The Nature of Learning Climate in Public Administration: A Cross-Sectorial Examination of Its Relationship With Employee Job Involvement, Proactivity, and Creativity

To study the relation of learning climate in public organizations to desired employee performance in this sector, namely proactivity and creativity, we engaged a sample of 227 public-sector employees, 295 business-sector employees, and their supervisors, from an array of public and business organizations in Israel. The hypothesized relation was examined as a moderated mediation model where employment sector (public vs. business) moderated the indirect relation of learning climate to employee proactivity and creativity (through job involvement). Results were consistent with our theoretical model: Learning climate in the public-sector workplace was positively associated with employee job involvement, proactivity, and creativity. The indirect relation of learning climate to employee proactivity and creativity (through job involvement) was moderated by employment sector (public vs. business). We conclude that learning climate is meaningful for public administration theory and practice and deserves dedicated sectorial research as it is an important tool to foster employee performance, tapping into present challenges before the public sector.