to conclude that the effects of informal participation would not be different from other forms, robust empirical research is needed to provide conclusive answers. This article answers the call to conduct more research on the effects of diverse forms of participation and fills a critical gap in the literature. Second, we extend the findings by testing the moderating effects of interpersonal relationship and career development support. We found a positive synergistic effect between civil servants’ interpersonal relationships and informal participation. Another interesting finding is the crowing out effect of career development support on informal participation. The results may help us gain a fine-grained understanding of the effects of informal participation and may serve as a starting point for more research on other forms of participation. Third, we link the findings to leadership development in public organizations. Sharing information, influence, and power informally can also be useful leadership techniques to improve the LMX. Public managers may well employ these techniques to motivate their subordinates. Fourth, the article is also one of the first attempts to study civil servants’ participation in the Chinese context. Civil servants in China face not only a typical bureaucratic system that values conformity but also a collectivist culture that fosters a paternalistic and centralized leadership style. It is thus interesting to examine how civil servants’ participation affects their job satisfaction and to study the implications for the management of public organizations in China.

Literature Review and Hypotheses

Theoretically, participation contributes to job satisfaction through several mechanisms: First, employees can have more control of their work by participating in decision makings—they can get access to information and make their ideas and suggestions heard; second, participation leads to stronger sense of ownership, self-actualization, and belonging because employees can improve their problem-solving skills and fulfill their growth needs; third, employees may establish closer working relationships with their colleagues through participation (Nyhan, 2000; Sashkin, 1984). A number of empirical studies supported the positive relationship between participation and job satisfaction in public organizations. Finlay, Martin, Roman, and Blum (1995) found that employees in less bureaucratically structured organizations have higher level of job satisfaction. Kim (2002) found that three forms of participative management, including managers’ use of participative management style, participative strategic planning, and effective supervisory communication, all exert statistically significant influence over job satisfaction. Fernandez and Moldogaziev (2013a) found that empowerment positively affects job satisfaction based on data from the Federal Human Capital Survey. In their study, empowerment was measured by four practices: providing information about goals and performance, offering rewards based on performance, providing access to job-related knowledge and skills, and granting discretion to change work processes.

The current literature has made significant progress in deepening our understanding of the participation–job satisfaction relationship in public organizations. However, participation has diverse forms and their effects on job satisfaction may be quite different (Cotton et al., 1988). The literature often focuses on some particular forms of participation, such as participative decision making, while neglecting others. In many cases, scholars subconsciously assume that various forms of participation have the same effects and thus do not make proper distinctions between these forms. The failure to make distinctions may obscure the effects of diverse forms of participation, leading to conflicting findings (Smylie et al., 1996).

This article specifically studies the effects of informal employee participation on job satisfaction. Informal participation is measured by three items in this article: information sharing, informal involvement in decision making, and informal suggestion programs. Information sharing with fellow colleagues or supervisors is the starting point for employee participation, and it is often done in the daily interactions with colleagues and supervisors. Work-related information helps employees to make better sense of their work environment, clarify roles, and reduce ambiguity about their responsibilities (Pitts, 2005; Weick, 1979). Employees’ perceived control over their work and self-efficacy may thus be enhanced (Gist & Mitchell, 1992). Information is also a precondition for employees to participate in problem solving and decision making (Wright & Kim, 2004). Bowen and Lawler (1992) argued that information is one of four ingredients of empowerment, and according to them, an empowerment program may fail if information is not redistributed along with rewards and knowledge. Several studies have found that information is an important condition to help employees to be involved or feel involved in decision making (Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2013a; Lawler, 1986; Petter, Byrnes, Choi, Fegan, & Miller, 2002; Pitts, 2005; Spreitzer, 1996). Based on the existing literature, employees with more information about what is going on in their organizations may have higher level of job satisfaction.

Involvement in decision making is a direct form for employees to exert influence. Involvement in decision making can be formal; for example, employee participation can be a procedural requirement for making certain decisions. Studies have suggested that formal mechanisms of participative decision making positively affect job satisfaction (Benoliel & Somech, 2010). Nevertheless, employee involvement is often achieved through informal means, such as informal consultation or nonstatutory, irregular participation in decision making. Employees’ input in decision making, though not mandatory, gives them the influences in work-related issues. They are not just passively taking orders from their supervisors but actively changing their work environment. Informal involvement in decision making can also give employees the perceived control over their jobs and stronger sense of ownership (Chen & Tjosvold, 2006). As a result, employees may be more satisfied with their jobs (Kim, 2002; Miller & Monge, 1986). We would generally expect that more involvement in decision making leads to higher job satisfaction even if the involvement is informal.

