Red Tape And Civil Servant’s Organizational Citizenship Behavior

As the government faces the transformation of its functions,it needs to deepen the streamlining of administration and decentralization,and to innovate the supervision mechanism to build a clean,efficient and service-oriented government that satisfies the people.Therefore,transformation and reform will face multiple challenges,and red tape is one of the problems that cannot be ignored.As the implementers of government transformation,as well as satisfactory and high-quality service providers,civil servants attract due attention from the public.This paper points out that individuals in the organization are faced with red tape at all times at work.Red tape is also one of the main factors that negatively affects civil servants.Organizational citizenship behavior is a way for employees in an organization to do work that is beyond their own duties,such as assisting colleagues to complete part of their work.Civil servants who engage in organizational citizenship behavior are better able to perform their tasks and provide quality services to citizens.At present,domestic research has been carried out on red tape and organizational citizenship behavior.But the study of the relationship between the two needs to be enriched.Public service motivations can be regarded as altruistic behavioral motivations which are prevalent in government workforce.Previous studies have proved that public service motivation influences organizational citizenship behavior which can indirectly affect the service quality of the public sector,as well as have an impact on the internal work environment of the public sector.Based on job demands-resources theory,this paper analyzed the relationship between red tape and organizational citizenship behaviors.By treating red tape as a job demand,civil servants have to spend more energy on their work to alleviate the drain of red tape.When civil servants perceive that there is red tape at work,such perceptions can bring about physical fatigue and mental burnout.The job demands brought about by red tape sap the civil servants’ motivation and concentration at work,and prevent the civil servant from focusing on his or her work.Public service motivation can be regarded as an enabling work resource and has a positive effect on civil servants’ engagement in their work.It helps civil servants to overcome obstacles at work,because it psychologically makes them more motivated and more responsible.The work resources brought about by public service motivation help civil servants achieve their work goals and reduce job demands,thus stimulating the individual to engage in work with high energy.To this end,this paper proposes three hypotheses that red tape has a negative impact on organizational citizenship behavior;it also has a negative impact on work engagement;and work engagement has a positive impact on organizational citizenship behavior;Work engagement mediates the relationship between red tape and organizing civic behavior;Public service motivation regulates the negative correlation between red tape perception and employee engagement.This study used the Credamo platform to distribute electronic questionnaires to obtain relevant data.After analyzing data from a valid sample of 209 participants,it was found that red tape has a significant negative impact on work engagement,while work engagement mediates the impact of red tape on organizational citizenship behavior.This means that red tape can deplete the passion and enthusiasm of civil servants,thus lower their interest in the work beyond their duties.Public service motivation positively moderates the relationship between red tape and work engagement,and also positively moderates the mediating mechanism of red tape — work engagement — organizational citizenship behavior.Finally,combining theory and practice,this study presents suggestions for future research,hoping to provide reference to the study of organizational citizenship behavior.