Public Service Motivation,Prosocial Motivation and Altruism: Towards Disentanglement and Conceptual Clarity

Research on public service motivation (PSM) has made great strides in terms of study output. Given the enormous scholarly attention on PSM, it is surprising that considerable conceptual ambiguities and overlaps with related concepts such as prosocial motivation, and altruism still remain. This study addresses this issue by systematically carving out the differences and similarities between these concepts. Taking this approach, this study clarifies the conceptual space of both PSM and the other concepts. Using data from semi-structured interviews with police officers, it is illustrated that PSM and prosocial motivation are different types of motivation leading to different types of prosocial behaviour.     

Public Service Motivation: A Cross-Country Study

This article addresses the relevance of public sector motivation (PSM) among unemployed workers. Despite the growing research interest among many public management and human resource management (HRM) scholars in employment choice, efforts to understand the “working minds” and motivational factors among the unemployed in their pursuit of a future career choice have been almost non-existent in HR scholarship in the public sector, which is critical considering the growing number of unemployed workers both domestically and internationally. Using data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) on Work Orientation modules in 1997 and 2005, this article examines the effects of public service motivation and rewards-based motivation on career decisions among the unemployed in seven countries. Findings indicate that while PSM and extrinsic rewards are positive and significant predictors of choosing to work in the public sector, intrinsic rewards were shown to be in a reversed relationship. Results also indicated that respondents whose previous jobs ended either in dismissal or due to family responsibilities were less likely to choose employment in the public sector compared to those whose previous job ended primarily due to retirement. Implications are discussed.     

Public Service Motivation Scholarship in Africa: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Although several literature reviews have been published on public service motivation (PSM), none of them focused solely on Africa. Adopting a systematic review of the literature, we analyse articles on PSM scholarship in Africa published between 2005 and 2017. We found that authors in African PSM is consistently increasing with their research published in highly ranked peer-reviewed journals. The antecedents and consequences of African PSM are similar to those of Western countries. Finally, respondents of African PSM scholarship are skewed towards “managerist” and students’ perspective. We proposed agenda for African PSM research with four key interest areas.     

In Search of the Holy Grail in Public Service: A Study on the Mediating Effect of Public Service Motivation on Organizational Politics and Outcomes

ABSTRACT

There appears to be a research gap in terms of examining whether PSM will hold fast even in the midst of a politically charged work environment. This article investigates how highly motivated government employees would react to the potentially adverse effects of political perception (POP) on organizational commitment, job satisfaction and workplace stress. The findings indicated that PSM exists among the respondent municipal social workers in the Philippines and that this motivation directly translates to positive outcomes. However, PSM did not have the expected mediating effect which is a departure from the commonly held view about its buffering power and mitigating role.     

Exploring the Deep Antecedent of Public Service Motivation

Contrarily to most studies of the antecedents of public service motivation (PSM) focusing on the proximal work environment or personal characteristics, we seek to explore plausibly important deep antecedents of PSM that lie in the formative years of a person’s upbringing. Using an online survey of public service professionals that asked detailed background questions, we find that three deep antecedents are associated with lower overall PSM and its constitutive elements: growing up in a religious family, growing up in a family with a conservative point of view, and (surprisingly) being raised by a parent who served in the military.     

Bureau Bashing and Public Service Motivation: A Case for the Civil Service of Bangladesh

This paper explains the negative impacts of bureau-bashing on the Public Service Motivation (PSM) of civil servants. It differentiates between policy bashing and rhetoric bashing and argues that while policy bashing may be constructive in nature, rhetoric bashing often de‐motivates bureaucrats in terms of their rational, normative and affective motives (Perry and Wise, 1990 Perry, J.L. and Wise, L.R. 1990. The motivational bases of public service. Public Administration Review, 50(3): 367–373. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] Perry, 1996 Perry, J.L. 1996. Measuring public service motivation: An assessment of construct reliability and validity. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 6(1): 5–22. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) In Bangladesh context, in critiquing public service, the previous attempts aimed to analyze the structural problems and recent attacks are directed towards the bureaucrats themselves. However, there are few empirical studies to measure the performance of bureaucrats by analyzing the initiatives they take and the problems they face in carrying out their responsibilities. Based on Perry &; Wise's (1990 Perry, J.L. and Wise, L.R. 1990. The motivational bases of public service. Public Administration Review, 50(3): 367–373. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) PSM model, we argue that in Bangladesh, bureau bashing is mostly rhetoric and thus it might have created a negative impact on PSM amongst bureaucrats, contributing to the poor state of governance.     