The LMX research has suggested that high-quality relationships between supervisors and subordinates contribute to subordinates’ job satisfaction (Chen & Tjosvold, 2006; Cheung & Wu, 2011; Gerstner & Day, 1997; Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 1997). To maintain a high-quality relationship, supervisors and subordinates engage in constant exchanges. Suggestions are an important currency that is exchanged. As front-line workers, subordinates often have information and suggestions that are valuable for making correct decisions. Supervisors consulting with subordinates and accepting their suggestions can boost subordinates’ self-confidence and the feeling of self-actualization, resulting in higher job satisfaction (Marcus & House, 1973). Accepting subordinates’ suggestions also shows that supervisors are attentive, friendly, and supportive, which contributes to effective supervisor–subordinates communication and job satisfaction (Johlke & Duhan, 2000; Kim, 2002).

To summarize, the current literature suggests that the three forms of informal participation are all positively related to job satisfaction. We thus propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: Employees’ informal participation is positively related to job satisfaction.

The relationship between participation and job satisfaction may not be linear. A number of variables may moderate the relationship. For example, Benoliel and Somech (2010) identified personality factors such as extroversion and agreeableness as moderating variables. Highly agreeable employees tend to be more cooperative with colleagues and thus they may be more suitable for participative management environments. Somech (2010) suggested that LMX and organizational design (bureaucratic or organic) may also moderate the relationship between participation and job satisfaction.

In this research, we collected data on two potential moderating variables: interpersonal relationships and career development support. Interpersonal relationships are an important part of the organizational environment (James & James, 1989). Employee participation creates a fairly high level of interpersonal interactions, which becomes the key environmental force that may work together with informal participation to affect job satisfaction (Lawler, 1992). First, interpersonal relationships can serve as the access to information related to their organizations, which may give civil servants more perceived control of their environment. Second, interpersonal relationships affect how people deal with stress and conflicts in participative environments (Benoliel & Somech, 2010). For example, some underlying differences between employees may be publicized in participation, leading to conflicts and tension. In a supportive environment where interpersonal relations are good, employees are more understanding of each other, and they may eliminate conflicts through effective communication or negotiation. In contrast, if employees do not relate to each other well and doubt each other’s intentions, conflicts may escalate and the positive effects of participation may be reduced. Therefore, informal participation may have stronger positive effects on job satisfaction when civil servants have good relationships with their colleagues.

The moderating effect of interpersonal relationships may be particularly relevant in China because the so-called guanxi (personal connections) is ubiquitous and very important in management (Cheung & Wu, 2011). Guanxi significantly affects how people deal with conflicts and tensions: Chinese employees tend to avoid conflicts with colleagues with whom they have good guanxi (Chen & Tjosvold, 2006); the closer the guanxi is, the more likely that a misdeed can be forgiven and dismissed as a mistake (Kiong & Kee, 1998). Good guanxi may effectively reduce tension or conflicts in participative environments. Therefore, we would expect that the effects of participation may vary at different levels of interpersonal relationships.

Hypothesis 2: The relationship between informal participation and job satisfaction is positively moderated by interpersonal relationships.

Another particularly interesting moderating variable is career development support. Human growth and development theories assume a hierarchy of needs and argue that people are motivated by self-actualization and growth (Dachler & Wilpert, 1978; Maslow, 1954). Empirical research provides compelling evidence that career development support, such as training, may satisfy employees’ growth needs (Kraimer, Seibert, Wayne, Liden, & Bravo, 2011; Sell & Cleal, 2011). Informal participation is another way to satisfy civil servants’ growth needs by helping them to understand organizational processes, to employ their skills in problem solving, and to exert influence in decision making (Wright & Kim, 2004). Civil servants may become more confident, skilled, and competent in the process of participation. When two mechanisms that can satisfy civil servants growth needs work together, do they reinforce each other or crowd out each other’s effects? A careful examination is thus needed. If career development support positively moderates the relationship, then more training may better prepare civil servants to engage in informal participation. However, career development support and informal participation may have negative synergistic effects because civil servants who gained confidence and skills through participating in decision making may find existing career development support redundant. Informal participation may crowd out the benefits of existing career development support. Wright and Kim (2004) found through structural equation modeling that career development support positively mediates the relationship between participation and job satisfaction. However, as far as we know, the moderating role of career development has not been examined. Based on Wright and Kim’s analysis, we propose a positive synergistic effect between informal participation and career development support:

Hypothesis 3: The relationship between informal participation and job satisfaction is positively moderated by career development.

