Implementing of the COM-B Model in In-Service Training of Civil Servants as a Prerequisite for Effective Public Governance

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify how the reshaped COM-B model-based refresher courses for the civil servants influences the sampled students’ intrinsic motives of performing their job functions and to identify how the students perceived the upgraded course that used the COM-B model. The study combined an exploratory design that was used in the baseline phase and a one-group-based pre-test-post-test design that was used in the quasi-experimental intervention. It used the data collection tools such as the baseline study online survey, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, the HR departments’ assessment reports, the Awareness of Public Service Legislation Test, and the focus group survey questionnaire. The IBM SPSS Statistics (25.0.0.1) was used to process the data. The reshaped COM-B model-based refresher courses for the civil servants are capable to influence positively the sampled students’ intrinsic motives of performing their job functions. The use of the COM-B model provides a triple influence on the intrinsic motives of the civil servants, changes their behaviour, and increases their work performance level. It was found that respondents benefited from the challenges of performing different roles in the civil service that they experienced in the course. They upgraded their professional knowledge. The extrinsic motivation factors dominate the civil servants’ motivation and the management of public institutions underperforms in identifying and using the appropriate solutions to stimulate the inner motivation in civil servants for higher standards of their work performance. The civil servants should receive yearly training using more student-focused methods, the cognition function development-aimed, and function-through-context-based.

Received: 12 December 2020 / Accepted: 9 April 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021