Work attitudes and work behaviours: differences between the public and the private sector

Razlike među zaposlenicima javnog i privatnog sektora česta su tema u javnom prostoru, ujedno i predmet stereotipa, no istraživanja na tu temu nedostaje te su rezultati nerijetko nekonzistentni. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi postoje li razlike između hrvatskih zaposlenika javnog i privatnog sektora u stavovima prema radu i radnim ponašanjima, kada kontroliramo očekivane utjecaje ostalih demografskih varijabli (rod, dob, razina obrazovanja) te veličine organizacije. U istraživanju su sudjelovali zaposlenici (N=318) raznih organizacija, od kojih je 42.5% zaposleno u javnom, a 57.5% u privatnom sektoru. Sudionici su dali procjene u kojem stupnju percipiraju da je njihov poslodavac prekršio psihološki ugovor, razini percipirane organizacijske podrške te o zadovoljstvu poslom. Također su izvijestili o vlastitoj uspješnosti u radnim zadacima, odgovornom organizacijskom ponašanju te nepoželjnom organizacijskom ponašanju. Korelacije, iako relativno niske, otkrile su kako zaposleni u javnom sektoru percipiraju više prekršaja psihološkog ugovora, manje percipirane organizacijske podrške te su zadovoljniji poslom od zaposlenika u privatnom sektoru. Ipak, kada smo u regresijskoj analizi kontrolirali utjecaj ostalih demografskih varijabli, pripadnost sektoru bila je značajan prediktor samo za percipiranu organizacijsku podršku. Korelacije sektora rada i radnih ponašanja ukazale su na razliku samo u nepoželjnom organizacijskom ponašanju, u smjeru da se u njega više upuštaju zaposlenici privatnog sektora. Kontrolom demografskih varijabli u regresijskoj analizi nestala je i ta razlika te zaključujemo kako pripadnost sektoru nema samostalni značajan doprinos objašnjavanju niti jednog od osnovnih radnih ponašanja.Differences between public and private sector employees are a frequent subject of public discussion and stereotype even though there is a lack of research regarding this topic with often inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to determine the differences between public and private sector employees in Croatia with focus on their work behaviour and attitude towards work while controlling for the effects of demographic variables (age, gender and level of education) and size of organization. Employees (N=318) of various organizations participated in the research, of which 42.5% were employed in the public sector, and 57.5% in the private sector. The participants gave their estimate to what degree they perceive that their employer violated the psychological contract, the level of perceived organizational support, and job satisfaction. Furthermore, they self-rated their task performance, organisational citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour. Despite corelations being relatively low, they revealed that employees in public sector perceive more psychological contract breach and less perceived organizational support while being more satisfied with their job compared to employees in private sector. Regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for other demographic variables, sector was a significant predictor only for perceived organizational support. Correlations of the work sector and work behaviours indicated a difference only in counterproductive work behaviour, in a way that private sector employees engage in it more. By controlling the demographic variables in the regression analyses, this difference also disappeared, and we conclude that work sector does not have an independent significant contribution to explaining any of the basic work behaviours