Correlating organizational well-being and performance assessment in public sector organization: managerial implications from Italy

The concept of public value is related to different dimensions among which work and performance are of particular importance. In this work, we consider organizational well-being and the role of managerial support with reference to work, and citizens’ satisfaction as a relevant factor in measuring and evaluating public performance. Using the data collected through 175 questionnaires administered to the employees of an Italian municipality, this study applies a Mediation Model to analyze the factors influencing the organizational well-being and the role of managerial support, and a Principal Component Analysis to investigate the relationship between organizational well-being and citizens’ satisfaction. The results show that the lack of managerial support can induce civil servants to develop proactive behaviors, which, in turn, can lead to improve citizens’ satisfaction. Consequently, we suggest the implementation of an adequate performance management system that allow managers the possibility of "remote" control which leads to civil servants’ autonomy for a better perceived local governments performance by citizens.