God in the workplace: Religiosity and job satisfaction among US public servants

Abstract

Given the myriad positive effects of job satisfaction, analyzing its determinants continues to be a much-examined topic in public administration. Research on religiosity in the public sector suggests that faith is uniquely important among bureaucrats. However, the direct effect of religiosity on public employee job outcomes remains unexamined. This study brings together these fields to examine the role that religiosity plays in job satisfaction among public servants. Using a framework that integrates religion into the public sector workplace, I hypothesize that religiosity will have a positive effect on job satisfaction. Drawing on data from the General Social Survey from 2000 to 2016 and through the estimation of an ordered logit model, the findings from this study support this hypothesis. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that religiosity has a direct impact in the public sector workplace. This finding has numerous implications for public mangers-ranging from management practice to service delivery.