One Size Fits All? Exploring Motivation for Public Employees with a Job Fit Framework and Response Surface Analysis

To advance tailored recruitment, management, and on-the-job socialization, we present a complementary “job fit” framework that integrates intrinsic, extrinsic, relational, and prosocial job design attributes. Employing polynomial regression models and response surface analysis, we capture and display three-dimensionally whether, when, and how the match (or mismatch) between employee preferences and experiences relates to job satisfaction. Using a large, cross-national sample of public employees, we illustrate this framework and methodology through analysis of matched preferences, experiences, and job satisfaction across six job attributes. We identified that public employees’ varied experiences of job attributes have differential impacts on job satisfaction, contingent upon preferences for the attribute. The only attribute we identified that was insensitive to employee preferences was job security. We find, for example, that working with others is associated with decreased job satisfaction for those that prefer working alone. These findings support the motivating potential of complementary “job fit” and provide nuanced attention to appropriate methodologies and a broader range of job design attributes.