Public Service Motivation

The quality of public management is a recurrent concern in many countries. Calls to attract the economy's best and brightest managers to the public sector abound. This paper studies self-selection into managerial and non-managerial positions in the public and private sector, using a model of a perfectly competitive economy where people differ in managerial ability and in public service motivation. We find that, if demand for public sector output is not too high, the equilibrium return to managerial ability is always highest in the private sector. As a result, relatively many of the more able managers self-select into the private sector. Since this outcome is efficient, our analysis implies that attracting a more able managerial workforce to the public sector by increasing remuneration to private-sector levels is not cost-efficient.

A fragmentação teórica do campo da motivação gera dificuldades para a construção do conhecimento e para a aplicabilidade prática dos estudos motivacionais. Recentemente, o conceito de engajamento tem emergido na literatura e auxiliado na superação dessa fragmentação, permitindo a comparabilidade dos estudos. Esta pesquisa mergulha no interior da administração pública e investiga as diferenças entre servidores de alto e baixo engajamento em três diferentes realidades: fiscais de rua de atividades urbanas, servidores da assistência social e funcionários de áreas administrativas, de um município de grande porte. O estudo mobiliza, também, resultados de pesquisas recentes sobre public service motivation (PSM), buscando compreender a relação entre valores individuais e aspectos organizacionais para explicar o engajamento desses servidores. A aplicabilidade analítica da PSM para estudos no Brasil é discutida. A pesquisa utiliza técnicas quantitativas e qualitativas de forma combinada. Aplicou-se um survey com 443 indivíduos dos três casos, a partir do qual foram identificados servidores nos extremos do engajamento. Em seguida, foram realizadas 59 entrevistas semiestruturadas com estes servidores. Finalmente, executou-se uma série de testes estatísticos, dentre eles a modelagem de equações estruturais, para identificar os determinantes do engajamento. O modelo investigado explicou 41% das variações do engajamento. O estudo contribui para o conhecimento sugerido proposições teóricas de médio alcance, menores, mais contextuais, porém mais úteis para descortinar a complexidade da motivação do servidor público brasileiro.

One's position in an alphabetically sorted list may be important in determining access to oversubscribed public services. Motivated by anecdotal evidence, we investigate the importance of the position in the alphabet of Czech students for their admission chances into oversubscribed schools. Empirical evidence based on the population of students graduating from secondary schools and applying to universities is consistent with the use of alphabet in admission procedures at both secondary and tertiary level. A simple student-school matching model suggests that the repeated use of such admissions implies potential e¢ ciency losses.

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, 1996) 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) 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.

Wenn über die digitale Transformation der Verwaltung gesprochen wird, werden Aktionen von
Verwaltungsakteuren vorausgesetzt. Einer Aktion vorgeschaltet ist die Motivation, denn sie ist per
Definition die Bereitschaft, ein bestimmtes Verhalten zu zeigen. Ohne die richtige Art der Motivation in
der Belegschaft einer Organisation kann daher flächendeckende digitale Transformation nicht
vonstattengehen. Daraus ergibt sich die Forschungsfrage: Welche Motivation haben Fachkräfte
heutzutage, in den öffentlichen Dienst zu gehen?
Der Beantwortung der Frage widmet sich die Untersuchung der Public Service Motivation (PSM). Dahinter
steht die Untersuchung der Ausprägung idealistischer Motive, in den öffentlichen Dienst zu gehen. Das
Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, im ersten Schritt die Ausprägung von PSM in der Belegschaft und im Nachwuchs
niedersächsischer Kommunen zu erheben, im zweiten Schritt Kausalitäten einer solchen Ausprägung für
das (zukünftige) Organisationsverhalten zu bestimmen und im dritten Schritt auf dieser Grundlage
Konsequenzen für das kommunale Personalmanagement herzuleiten.
Dazu wurden Erhebungen an Verwaltungskräften in der Ausbildung (n = 1.025), Verwaltungsmitarbeitenden
(n = 261) und kommunalen Personalmanagern (n = 26) in Niedersachsen durchgeführt. Die
Ergebnisse zeigen zum einen eine Verbreitung deutlich überwiegender egoistisch-rationaler Motivation
für den öffentlichen Dienst, die auch Public Sector Motivation genannt wird, wobei hier zwischen den
Erhebungsgruppen differenziert werden kann. Zum anderen zeigt sich eine Lücke zwischen den
Erwartungen der Personalmanager auf der einen und den Mitarbeitenden auf der anderen Seite.
Auf Grundlage der erhobenen Daten ist die wichtigste Empfehlung für das kommunale Personalmanagement
bereits im Einstellungsverfahren einen Fokus auf die Ausprägung von PSM zu legen und
den Person-Organisation-Fit zum Zentrum der Personalauswahl zu machen. Weiterer Forschungsbedarf
ergibt sich aus der Unklarheit darüber, inwieweit Instrumente des Personalmanagements die PSM
beeinflussen können.

