Date
9-25-2025
Department
Helms School of Government
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration (PhD)
Chair
Edwin Christmann
Keywords
Herzberg’s two-factor theory, motivation-hygiene theory, job satisfaction, achievement, company policy and administration, recognition, salary, technical supervision.
Disciplines
Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Recommended Citation
Hayes, Robert Curtis, "What is the Relationship Between Herzberg’s Motivation and Hygiene Variables and the Job Satisfaction of Public Administrators?" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7500.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7500
Abstract
What is the relationship between the variables identified by Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory, also known as two-factor theory, and the job satisfaction of public administrators? How can public employers use this theory to advance policies and environments conducive to job satisfaction for their workforces? The problem was a general lack of consensus among the results of scholarly studies investigating the theory. The purpose was to add to the overall body of research toward or against a consensus in a meaningful way. This dissertation employed secondary data to test Herzberg’s theory on bureaucrats. The sample size was limited to the 625,568 workers employed by the USA who completed the 2023 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. A quasi-experimental, cross-sectional design used descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The study explored how the independent motivation variables of achievement and recognition, as well as the hygiene factors of company policy and administration, salary, and technical supervision, may have influenced the dependent, outcome, variable of the job satisfaction of public administrators. The results of this dissertation’s quantitative analysis rejected the null hypothesis that there was no relationship among the variables, instead finding that a relationship did exist. The study, therefore, supported Herzberg’s general assertion that motivation and hygiene variables influenced job satisfaction. Yet, the results also indicated that both motivation and hygiene variables increased job satisfaction. This outcome did not support all the conclusions of Herzberg et al. (1959), which reported only motivation variables increased job satisfaction while hygiene variables merely prevented dissatisfaction. The investigator recommended additional scholarly studies to further clarify the impact of this valuable theory.
