Providing a Model for Developing the Motivation of Public Sector Accountants

Motivation in the public sector is a concept that has become increasingly popular in the public management literature. So far, much research has been conducted in this field. Although most studies deal with the issues related to the relative prevalence of public sector accounting among public sector employees compared to the private sector, they are unaware that creating motivation in the public sector is very ineffective. Therefore, motivation in the public accounting sector has attracted the attention of many researchers because it is expected to improve individual performance in public sector organizations. In today's competitive world, the ability to create new ideas by knowledgeable and value-creating employees is a significant competitive advantage for organizations. In order to achieve this critical thing, human capital should have enough motivation to present creative ideas, and organizations should provide the necessary motivational space for them. Therefore, this research aims to provide a model for developing motivation in public-sector accounting. Work motivation is one of the topics studied intensively by researchers in social sciences. Following Selden and Brewer (2000), researchers have tried to develop a basic theory of motivation among individuals and include different characteristics in this concept. Motivation is often described as intrinsic or extrinsic in human resource management and organizational behaviour. Extrinsic motivation occurs when employees can meet their needs indirectly. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation occurs when people's behavior aims to satisfy intrinsic psychological needs instead of obtaining material rewards. In other words, motivation is considered intrinsic when people do activities for themselves. As can be seen from the definition of intrinsic motivation, it should be self-sustainable and committed, which strengthens employee satisfaction. In any organization (public or private), employees can be motivated by external and internal factors that satisfy their perceptions of success, reward, and satisfaction. 

This research is a type of qualitative research that was conducted using the approach based on the Grounded Theory. The statistical population includes experts in the field of accounting in Iran's public sector, and using a targeted sampling approach, 15 participants were selected as participants in the research. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with a general guidance method in 2020 and 2021. In order to obtain the reliability and validity of the data, two methods of reviewing the participants and the review of non-participating experts were used in the research. 

The findings of the research show that in the proposed model, the background conditions include inherent characteristics, operational characteristics of the public sector, and cultural factors; the causal conditions of the model also include intrinsic/internal factors such as a sense of success and competence, along with external factors such as organizational rewards. As the largest public institution, the government must have accurate and high-quality accounting information to make decisions and fulfill the accountability responsibility. Therefore, realizing this goal requires competent and highly motivated accountants who can help government institutions achieve the desired goals; therefore, the proposed model presented can provide the context to effectively deal with skilled and motivated human capital to provide effective performance in government institutions. Also, the comprehensive identification of factors affecting the motivation of accountants in the public sector, considering the weakness in the domestic and foreign research literature, can lead to the scientific strengthening of this field from a scientific point of view and certainly in the future scientific researches, a wider scientific effort in this important field with Consideration of other new factors will occur. In any case, what is obvious is to pay attention to the fact that today, motivating human capital is a necessary and basic priority for governments, which provides them with a sustainable competitive advantage. 

The consequences of the proposed model are things like improving creativity, improving the level of knowledge and skills of employees, training accountants and creative financial managers, and creating a sense of independence and self-efficacy among people. The research findings show that this study can be a good start for considering the development of accountants' motivation in the public sector. The findings of this research show that the causal conditions of the model also include intrinsic/internal factors such as a sense of success and competence, need for respect, sense of responsibility, self-confidence, independence and autonomy, commitment, satisfaction along with external factors such as organizational rewards, power and reputation, conditions and Better work facilities, public praise, job security and appreciation are among the conditions that will be created in the case of motivation in employees and will lead to amazing achievements of organizational development and prosperity strategy.The findings of the research also indicate that the consequences of the proposed model regarding the development of the motivation of accountants in the public sector are things such as improving creativity, improving the level of knowledge and skills of employees, cultivating creative accountants and financial managers, as well as creating a sense of independence and self-efficacy among people. Another consequence of this model is creating work commitment among employees, increasing learning and in-depth training in the organization's environment, creating communication and interactions with each other, and creating hope in the spirit of accountants, providing instructions and directives to motivate and improve employees.