This article explores the process by which formal management systems foster the creation of shared organization values, addressing the basic question: Can workplace values be "managed?" Drawing upon interviews conducted at a Department of Defense installation with civilian employees and managers over a 5-year period, we use comparative case analysis to explore differences in the relationships between installation practices and social values across highperforming and low-performing work units. Our findings suggest that strategic values are motivating to employees to the extent that they reflect employees' internal affective, normative, and task-oriented values, a zone of existing values. Although values management is a social process that results from routine interactions, formal management systems provide opportunities to enhance the social interactions that are motivating to employees. Middle managers play key roles in using formal management systems to integrate the organization's strategic practices with values that derive from employees' societal, cultural, and religious experiences.

Many scholars and practitioners of public administration converge on the belief that some individuals are predisposed to perform public service. James L. recently clarified the public service motivation (PSM) construct and proposed a measurement scale. The present study builds on and extends this important stream of research by examining how individuals view the motives associated with public service. Specifically, we use an intensive research technique called Q-methodology to examine the motives of 69 individuals. We identify four distinct conceptions of PSM: individuals holding these conceptions are referred to as samaritans, communitarians, patriots, and humanitarians. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Gene A. Brewer is a scholar-practitioner of public administration. His primary areas of research are administrative theory and reform, public service motivation, and bureaucratic accountability in democratic government. His recent work has appeared in

Entrepreneurship has been a core interest in public administration theory and practice. The focus on entrepreneurial practices is important because it may address the increasing demand to effectively and efficiently enhance government performance. Some perceives that shifting organizational strategies towards innovation may encourage or undermine individual motivation and behavior. While various studies evaluated the consequences of entrepreneurial

Public sector organizations, namely governments, are described as "non-productive and inefficient organization". This negative image of public sector organizations has arisen as a consequence of low public sector organization performance. Public sector performance improvement can be done by manipulating motivational dimensions of public service employee. This research aims to empirically test effect of public service motivation and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on organizational performance in the public sector of Indonesia. In addition, this study also focuses on individual factor of motivation, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. This paper employed 108 respondens that were sampled using convenient sampling. The result showed that there were positive significant influences of public service motivation and job satisfaction on organizational performance. Unfortunately, this study failed to give a proof that OCB influences organizational performance. Moreover, this study showed that there is differences level of motivational between men and women. On average, women have job satisfaction and public service motivation higher than men. This imply that women more satisfy at work than men, and women more likely to value intrinsic reward than men.

This study examined the relationship between public service motivation (PSM), volunteerism, the filing of Veterans Administration (VA) claims and a veteran’s receptiveness to joining The American Legion (TAL). As moderating variables, age, gender, education, military service period, and membership status were tested to determine the impact on PSM. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from 345 veterans. Public service motivation (PSM) and volunteerism theories served as the theoretical framework for investigating the relationship. Results indicate no relationship between PSM, volunteerism, the filing of VA claims and receptiveness to joining TAL. There was no statistical support for the moderating effects of age, education, military service period, and membership status on PSM, however, gender was significant. No relationship was found between PSM and volunteerism. Participants make their decision on where to volunteer based on the population served, organizational characteristics, and personal motivations. Feelings about membership in The American Legion responses were categorized by membership status, perceptions of the organization at the national and local levels, and trends in the veteran community. Additional comments disclosed barriers and opportunities to resolving veteran’s issues.

Since 1990, there has been significant research interest to understand what motivates individuals working within the public sector. This research interest has been labeled public service motivation. Two factors common to this research: the idea that public sector organizations have different constraints imposed than do private sector organizations; and, that individuals attracted to the public sector differ from individuals in the private sector on several dimensions. This paper acknowledges the legacy of public service motivation research but argues for more concrete, empirical research focusing on public service behavior.