Public Service Motivation in Ghanaian Civil Service: A Case Study of Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality

Civil servants are perceived to possess altruistic motive known as Civil Service Motivation (PSM) which promotes public interest as confirmed in some developed countries. Using the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality as a case study, this article assesses the existence of PSM in the Ghanaian public sector and finds that PSM exists in the public service but its existence does not ensure maximum output. The workers professed having motives such as sense of social justice, compassion, commitment to public interest, self-sacrifice, and sense of civic duty but indicated their unwillingness to commit their future to the public sector because of poor working conditions.     

Talking the Talk of Public Service Motivation: How Public Organization Logics Matter for Employees' Expressions of PSM

This article aims to move beyond the public-private dichotomy in studying public service motivation (PSM) by showing how organizational logics matter for the type of PSM (instrumental, normative, or affective) that employees express. Using data from 50 interviews in police stations, prisons, hospitals, municipalities, and schools, we show that differences in service logic (the user's feeling of the desirability of a service) and user logic (people-changing or people-processing services) matter for employees’ expressions of PSM in that this results in different emphases within public service motivation. We conclude that institutions such as organizational logics matter for PSM expressions and that research on PSM should account for differences between public service-providing organizations.     

The Role of Public Service Motivation in Employee Work Engagement: A Test of the Job Demands-Resources Model

The study investigates the nature of public service motivation’s (PSM) relationship to employee work engagement. Using the Job Demands-Resource Model, the authors compare whether PSM as a resource is an antecedent to employee work engagement or has a buffering effect on job hindrances of perceived red tape in explaining employee work engagement. They surveyed 388 supervisors and managers in a public-sector organization in the United States. The findings support PSM as an antecedent along with perceived job influence and perceived procurement red tape to employee work engagement.     

Public Service Motivation and Job Sector Choice: Evidence from a Developing Country

This article explores the determinants of actual job sector decisions of highly skilled professionals across four different sectors in a developing country, with a particular interest in the relationship with public service motivation (PSM). Unlike most previous cross-sectional studies, it uses a pooled time series of individual antecedents and job characteristics, both before and after the individuals leave the job market to pursue graduate education abroad. The results indicate that there are key differences in terms of the determinants of job sector choices across the four sectors, and that PSM appears to have a differential role on the attraction of individuals to each of those sectors.     

Corporate Social Responsibility,Public Service Motivation and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Public Sector

This article examines the mediating role of public service motivation (PSM) on the relationship between employees’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A sample of employees working in public sector banks in Egypt completed a structured questionnaire comprising of questions regarding CSR perceptions and PSM. Immediate supervisors rated the OCB of employees who responded to the survey. Results reported in the paper found the following: a) Employee perceptions of both internal and external CSR had a positive influence on the development of employee desire to serve the public; b) PSM partially mediated the relationship between internal CSR perceptions and employee OCB; c) PSM fully mediated the relationship between external CSR perceptions and OCB. This study extends current knowledge of the theoretical foundations surrounding CSR at the individual-level of analysis and offers practical implications by stressing the importance of employee desire to serve the public.     

Public Service Motivation and Psychological Ownership in Taiwan’s Government-Owned Enterprises

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive power of each dimension of public service motivation on psychological ownership in a Taiwan sample. The sample consisted of 1087 employees from four government-owned enterprises. The research found that for all government-owned enterprises compassion was significantly negatively correlated with psychological ownership, while commitment to the public interest and self-sacrifice were significantly positively correlated with psychological ownership. Moreover, theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

The Link Between Public Service Motivation and Volunteering: The Case of South Korean Civil Servants

Despite the consensus on volunteering as a behavioral consequence of public service motivation (PSM), research has not yet empirically examined how various PSM constructs relate to an individual’s volunteering, and the underlying mechanism between PSM and volunteering remains a mystery. This study identifies common motivational grounds between PSM and volunteering and examines how the four PSM types—rational, normative, affective, and self-sacrifice—predict public service employees’ volunteering. The findings from the survey of employees in the Korean National Government suggest a connection between public employees’ volunteering and the rational dimension of PSM, i.e., their desire to influence public policy process.     

