Red Tape, Resigned Satisfaction, Public Service Motivation, and Negative Employee Attitudes and Behaviors

• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Author: Abdul Karim Khan,Samina Quratulain
• Date: 01 December 2015
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X13511646
• Subject Matter: Articles

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2015, Vol. 35(4) 307 –332

© The Author(s) 2013

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X13511646

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Article

Red Tape, Resigned

Satisfaction, Public Service

Motivation, and Negative

Employee Attitudes and

Behaviors: Testing a Model of

Moderated Mediation

Samina Quratulain1 and Abdul Karim Khan1

Abstract

We examine the effect of red tape on resigned satisfaction, Public Service Motivation

(PSM), and negative employee attitudes and behaviors. Based on responses of 217

public servants, this study demonstrates the role of resigned satisfaction as a mediating

mechanism for transferring the effect of red tape on negative employee outcomes.

PSM was hypothesized as an individual difference variable that can either mitigate or

exacerbate the indirect effect of red tape on employee attitudes and behaviors. Our

study is among the first few that demonstrate the dark side of PSM. We found that

PSM exacerbates the adverse effects of red tape on negative employee attitudes and

behaviors and that these effects are transmitted through the mechanism of resigned

satisfaction. These findings are at odds with the dominant conception that employees

having higher levels of PSM tend to pursue their motivations of public service despite

excessive formalization and procedural constraints.

Keywords

red tape, resigned satisfaction, public service motivation, turnover intention, stress,

employee withdrawal

1Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan

Corresponding Author:

Samina Quratulain, Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences,

D.H.A, Lahore Cantt, 54792, Lahore, Pakistan.

Email: samina.quratulain@lums.edu.pk

511646ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X13511646Review of Public Personnel AdministrationQuratulain and Khan

research-article2013

308 Review of Public Personnel Administration 35(4)

Introduction

Red tape is one of the most widely studied subjects in the field of public administration

(Bozeman & Scott, 1996; Kaufman, 1977; Pandey & Kingsley, 2000). According to

Bozeman (2000), red tape is conceptualized as a set of rules that “entail a compliance

burden without advancing the legitimate purpose they were intended to serve” (p.12).

Sometimes this compliance burden is so great that it may affect the performance of

employees and the organization (Brewer & Walker, 2010; Pandey & Moynihan, 2006).

Although, empirical evidence suggest that red tape is associated with a variety of indi-

vidual and organizational-level negative outcomes (Bozeman & Kingsley, 1998;

Moon & Bretschneider, 2002; Scott & Pandey, 2005), little is known about the under-

lying mechanism through which red tape may affect individual employees’ negative

attitudes and behaviors. Similarly, the boundary conditions under which this relation-

ship holds true remains to be investigated.

Our goal in the present study is to contribute to the existing literature in at least four

ways. First, there has been a dearth of research examining the emotional constructs as

mediators between red tape and negative behavioral outcomes (DeHart-Davis &

Pandey, 2005). In this study, we examine the mediating mechanism of resigned satis-

faction, an emotional construct, in the relationship between red tape and negative

employee attitudes and behaviors. Second, we examine the role of PSM, an individual

difference variable, serving as a boundary condition where it can either mitigate or

exacerbate the aforementioned relationship. Therefore, we test the main and interac-

tive effects of PSM with resigned satisfaction on different negative outcomes. Third,

we conducted this study in a non-Western context to examine the applicability of

Western management theory in the South Asian context of Pakistan. Fourth, there is a

paucity of research examining the relationship between red tape and employees’ nega-

tive behaviors in the workplace. We examine the effect of employees’ perceptions of

red tape on behavioral outcomes, in addition to attitudinal outcomes.

Perceptions of red tape originate from excessive bureaucratic controls, which may

lower individual work freedom, foster work detachment, and engender feelings of

powerlessness (Blauner, 1964; Gouldner, 1954). Prior research demonstrated that pro-

cedural constraints that limit employees’ discretion may serve as an antecedent to the

experience of alienation: feeling of powerlessness and meaninglessness, and this feel-

ing reduces job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment

(Lefkowitz & Brigando, 1980; Zeffane & Macdonald, 1993). We argue that a feeling

of powerlessness and meaninglessness may not be the only mechanism through which

perceptions of red tape are translated into different behavioral and attitudinal out-

comes. Resigned satisfaction may also serve as a coping mechanism for the perception

of red tape. Bruggemann (1974) suggests that an employee perceives indistinct dis-

satisfaction when the comparison of his or her need and anticipation of the actual work

situation is negative. Employees with indistinct dissatisfaction can either maintain or

decrease their level of aspiration. Decreasing the level of aspiration leads to resigned

job satisfaction and empirical evidence suggests that satisfied employees may pas-

sively resign from the work situation (Büssing, Bissels, Fuchs, & Perrar, 1999).

Employees working in public sector organizations may find red tape in the form of