Research on public service motivation (PSM) has paid attention to the concept of fit to identify underlying mechanisms of the relationship between PSM and beneficial outcomes such as higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Nonetheless, there have been rare studies aimed at theoretically comparing PSM with the person–environment (P–E) fit. In this article, PSM is reviewed from the perspective of P–E fit, not only because PSM and P–E fit share some theoretical
perspectives, such as job attraction, employee rewards, and individual performance, but also because incorporating the concept of PSM into the fit framework may allow
us to better understand PSM and enhance its theoretical development. This article concludes that PSM has a complementary relationship with P–E fit as the two provide
more concrete and valid explanations for job applications, outcomes, and rewards when they are incorporated.

This research examines the influence of organizational factors—intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, work relations with management, and work relations with co-workers—on the relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and two
work outcomes: job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Using data from the 2005 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes of over 2,200 employees in the Australian public and private sectors, this study found a direct and significant association between the two work outcomes and PSM (and the PSM-fit variable). Despite their significant and direct effects on the work outcomes, the organizational factors did not show any significant moderating effects on the relationships between PSM-fit and the two work outcomes.

This article empirically connects Moskos' Institutional-Occupational model to the large body of cross-nationally validated research on public service motivation (PSM). We find that in our sample, the PSM construct is positively correlated with institutional motivations that reflect Moskos' insights. We also find evidence that the four dimensions of PSM (Attraction to Public Participation, Commitment to Public Values, Self-sacrifice, and Compassion) may offer a more nuanced way to assess institutional motivations. Our research suggests that those interested in military recruitment/retention/performance and public administration scholars may have much to learn from each other. We call for further research in this area.

Public sector organizations, namely governments, are described as " non-productive and inefficient organization ". This negative image of public sector organizations has arisen as a consequence of low public sector organization performance. Public sector performance improvement can be done by manipulating motivational dimensions of public service employee. This research aims to empirically test effect of public service motivation and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on organizational performance in the public sector of Indonesia. In addition, this study also focuses on individual factor of motivation, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. This paper employed 108 respondens that were sampled using convenient sampling. The result showed that there were positive significant influences of public service motivation and job satisfaction on organizational performance. Unfortunately, this study failed to give a proof that OCB influences organizational performance. Moreover, this study showed that there is differences level of motivational between men and women. On average, women have job satisfaction and public service motivation higher than men. This imply that women more satisfy at work than men, and women more likely to value intrinsic reward than men.

Researchers concerned with organizational change
have consistently emphasized the role that the work
environment plays in employee acceptance of change.
Underexamined in the public management literature,
however, is the role that employee values, particularly
public service motivation (PSM), may play in employee
acceptance of change. Some scholars have noted a positive
correlation between employee PSM and organizational
change eff orts; this article extends this work by attempting
to isolate the mechanisms that explain this relationship.
Using data from a survey of employees in a city
undergoing a reorganization and reduction in workforce,
the authors fi nd that only employees who scored high on
a single dimension of PSM—self-sacrifi ce—were more
likely than others to support organizational change.
Rather than support changes for their potential to
improve public service, this fi nding suggests that employees
with higher PSM may simply be less likely to resist
changes that might disadvantage them personally.

Most public service motivation (PSM) research compares government and business employees. This article fits into an emerging body of research that links PSM to volunteer activity. PSM is a needs-based approach to motivation. People may sate this need in ways other than direct government service. In this article, the authors investigate the relationship between PSM and charitable decisions. They surveyed undergraduate students at North Carolina State University using Perry's PSM instrument and antecedent questions. To further investigate students' motivations toward public service, they asked an additional series of questions focused on volunteering and donating choices. The authors find that students with higher levels of PSM are more likely to choose to engage in charitable activity. Individual characteristics such as family income, political identity, sex, religiosity, family socialization, and high school volunteering experiences are also significantly related to the choices students make about engaging in charitable activities.

Motivation is believed to be one of the most important variables in contemporary human resource management, both in the private and the public sector. In this paper we try to give a review of different theories of work motivation. We also provide empirical testing for the hypotheses which can be derived from these theories. The data for these tests are based on two surveys concerning motivational factors in the Belgian public sector. These data have been collected by researchers at the Public Management Institute of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven over the past ten years.

