"They don’t know who we are”: fear-based resistance and HRM in public service

Palermo, O ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6325-8055 and Duarte, H, 2026. "They don’t know who we are”: fear-based resistance and HRM in public service. Review of Public Personnel Administration. ISSN 0734-371X (Forthcoming)

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Abstract

By reframing fear as a strategic resource in HRM, this study explores how public sector organisations can support employees while maintaining operational effectiveness. Efforts to enhance service delivery through efficiency, targets, and accountability create tensions between professional values and corporate imperatives, leading to disengagement. While managers may use fear to align individuals with corporate values, employees can mobilise it as concertive resistance against identity regulation. Setting our study in the UK Probation Service, we reveal how employees’ strategic use of fear challenges managerial control, resisting the divisions imposed by identity regulation and identity threat. Rather than portraying employees as passive subjects of managerialism, we position them as active contributors to reducing the structural, instead of the interpersonal, imbalance between them and managers. Recognising resistance as integral to public management allows HRM frameworks to foster a resilient, engaged workforce, addressing those complexities in an evolving public sector.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Review of Public Personnel Administration
Creators:	Palermo, O. and Duarte, H.
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Date:	13 January 2026
ISSN:	0734-371X
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1177/0734371X261419163 DOI 2570845 Other
Rights:	Accepted for publication in Review of Public Personnel Administration. Reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses.
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	06 Feb 2026 17:16
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2026 17:16
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55209

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