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Public service motivation, prosocial behaviours, and career ambitions

Public service motivation, prosocial behaviours, and career ambitions PurposeThe purpose of this study 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/approachLogistic 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 programs.FindingsThe 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/valueThis paper answers calls to examine the dimensions of public service motivation 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. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Manpower Emerald Publishing

Public service motivation, prosocial behaviours, and career ambitions

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References (38)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0143-7720
DOI
10.1108/IJM-12-2014-0248
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study 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/approachLogistic 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 programs.FindingsThe 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/valueThis paper answers calls to examine the dimensions of public service motivation 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.

Journal

International Journal of Manpower – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 1, 2016

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