Employees with higher public service motivation (PSM) are likely to perform better in public service jobs. However, research on how practitioners may capitalize on this knowledge is sparse. This article expands the understanding of how to activate employee PSM, which is understood as a human resource that is present in the work environment. Using a randomized survey experiment with 528 law students, this article shows how low-intensity treatments may activate PSM and how the effect of PSM activation efforts compares with efforts to activate another, less self-determined type of motivation (relating to the need for feelings of self-importance). The findings are robust and suggest that low-intensity efforts to activate PSM have a positive effect on an individual's behavioral inclinations. However, efforts toward the activation of motivation relating to feelings of self-importance appear to engender an effect of similar size.

Many scholars and practitioners of public administration converge on the belief that some individuals are predisposed to perform public service. James L. recently clarified the public service motivation (PSM) construct and proposed a measurement scale. The present study builds on and extends this important stream of research by examining how individuals view the motives associated with public service. Specifically, we use an intensive research technique called Q-methodology to examine the motives of 69 individuals. We identify four distinct conceptions of PSM: individuals holding these conceptions are referred to as samaritans, communitarians, patriots, and humanitarians. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Gene A. Brewer is a scholar-practitioner of public administration. His primary areas of research are administrative theory and reform, public service motivation, and bureaucratic accountability in democratic government. His recent work has appeared in

* This research was selected for the special issue of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), Working Group 8.6 2007 annual conference (see the entry for this conference). This publication is part of the special issue.

Given the importance of contextual influences on the diffusion of innovations, the theories and methodologies that take context into account are increasingly relevant to research and practice. One such approach, the systems of innovation approach, considers context to be a cascading set of effects arising from various participants and innovations surrounding the production and diffusion of a focal innovation. Based on this approach, we focus on a public program involved in the diffusion of e-business systems to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). E-business systems are complex innovations, and the contextual influences are particularly important here, because SMEs often lack the knowledge and resources to strategically adopt, modify, and use these innovations. Using the systems of innovation approach, we examined the contexts around public program interventions with an SME in order to explain their form and influence on e-business adoption processes. The empirical findings suggest that many public programs fail to effectively deliver interventions because program contexts restrict program personnel's ability to completely assess and respond to the range of adopter needs. While some aspects of the program contexts can be altered by the program directors, others are further removed and are currently beyond our collective control at this point-in-time. The implications for diffusion research and practice are discussed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the behavioural consequences of public service motivation (PSM) and how motivation relates to an individual’s call to serve both inside and outside of
the workplace. More specifically, this study examines whether and how PSM relates to prosocial behaviours – volunteering and giving – and career ambitions to work in the government or non-profit sector among public affair graduate students.
Design/methodology/approach – Logistic regression is used to examine the PSM link using a composite of the 40-item scale, each of the six dimensions – commitment to the public interest, civic duty, social justice, attraction to policymaking, compassion, and self-sacrifice – and the five-item scale from the Merit Principles Survey. The analyses draw upon data from a unique online survey of 122 graduate students in Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy programmes.
Findings – The results indicate that people with higher levels of PSM are more likely to want to work in public service and volunteer. However, mixed results were found for the relationship between PSM and giving charitable donations and career ambitions to work in government and no link was found for career ambitions to work in the non-profit sector.
Originality/value – This paper answers calls to examine the dimensions of PSM and examines Perry’s (1996) original conception. The results provide practical implications for human resource managers as
well as non-profit and public managers in recruiting and retaining employees and volunteers.

This paper explores how other-oriented motivations: Sense of Community Responsibility (SOC-R) and Public Service Motivation (PSM) relate to voluntary support during the Covid-19 crisis. Drawing on original panel survey data, collected spring 2020, it compares SOC-R and PSM for civic participation. The study reveals that while both forms of motivations relate to voluntary support, PSM remains stable over time while SOC-R varies. Furthermore, SOC-R develops differently over time for those who engage in voluntary support and those who do not. Such heterogeneity is not observed for PSM. Based on these findings, the paper discusses SOC-R’s contribution to public service resilience.