Recent Administrative and Managerial Practices and Public Service Motivation: Evidence from Seoul City Government,South Korea

This study aims to investigate the impact of recent administrative and managerial practices of public organizations on public service motivation. Using data from a survey of 1840 civil servants in Seoul City Government, this research uses hierarchical linear modeling to empirically assess the aforementioned associations. The results show that recent administrative and managerial practices have both positive and negatives on public service motivation. At the end of the study, the administrative and managerial implications of the study are also discussed in light of these results.     

Satisfaction with and Success of Employee Training from a Public Service Motivation Perspective

New public management requires modernization processes, including modern human resource practices, to enhance public sector performance. According to human capital theory, well-qualified and highly motivated public sector employees improve institutional performance; this study investigates the extent to which employee training as human resource practice can enhance one component of employees’ public service motivation (PSM), namely public interest, and their competencies as employee outcome. We examine public interest as a mediator or a moderator of the relationship between satisfaction with employee training and the resulting competence gain. The findings indicate a positive direct effect of satisfaction with employee training on competence gains and a mediating effect of public interest.     

The Public Sector as the Employer of Choice among Youth in Egypt: The Relevance of Public Service Motivation Theory

Young people in Egypt want to work in the public sector, even if they get less pay there than at the private sector. This article seeks to explain the attractiveness of public-sector jobs to this group, embedding this experience within the literature and theorization on public service motivation (PSM) and discussing its relevance. Issues of trust, respect, and social status are reflected in the discourse of interviewed youth about this job preference. A generation-held and culturally-ingrained appreciation among the educated to work in the public sector also contributes to this sector preference. Qualitative and quantitative data also show that extrinsic benefits of job security and stability are also pivotal to this preference. The analysis in the article suggests a holistic reading of motivational factors to join the public sector in contexts of job scarcity and labor surplus.     

Comparison of a Multidimensional to a Unidimensional Measure of Public Service Motivation: Predicting Work Attitudes

Significant research has been conducted to understand public service motivation (PSM) in the past decades using either multidimensional or unidimensional measures. This creates uncertainty in the review process about whether findings using one approach hold when other measures are used. PSM research faces the challenge of developing a better understanding of different PSM measures and the relationships between them. This paper compares a multidimensional to a unidimensional measure of PSM, assessing the predictive validity of PSM on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and person–organization fit. The empirical test shows that there is no significant difference in the predictive capacities of PSM on the work attitudes within the data set when using the different PSM measures. It provides some evidence that unidimensional and multidimensional measures of PSM are of comparable utility, at least within the data set used.     

Effects of Public Service Motivation on Turnover and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Teacher Labor Market

A substantial body of research has addressed the importance of the match between the person and the organization, or jobs for individuals and organizational outcomes across diverse fields. Despite growing attention to the role of the person–environment (P–E) fit, there are few studies incorporating the characteristics of jobs in the relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and job satisfaction. Drawing on the growing literature concerning PSM and teacher recruitment and retention, this study investigates whether altruistic work values, such as a strong altruistic desire and a preference for correcting social inequity, affect job satisfaction and teacher turnover.     

Comparing Welfare Service Delivery Among Public,Nonprofit and For-Profit Work Agencies

Since passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, there has been a proliferation of contracting for welfare services, specifically around Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and related benefits and services such as child care. The services most commonly contracted include those around the work or employment function, such as training, education, job placement, and support services to promote job entry or retention.

The purpose of this article is to examine differences in the quality of service provision among public, nonprofit, and for-profit auspices in the delivery of work-based welfare reform services. The findings show that there are some differences in welfare programs across the three sectors. The significance of this issue relates to the critical question of whether social needs can be best met through competitive outsourcing.     

Public Service Recruitment Practices and Implications for Sustainable Development in Ebonyi State,Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Despite several reforms in Ebonyi public service, little or no indices of sustainable development has been recorded in decades. This study aims at examining the aspect of recruitment processes and how guaranteed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) attainment is affected. The findings drawn from three different ministries in Ebonyi State Civil Service (EBSCS) reveal that the processes of recruitment are characterized by nepotism, political interference devoid of merit, and professionalism. This implies that guaranteed sustainable development in Ebonyi state is at risk of attainment. This conclusion proves the relationship between Public Service Recruitment (PSR) processes and development. In view of the above, it argues that a new PSR reform should be instituted if the country is to achieve the targets set in the SDGs. This is hoped to promote accountability, transparency, and sound administrative governance in the public sector.