The Public Sector as an Employer of Choice in Germany : The Influence of Work Values on the Attractiveness of Public Employment

As the public sector in Germany will likely increasingly face staffing problems in the coming years, this book approaches the topic of employer attractiveness within the German public sector from an internal perspective, focusing on current employees’ turnover intentions. Using secondary survey data, ordinal logistic regression models are built to explore the influence of the social environment at the workplace, measured by the perception of a participative safety climate, in this context. Therefore, this paper takes its theoretical departure in value research, arguing that values serve as an underlying mechanism that informs behavioral intent and ultimately behavior. Drawing on a concept that has long floated at the periphery of turnover research, this project is largely exploratory in nature, but suggests that a social climate at work that is characterized by trust and support has a negative impact on turnover intentions in the German public sector. Age and employment status are found to not alter the effect, but it is likely mediated by job satisfaction. About the author Luise Renneke has been working as an academic assistant at the Chair of Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Potsdam since completing her Master's degree. She is interested in human resource management issues within the public sector.