Data, Measures, and Method

Sampling Procedure

This article is based on a survey of civil servants in Beijing, China. A multi-stage stratified sampling was used to get a representative sample of all civil servants in Beijing. Two strata, civil servants of agencies of the Municipal Government and of lower levels of governments (district-level governments and below), were identified. Then 10 of the 44 agencies of the Municipal Government and 2 of the 18 district-level governments were randomly selected. Simple random sampling was used to select respondents based on rosters of civil servants in each agency.

Survey

The questionnaire was constructed on the basis of literature review and survey instruments such as the Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967). To test the survey instrument, a pilot survey was conducted at a university in Beijing with part-time Master of Public Administration (MPA) students who were civil servants from various government agencies. The complete survey was conducted in October 2009. Questionnaires were sent to all 800 selected respondents via the channel of the Organizational Department of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party. The Department is an important agency for human resource management in the government, and they have the access to all government agencies. Seven hundred fifty-five completed questionnaires were sent back, and the response rate was 94.4%. Questionnaires that had missing values were excluded, resulting in a final data set with 536 observations. Distributing questionnaires via the channel of the Organizational Department helped us to get the high response rate, but it may create social desirability bias. Respondents may be likely to answer questions in a socially desirable manner. This is one limitation of the research. However, we were fully aware of the possible bias and took measures to mitigate the problem. All questionnaires were anonymous to protect respondents’ privacy. It is almost impossible to link the completed questionnaire to a certain respondent. We also made clear on each questionnaire that the survey was for the sole purpose of academic research and it had nothing to do with job evaluation.

Dependent Variable

The dependent variable in this research is “job satisfaction.” Job satisfaction is a multifaceted concept, and thus a scale can better measure the concept (Wanous, Reichers, & Hudy, 1997). A composite scale with nine items was used to measure job satisfaction in the questionnaire. Respondents were asked to rate their degrees of satisfaction with the following facets on a 0 to 10 scale with 0 representing extremely dissatisfied and 10 representing extremely satisfied. The nine items were income, social status, power, job stability, promotion opportunity, leisure, the expansion of social network, the realization of goals, and capability improvement. The Cronbach’s alpha was .925, indicating that the scale has a strong reliability. The nine items were factor analyzed using principal components analysis with varimax rotation, and they loaded onto one factor with an eigenvalue of 5.35. This factor was used as the dependent variable in the further analysis.

Independent Variables

The three aspects of informal participation, including information sharing, informal involvement in decision making, and informal suggestion programs, were measured by three items in this research. Respondents were asked to rate the following statements on the same 11-point scale: In your interactions with your supervisors, (a) “I get full information of what is going on in my agency,” (b) “I can participate in the decision-making of issues related to my job,” (c) “My supervisors pay attention to my suggestions.” These items measure the informal participation that happens in their interactions with supervisors, and they are not required or mandatory. The three items were factor analyzed and they loaded onto one factor with an eigenvalue of 1.93. The factor was used for further analysis. The Cronbach’s alpha was .825, suggesting a good reliability of the measurement.

Career development support was measured by two items: (a) “My agency provides us with ample opportunities for training and further education” and (b) “I have full confidence in my future career development.” The two items were factor analyzed with principal components analysis, and they loaded onto one factor (Cronbach’s α = .722, eigenvalue = 1.68)

The last independent variable, interpersonal relationships, was measured by three items: (a) “I often hang out with my colleagues after work,” (b) “I often discuss and solve work-related problems with my colleagues,” and (c) “I have good personal relationships with colleagues in my agency.” The three items were then factor analyzed using principal component analysis, and they loaded onto one factor (Cronbach’s α = .763, eigenvalue = 1.50). The factor was kept for further analysis.

