Does reflecting on prosocial and societal impact foster public employees' well-being, turnover intention, and willingness to recommend their job?

In the past decade, practitioners and scholars intensified the discussion about what people want in their jobs, which has manifested itself in the increased "war on talents" both in public and private organizations. In this... [ view full abstract ]

In the past decade, practitioners and scholars intensified the discussion about what people want in their jobs, which has manifested itself in the increased "war on talents" both in public and private organizations. In this context, it has become obvious that people not only look for high salaries or career opportunities, but also for work-life balance and meaningfulness in their daily tasks. Although many public sector jobs provide meaningfulness through the opportunity to help others (prosocial impact) or contribute to society (societal impact), employees tend to get used to this positive aspect of their work or forget about it in daily routines. This article, therefore, tests if a micro-intervention emphasizing employees’ prosocial and societal impact can foster meaningfulness and in turn increases their well-being, intention to stay on the job, and willingness to recommend their job. Two preregistered online studies with employees of the education sector and the public sector, in general, reveals mixed results. While the intervention is effective for employees working as educators, it does not show effects on employees from a broad range of public sector jobs.