Determinants of Public Employees' Quality of Work Life(QWL): With a focus on the relocation of Korean government agencies to Sejong City

This research focuses on several current issues confronting the Korean public sector, such as emphasis on innovation and humanistic values (quality of life and quality of work life), and aims to fill the gap in public service motivation research, such as lack of studies revealing the effects of PSM on QWL. Although several studies on innovation and PSM have demonstrated its positive effects on the organization, studies that reveal the effects on individual QWL are scarce. By incorporating these variables in the research framework, we analyze the determinants of QWL in the Korean public sector. For a more sophisticated analysis, the moderating effects of a non-work domain factor (QOL) between work domain factors (PSM, autonomy, innovative culture, and innovative performance) and QWL are investigated. Furthermore, comparative analysis between two groups (relocated to Sejong and not relocated) is conducted to reflect the issue in practice in the Korean public sector (relocation of government agencies to Sejong). Hypotheses established based on the Person-environment fit (P-E fit), Job demands-resources (JDR), Resources-based view and spillover theory are confirmed through quantitative analysis using survey data on “Korean public employees’ perception” (N = 1,014). Based on the significant results obtained, this study is expected to fill the gap in previous research and provide practical implications.