Control Variables

Previous research in the Chinese context has suggested that civil servants’ job satisfaction is also affected by job, organizational, and personal characteristics (Liu & Tang, 2011; Liu, Tang, & Zhu, 2008; Yang & Wang, 2013). These variables were controlled to tease out the effects of informal participation. In addition, considering that the unique institutional environment of China may also affect civil servants’ job satisfaction, two contextual factors, party membership and administrative ranks, were also controlled.

Job and organizational characteristics

Five job characteristics were controlled. The variable “weekly working hours” was measured by asking respondents to write down the approximate number of working hours in a week. “Income” was measured by asking respondents to write down the total monthly value of their salary and fringe benefits, measured in thousands of yuan. The other three variables, task variety, family involvement, and work environment safety, were measured by asking respondents to rate the following statements on the same 0 to 10 scale with 0 representing completely disagree and 10 representing totally agree: (a) “my work involves a variety of tasks and it is not boring,” (b) “I have time to take care of family responsibilities,” and (c) “my work environment is safe.”

Personal characteristics

Personal characteristics such as gender, age, and education may also affect how people view their jobs, and therefore, these factors were also controlled. Gender was treated as a dummy variable with 0 representing female and 1 representing male. Age was measured in years. Education had three categories: no bachelor’s degree, bachelor’s degree, and graduate degree.

Contextual factors

The party-state system in China may deeply influence civil servants’ job satisfaction by affecting their promotion opportunities, political and economic resources. It is thus necessary to tease out the effects of the institutional environment on job satisfaction. Party membership was the first institutional factor to control. Unlike Western civil servants who are supposed to be politically neutral, Chinese civil servants’ loyalty to the Communist Party is crucial for office taking, performance evaluation, and career development (Chan & Li, 2007; Jing & Zhu, 2012). Party membership was treated as a dummy variable with 1 representing Party members and 0 representing non-Party members.

Another contextual variable is administrative ranks. Administrative ranks are not unique in the Chinese civil service system, but they represent much more than simple distinctions between different levels of civil servants. In the Chinese party-state system, there is no distinction between elected officials and civil servants. All government officials are civil servants. Administrative ranks are actually political ranks, and thus high-ranking officials can leverage much more political and economic resources than do low-ranking officials. Administrative ranks are also closely tied to different medical, housing, and retire benefits. We thus expect that administrative ranks are positively associated with job satisfaction. The variable administrative rank had six categories: no rank, vice section chief and below, section chief, vice division chief, division chief, and vice department chief.

Interaction Terms

Interaction terms were constructed to test the moderating effects of interpersonal relationships and career development support. One interaction term between informal participation and career development support and another multiplicative term between informal participation and interpersonal relations were included in the analysis. Hierarchical regression procedure should be used when interaction terms are employed so that the interactive effects on the dependent variable are assessed only after the additive effects of the two independent variables have been partialed out (Cohen, 1978).

Results and Findings

Summary Statistics

Table 1 presents the summary statistics of the data. The mean of the nine dimensions of job satisfaction was 5.37 on the 0 to 10 scale. The mean of the three items of informal participation was 5.95 on the same scale, showing that civil servants had a moderate level of involvement in their organizations. Of the respondents, 55.8% were male and 44.2% of them were female. Generally respondents were well educated: 69.06% of them had bachelor’s degrees, and 19.53% of them had graduate degrees. Of all the respondents, 91.34% were members of the Communist Party, reflecting the unique institutional characteristic of the Chinese party-state system: 11.97% of the respondents had no administrative ranks, 31.31% of the respondents were at the lowest rank of vice section chief and below, and 35.17% of the respondents were at the rank of section chief.

Table 1.

Summary Statistics of Variables.

	M	Median	SD	%
Dependent variable
Job satisfaction	5.37	5.22	1.74
Independent variables
Informal participation	5.95	5.67	2.25
Career development support	6.26	6.00	2.54
Interpersonal relationships	6.23	6.00	1.93
Control variables
Weekly working hours	47.39	45.00	10.17
Salary	3.70	3.5	1.067
Balance of work and family	5.09	5.00	2.39
Task variety	5.86	5.00	2.51
Work environment safety	5.70	5.00	2.85
Age	39.34	39.00	8.29
Gender	0.56	1.00	0.50
Male				55.8
Female				44.2
Education	5.06	5.00	0.64
No college degree				11.42
College degree				69.06
Graduate degree				19.52
Party membership	0.91	1.00	0.28
Yes				91.34
No				8.66
Administrative rank	2.73	3.00	1.08
No rank				11.97
Vice section chief and below				31.31
Section chief				35.17
Vice division chief				15.29
Division chief				5.52
Vice department chief				0.74