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This research note reports a confirmatory factor analysis for three of Perry's (1996) public service motivation (PSM) subdimensions: self-sacrifice, commitment to public interest, and compassion. A mail survey of national award-winning volunteers constitutes the sample. Results indicate strong support for Perry's instrument, most noticeably better results for self-sacrifice than those found in Perry's original exploratory work. Implications and recommendations for PSM instrument development are discussed.

As the scholarly research on public service motivation (PSM) has grown and the geographic scope of the research has expanded, there is growing concern about whether the conceptual composition and dimensionalities of PSM are appropriate for explaining and predicting public service-related behavior in different countries and internationally. For doing cross-national research and comparison, we need to assure that the dimensionalities are stable and a measure of PSM can be used confidently. This article sets out a strategy for convergence internationally in research and measurement approaches. It will review research to assess commonalities in the content of PSM internationally, and revise the construct and operational definition of PSM to develop a more universal construct that can be used globally and is more likely to generate cumulative knowledge. There are three significant subjects that need to be analyzed in this study. They are to sharpen the concept of PSM by refining the conceptual components in Perry and Wise's (1990) study, to clarify the dimensionalities of PSM by refining the four dimensions in Perry's (1996) scale, and to specify the relationship between PSM and its dimensions by comparing a reflective measure with a formative one. After reviewing the previous studies, we propose that public service motives are based on self-sacrifice and can fall into three categories (instrumental, value-based, and identification motives) and that the dimensions of the PSM construct are refined as attraction to public participation, commitment to public values, compassion, and self-sacrifice. We also suggest that developing more appropriate items for better discriminant validity is essential for further research. The careful consideration of the relationships between PSM and its dimensions shows that it is more reasonable to define PSM as a formative construct: first-order reflective and second-order formative.

Employing workers with Public Service Motivation (PSM) has been proposed as a means of improving performance in the public sector. In this article, we investigate whether PSM affects the sorting of workers between the private and the public sectors, paying particular attention on ...

This article empirically connects Moskos' Institutional-Occupational model to the large body of cross-nationally validated research on public service motivation (PSM). We find that in our sample, the PSM construct is positively correlated with institutional motivations that reflect Moskos' insights. We also find evidence that the four dimensions of PSM (Attraction to Public Participation, Commitment to Public Values, Self-sacrifice, and Compassion) may offer a more nuanced way to assess institutional motivations. Our research suggests that those interested in military recruitment/retention/performance and public administration scholars may have much to learn from each other. We call for further research in this area.

Studies in public administration hypothesize the direct effect of public service motivation (PSM) on employee attitudes and behavior. We examine the relationship between public employees' perceptions of procedural fairness on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and propose the moderating effect of PSM dimensions on the aforementioned relationships. Using a sample of 232 respondents drawn from multiple public service organizations, our findings indicate a positive relationship between procedural fairness perceptions and employee work outcomes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). PSM dimensions of attraction to policy making (rational motive) and public interest (normative motive) moderate the relationship between procedural fairness and employee outcomes. However, their effect was significant only for individuals who experienced low levels of these motivations. The moderating effect of compassion (affective motive) was significant for individuals possessing high level of compassion. The implications and future research directions are discussed.

Studies have argued that the higher levels of public service motivation found in bureaucrats as compared to others lead to the positive civic and political behaviors seen in government employees. This study extends those findings to see if high PSM could have any negative effects on these same behaviors. Drawing from research on identity theory, it is hypothesized that a salient “public service identity” could contribute to bureaucrats being more apt than others to report that they have voted in elections when they actually had not. Logit models using data covering a span of almost thirty years in the United States find support for the hypothesis. This work suggests that viewing PSM through the lens of identity theory may have broad implications for the field of public administration.

The existence and e¤ects of public service motivation (PSM), or altruism, among bureaucrats, is a well-debated topic among economists and administrative scientists (see e.g. . However, the debate about motivation of public sector workers and its e¤ects on the quality and quantity of public services is not restricted to academia.

Abstract. In management, incentives are a reward to motivate people and create favorable conditions directed to achieve specific goals and support organizational development. This conceptual paper analyses differences between intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to suggest management implications directed to support motivation and performance of employees in public organizations. Keywords. Rewards, Motivation, Compensation, Pay, Reputation. JEL. N30, O30, O31, I23.