Give up any notion of free time: a study of UK pension trusteeship, social commitment and

public service motivation

Dr Susan Sayce Norwich Business School University of East Anglia

Committing to UK Pension Trusteeship

Aim• To explore UK occupational pension trustee’s

motivation to participate in an often voluntary role.

Background • Pension Act 2004 changed the composition of

pension board to include a third of elected members.

Committing to UK Pension Trusteeship

• Methods• 15 interviews with a cross-section of pension

trustees.• Survey sent out to National Association

Pension Funds and TUC pension trustees. (143 responses)

Qualitative Interviews

• Appointed trustees sometimes had little choice whether to do the job ‘Hobson choice’ (Pen Tst 3)

• Recognised that elected pension trustee motives may be a complex mix of motives but that ‘altruism should be in there somewhere’ (Pen Tst 4).

• Acknowledge notion of self-interest (rational motive) but also ‘a sense of duty in doing the role’ (Pen tst 6).

Relevance of Motivational Factors TUC NAPF Total

1 I could make a useful contribution to pension activity 60 75 135

2 Welcomed intellectual challenge of pension trusteeship 50 74 124

3 Representing the membership was a major driver 58 52 110

4 I was concerned about the welfare of fellow citizens 50 54 104

5 I was concerned with notions of equity/fairness 50 48 98

6 I felt a moral obligation 39 53 92

7 It was seen as a continuation of my existing job role 24 42 66

8 I valued the power and significance of performing this role 26 36 62

9 It offered opportunity for future progression 19 31 50

Table 1. Motivational Factors for Becoming a Trustee

Public Service Motivation

• Ambachtsheer (2007:15) argues that the ‘primary motivation of board members must be public service.’

• Economists have directly linked altruistic elements to PSM (Perry et al 2010)

• ‘Give up all other interests as the role is very time-consuming’ (TUC survey 12).

PSM and Rational, Affective and Norm-based Motives

• Affective motive suggest that individuals have a sense of emotional attachment about the importance of their role, a sense of doing good.

• Norm-based motives include how individual’s reasoning can have an ethical dimension (equality and fairness)

• Rational motives linked to self-interest to use policy-making as a way to promote that interest

PSM Theoretical Framework

• 1. Commitment to public interests that include public values and a sense of duty (Perry 1996)

• 2. Compassion, which includes doing good for others by improving services.

• 3. Attraction to policy-making and public participation• 4.Self-sacrifice of one’s own needs • 5. User orientation, motivation to help the specific user of public services(Andersen and Pedersen 2012:48)

Multiple motives

• Multiple reasons for becoming a trustee. • While rational motives of self-interest could

be a push factor. There also was a sense of social commitment and an attraction to policy-making/public participation

• The role is important to my financial future, but I hope that other capable and committed people would be prepared to do the same.’ (NAPF 134)

Affective Motives and User orientation

• ‘members wishes were being discounted by the Company and my demeanour and job role allows me to seek to ensure member’s concerns are listened to and addressed.’ (NAPF 81)

• ‘to keep an employee on the board to watch management after Maxwell’s crime’ (TUC28)

Conclusion

• A focus on PSM and more recent developments of an expanded framework around user orientation has reinforced the link between social commitment in motivation and engagement, which is fundamental to pension trusteeship.

• The need for social commitment extends across both public and private sectors.

• A more explicit articulation of ‘social altruism’ by practitioners and academics helps to highlight the moral as well as legal and economic aspects of the role which could impact on recruitment and selection at an institutional level (Perry et al 2010:684).

References• Ambachtsheer, K. (2007) ‘The three grades of pension fund governance

quality: Bad, better, and best’ Working Paper, July 2007 1-12 Rotman Management School, University of Toronto.

• Andersen, LB. and Pedersen, LH.(2012)’Public service motivation and professionalism’ International Journal of Public Administration 35: 46-57.

• Perry, JL. (1996) ‘Measuring Public Service Motivation: An Assessment of Construct Reliability and Validity.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 6: 5- 22

• Perry, Jl. And Hondeghem, A. (2008) ‘Building Theory and Empirical Evidence about Public Service Motivation’ International Public Management Journal 11:1 3-12.

• Perry, JL., Hondeghem, A. and Wise, LR. (2010) ‘Revisiting the motivational bases of public service: Twenty years of research and an agenda for the future’ Public Administration Review Sept/Oct 681-690.