On average, respondents worked 47.39 hr per week, which was 18% more than the standard of 40 working hours. Correspondingly, civil servants might not have sufficient time to take care of their family responsibilities. The rating on the statement “I have time to take care of family issues” was only 5.09 on the 0 to 10 scale. The average monthly salary was 3,700 yuan (roughly US$596), which was significantly lower than the average monthly salary of all employed workers in Beijing (6,319 yuan; National Bureau of Statistics, 2012). Civil servants generally had a moderate appraisal of task variety and work environment safety—the scores were 5.86 and 5.70 on the 11-point scale. The ratings on interpersonal relationships and confidence in career development were 6.23 and 6.26, which were relatively higher than the ratings on other items.

Regression Results

Common source variance

Because all the data in this research were self-reported and collected with the same questionnaire, common method variance may be a problem threatening the validity of conclusions. To test whether the common method variance is a serious threat, Harman’s one-factor test was conducted. The results suggested that five factors emerged from the analysis and the one general factor only accounted for 41.1% of the total variance. Because the single general factor did not account for the majority of the variance, common method variance was not a serious threat in this research (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). A single-factor confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to further check the common method variance. The logic is similar to Harman’s one-factor test: Common method variance may exist if one factor can fit the data well. The result showed the opposite: The one latent factor model fitted the data poorly with a chi-square of 2,823.79 and 189 degrees of freedom. The goodness-of-fit index was .67.

The hierarchical regression procedure was used in data analysis. Variables entered the regression analysis in the following order: control variables, followed by the three independent variables, and followed by the two interaction terms.

Regression results are shown in Table 2. The first model tested the effects of control variables on job satisfaction. Control variables could explain 38.6% of the total variation in job satisfaction. The White test suggested that the model suffered from heterogeneity, so robust standard errors were used in significance tests. The average Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) was 1.92 and the highest VIF was 3.14, suggesting that multicollinearity was not a serious threat. Seven control variables had statistically significant influence over job satisfaction. Age was negatively related to job satisfaction—older civil servants were more dissatisfied with their jobs. Education was also negatively related to job satisfaction—civil servants with bachelor’s degrees and graduate degrees had lower levels of job satisfaction, compared with the reference group, civil servants without bachelor’s degrees. Salary, weekly working hour, the balance of work and family, task variety, and work environment safety all exerted positive influence over job satisfaction.

Table 2.

Results of Regression Analysis.

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Independent variables	Standardized coefficient (SE)	Standardized coefficient (SE)	Standardized coefficient (SE)
Step 1
Weekly working hour	−.008 (0.003)*	−.009 (0.003)**	−.008 (0.003)**
Salary (measured in 1,000)	.100 (0.042)*	.094 (0.039)*	.087 (0.039)*
Balance of work and family	.049 (0.015)***	.030 (0.014)*	.029 (0.014)*
Task variety	.155 (0.014)***	.058 (0.017)***	.063 (0.017)***
Work environment safety	.073 (0.013)***	.043 (0.013)***	.046 (0.012)***
Age	−.019 (0.006)***	−.102 (0.005)*	−.013 (0.006)*
Gender	−.018 (0.067)	−.100 (0.063)	−.092 (0.063)
Education
No bachelor’s degree	—	—	—
Bachelor’s degree	−.348 (0.113)**	−.253 (0.105)*	−.263 (0.104)*
Graduate degree	−.358 (0.142)*	−.253 (0.132)	−.276 (0.149)
Party membership	−.091 (0.125)	−.069 (0.117)	−.095 (0.117)
Administrative rank
No rank	—	—	—
Vice section chief and below	.208 (0.114)	.248 (0.106)*	.240 (0.105)*
Section chief	.112 (0.121)	.155 (0.112)	.149 (0.111)
Vice division chief	.249 (0.155)	.305 (0.145)*	.301 (0.144)*
Division chief	−.021 (0.215)	.155 (0.199)	.185 (0.198)
Vice department chief	.535 (0.441)	.485 (0.409)	.498 (0.406)
Step 2
Informal participation		.107 (0.047)*	.097 (0.047)**
Career development support		.463 (0.070)***	.452 (0.067)***
Interpersonal relationship		.082 (0.047)	.085 (0.047)
Step 3
Informal participation × Career development			−.173 (0.060)**
Informal participation × Interpersonal relationship			.118 (0.047)*
Constant	−.701	−.011	−.014
Adjusted R²	.386	.475	.481
F	23.39	27.81	25.75
Number of observations	536	536	536

p ≤ .05. **p ≤ .01. ***p ≤ .001, two-tailed.

