Doing the right thing- but for who? A qualitative study of Australian Academics

This paper sought to assess how internal market orientation (IMO) can be used to improveemployee public service motivation (PSM) and performance for academic staff at Australianuniversities with a view to improve employee performance and service quality. Considerationof a link between IMO and PSM has yet to be made in the literature. This paper presentsresults from a qualitative study, consisting of 20 semi-structured interviews of academicsfrom Australian universities. The results indicate that relationships between theaforementioned variables appear to be present. The performance measures examined mayalso affect the attraction and retention of students and government funding, both of which areessential for the survival of a university, particularly in an environment which is becomingincreasingly competitive. The increasing use of rankings of universities and greatertransparency of outcomes as evidenced by the My University website and Universities GoodGuide, means employee performance is vital.