The Influence of Incentive Systems on Public Servant Performance: A Review of the International Literature

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-709-5_106How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Incentives; Employee Performance; Public Sector; Motivation; Performance Management

Abstract

The performance of public servants is an important issue in realizing effective, accountable, and responsive governance. One of the instruments that is often used to improve performance is the incentive system, both in the form of financial compensation and non-financial awards. However, the effectiveness of incentives in the public sector is still up for debate. International studies show that pay-for-performance can drive short-term productivity but is often unsustainable and potentially distorts behavior. In contrast, non-financial incentives such as recognition, career development, and work flexibility have been shown to more consistently increase employee intrinsic motivation and loyalty. This study uses a systematic literature review approach to various international studies, including from Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. The results of the synthesis show the need for a combination of financial and non-financial incentives that are aligned with the value of public services, evaluation transparency, and ethical leadership. Policy implications emphasize the importance of adaptive and sustainable incentive design, while future research agendas need to explore developing country contexts, longitudinal studies, and integration with the sustainability (ESG) agenda.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Arthur Merold Sahusilawane
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/20
TI  - The Influence of Incentive Systems on Public Servant Performance: A Review of the International Literature
BT  - Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Accounting, Management, and Economics (10th ICAME 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1517
EP  - 1535
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-709-5_106
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-709-5_106
ID  - Sahusilawane2026
ER  -