Independent variables including informal participation, career development support, and interpersonal relationship were added in Model 2. The adjusted R² of Model 2 increased to 47.5%. The average VIF was 1.95 and the highest VIF was 3.15. Because all the VIFs were less than 5, multicollinearity was not a serious threat. Robust standard errors were used due to the heterogeneity problem. The results indicated that informal participation was statistically significant at the 1% level and was positively related to job satisfaction. Hypothesis 1 was thus supported by the result. The standardized regression coefficient indicated that civil servants’ job satisfaction will increase by 0.107 standard deviation (SD) if informal participation increases by 1 SD, holding other independent variables constant. Informal participation was one of the strongest variables in influencing job satisfaction. Its effect was stronger than that of salary, age, task variety, and the balance of work and family. All the variables which were statistically significant in Model 1 remained significant except education. Compared with Model 1, the effect of graduate degree became nonsignificant.

Two interaction terms were added in Model 3 to test whether interpersonal relationships and career development support moderate effects of informal participation. The adjusted R² increased from 47.5% in Model 2 to 48.1% in Model 3. The average VIF of 1.83 and the highest VIF of 2.95 indicate that multicollinearity was not a serious problem. Again, robust standard errors were used in significance tests due to the problem of heterogeneity. In Model 3, all the control variables and independent variables that were statistically significant in Model 2 were still significant. Employees’ informal participation still exerted positive and statistically significant influence over job satisfaction with a similar magnitude to that of Model 2.

The interaction term between informal participation and interpersonal relationships was positive and statistically significant at the 5% level, indicating that the effects of civil servants’ informal participation on job satisfaction will increase if civil servants have better personal relationships with their colleagues. Therefore, Hypothesis 2 was supported by the result. Its standardized coefficient suggested that the effect of informal participation on job satisfaction will increase by 0.118 SD if the score on interpersonal relationship increases by 1 SD, controlling for other independent variables.

Although the interaction term between career development support and informal participation was significant at the 1% level, the sign of the interaction term was negative. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 was not supported. Career development support and informal participation does not reinforce each other, which was contrary to our expectation. If career development support increases by 1 SD, the effect of informal participation on job satisfaction would decrease by 0.173 SD, holding other variables constant.

Discussion and Conclusion

Based on a survey of civil servants in Beijing, China, this article examined the effects of informal participation on job satisfaction and the moderating effects of interpersonal relationships and career development support. The article finds that informal participation produces positive and statistically significant influence over civil servants’ job satisfaction, adjusting for other personal, organizational, and contextual factors. Civil servants become more satisfied with their jobs if they participate more in their organizations, even if these forms of participation are neither formal nor regular.

The article also finds that interpersonal relationships positively moderate the relationship between informal participation and job satisfaction. This is consistent with findings from other studies (Benoliel & Somech, 2010; Cheung & Wu, 2011). The effects of informal participation on job satisfaction are contingent on interpersonal relationships. Good interpersonal relationships may create a supportive organizational environment in which the stress and conflicts related to participation can be reduced. This moderating effect may be especially evident in the Chinese context. First, gaining and maintaining face is an important component of interpersonal relations in China (Aryee & Chen, 2006). The concern of losing face may discourage many people from participating, and a less threatening environment can help to overcome this problem. Second, guanxi may also affect how people treat differences and conflicts in a participative environment. In organizations where civil servants have good guanxi with their colleagues, publicized differences may be effectively reconciled, tensions can be reduced, and some conflicts may be avoided. Informal participation may thus have a stronger impact on job satisfaction.

The hypothesis that career development support positively moderates the relationship between informal participation and job satisfaction was not supported. Though theoretically both career development support and informal participation are positively related to job satisfaction, our analysis showed that the interaction effect was negative. The effect of informal participation and career development support may crowd out each other in affecting job satisfaction. For those who have abundant opportunities to participate in decision making and management, their job-related skills can be improved and their growth needs can be satisfied in this process. Under this circumstance, job-related training and further education produces little marginal benefit to the fulfillment of growth needs and to their job satisfaction. Therefore, one implication for management is that informal participation and career development support should be designed carefully with different targets and emphasis.

