The Relationship Between Perceived Workplace Bureaucracies, Self-Efficacy and Job Motivation Over the COVID-19 Pandemic

Workplace bureaucracies impact many areas of an employee’s working life. High levels of perceived bureaucracy can diminish employees’ job motivation, satisfaction, and performance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, infection containment measures contributed significantly to the ‘great resignation’ via the lack of self-efficacy from perceived bureaucracy. This study surveyed 240 full-time employees between late 2021 and early 2022 across organizations in both private and public sectors in Singapore using the Work Extrinsic Intrinsic Motivation scale, the Workplace Bureaucracy questionnaire, and the General Self-Efficacy scale alongside demographic data collection. Results showed that salary range, education levels, self-efficacy and job motivation were negatively associated with perceived workplace bureaucracies but not gender, age, and length of employment. The study’s findings provide insight into the effect of increased perceived bureaucracy during the COVID-19 pandemic on employee experience that would be relevant to the workplace environment even in regular times as a possible intervention point for better employee experience.