What are the implications for public management? This article suggests that informal participation can produce positive impacts on job satisfaction. In public organizations, the traditional management practices are largely based on management authoritarianism, which is characterized by rationalization, control, and even punishment (Collins, 1997; Nyhan, 2000). In line with the human relations school of management, this article supports a paradigm shift in motivating civil servants—a humanistic approach of management may be more effective. The informal nature of these participative mechanisms is actually its unique strength. For public organizations that are considering implementing participative mechanisms, informal participation may be a particularly meaningful starting point. Formal participative mechanisms such as consultative participation and representative participation need formal institutional commitments such as reorganizing the organizations or changing rules and policies. These reforms are actually a cultural and institutional revolution, and they may take a long time and incur high costs. In contrast, informal forms of participation do not need institutional change and can be implemented with little extra costs to organizations. For example, involving employees informally in decision making, sharing information with employees, and listening to their suggestions can be adopted by supervisors in daily management. Of course, this does not mean that informal participation can be implemented with no costs. Encouraging employees to participate in management is a change in organizational culture (Foster-Fishman & Keys, 1997), and thus it is almost certainly accompanied by extra costs. However, the costs may be significantly lower than those of formal organizational reforms.

The research also has important implications for developing leadership. Techniques of involving civil servants in management, such as giving subordinates information, soliciting suggestions, and involving civil servants in decision making, are also important leadership techniques. These techniques can improve the quality of LMX and help subordinates to experience meaningfulness of work, self-determination, and competence (Spreitzer, 1995). The LMX theory has long argued that high-quality LMX can serve as strong motivational forces and lead to a number of desirable organizational outcomes such as performance, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior (Aryee & Chen, 2006). These techniques may be especially useful in the Chinese context in terms of building high-quality LMX. Influenced by the collectivist culture, the Chinese leadership style is often characterized as paternalistic, centralized, and relationship centered (Westwood, 1997). Information and power are often concentrated in the hands of administrators. In these circumstances, the above leadership techniques to share information and power may be perceived by subordinates as an exceptional gesture of goodwill. They may not only become more satisfied but also reciprocate with commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. In addition, in highly personal organizational environments, leaders’ willingness to share power and influence may also lead subordinates to perceive themselves as in-group members and to appreciate the patronage of leaders (Aryee & Chen, 2006). The perceived privilege of being an in-group member may also be a powerful motivating force.

This is not suggesting that informal participation can be adopted easily in public organizations. Implementing even informal participative mechanisms may turn out to be quite challenging. The structure and culture of public organizations have been deeply influenced by managerial authoritarianism in the pursuit of efficiency (Collins, 1997; Nyhan, 2000), and thus are not favorable to employee participation. Due to these structural and cultural barriers, supervisors in public organizations may lack the awareness or willingness to involve their subordinates even informally in management, and this problem may be particularly serious in a collectivist culture that fosters paternalistic and centralized leadership style (Westwood, 1997). Training programs on participatory supervisory style and techniques may be needed to sensitize supervisors to employee participation. Supervisors should be made clear that employees’ participation is not only an instrument to improve work outcomes but also an ethical imperative.

The article also has several limitations. One limitation is the limited generalizability of the conclusions. We tried to get a representative sample of civil servants in Beijing, and we are confident that the conclusions are valid in this context. However, caution is needed when the conclusions are generalized to civil servants in other areas of China. As the capital of China and one of the most developed cities, Beijing is quite an outlier in the country. Also, though we controlled for some factors unique to China, such as Party membership and administrative ranks, the influence of other cultural or institutional factors cannot be completed ruled out. Therefore, more research is needed to study the relationship between informal participation and job satisfaction in other cultural and institutional contexts. Another limitation is that we only studied the moderating effects of interpersonal relationships and confidence in career development due to the limitation of our data. The relationship may be moderated by other organizational variables such as task significance and job specificity. More research is needed so that we can have more fine-grained understanding of the moderating effects.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biographies

Weijie Wang is a PhD candidate at the Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California. His research interests include collaborative governance and public personnel management.

Xingkun Yang is an assistant professor at the School of Economics and Management Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China.

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