scholarly journals COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC INTEREST AND PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES: A QUALITATIVE INQUIRY

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (6) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
George B. Amegavi ◽  
◽  
James K. Mensah ◽  

The use of qualitative research in Public Service Motivation research is growing and its impact on the field is beginning to be felt. This study contributes to our understanding of PSM by exploring the dimension of “commitment to public interest” and the challenges to development in Ghana. The analysis of 34 semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with employees of the Financial Intelligence Centre demonstrates that commitment to public interest is influenced by leadership actions and organizational culture. The outcome of this paper is useful for public organizations in their attempt to improve employee commitment and productivity in the public sector.

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Ritz

During the last 20 years public sector reforms focused on the increase of organizational performance mainly by implementing managerial tools and methods. The one-sided, output-oriented reforms meet with criticism. In our study we focus on the links between employee attitudes, managerial measures, institutional factors and organizational performance. Therefore, three attitudinal constructs, public service motivation, organizational commitment and job satisfaction, are analysed. The study empirically tests the effects of these dimensions on perceived performance in the federal administration of Switzerland. The analysed data of 13,532 federal employees give insight into the importance of employee commitment to the public interest and the need for goal-oriented management techniques. The results are discussed in light of previous studies. Points for practitioners Public administration research raises more and more criticism against New Public Management reforms. This study, however, shows that there is an important link between managerial techniques and the individual perception of organizational performance in administrative practice. There are a range of private management tools immigrating into the public sector. But for the tools to be effective, practitioners need to integrate them with consideration of the specific requirements of the employee's commitment to the public interest.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (18) ◽  
pp. 01-08
Author(s):  
Fauzahani Pairan ◽  
Jessica Hai Liaw Ong ◽  
Mohd Juraimy Kadir ◽  
Nora Ibrahim

A public organization is an important sector in the administration of the Nation and it needs to remain relevant and accepted by society. The sub-sector such as services and security are the most important organizations that require high performance in society and the country to ensure security is always guaranteed. Military Training Academy, NDUM is an organization involved in various security and humanitarian operations either nationally or internationally. Accordingly, this study was conducted to assess employee motivation in public service activities by using the Public Service Motivation Model (PSM). The elements contained in the model are an attraction to public policymaking, commitment to the public interest, self-sacrifice, compassion, and ethical leadership. This study aims to analyze the relationship between Public Service Motivation (PSM) and organizational performance with ethical leadership among employees in Military Training Academy, NDUM. Quantitative research methods were used and questionnaires have been distributed to staff and instructors in Military Training Academy, NDUM, located in Kuala Lumpur by distributing the questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 19. The results of this study showed that the attraction towards public policy-making (t=1.927, p>0.01), commitment to public interest (t=0.289, p>0.01), self-sacrifice (t=1.623, p>0.01), compassion (t=0.704, p>0.01) and ethical leadership (t=7.071, p<0.01). Ethical leadership encourages employees to participate in community service programs and improve organizational performance.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chyi-Lu Jang

The relationship between the Big Five personality traits (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and public service motivation (PSM) was examined using a questionnaire survey of 277 public servants employed by 3 local governments in Taiwan. Regression analysis results indicated that extraversion was positively related to attraction to policy making, but negatively associated with self-sacrifice. Agreeableness was positively correlated to compassion. Conscientiousness was positively related to commitment to the public interest, compassion, and self-sacrifice. Neuroticism was negatively associated with commitment to the public interest and compassion, but positively with attraction to policy making. Openness to experience was positively correlated with all dimensions of PSM. In summary, personality traits can function as strong predictors of public service motivation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris O’Leary

There has been a significant and growing interest, and growing empirical research, around Public Service Motivation (PSM) in recent years. There are few critiques of the construct, and none from a rationalist perspective. Given that the origins of PSM lie in attempts by public administration scholars to counter rationalist explanations of bureaucratic behavior, this lack of countercriticism is surprising. This article provides a rationalist critique of PSM. It argues that PSM is consistent with, and not an alternative to, rationalist understandings of what motivates individuals. It also argues that a significant gap in the PSM literature is around how civil servants and others make decisions; decisions about the public interest, and thus how and when to allocate public resources. It concludes that seeing PSM as consistent with rationality, and specifically as a form of expressive interests, answers many of the remaining questions about PSM and addresses the substantive gaps in the construct.


2019 ◽  
pp. 002085231987825
Author(s):  
Guillem Ripoll

Ethics are important for personal, organizational and societal development. Although the literature has isolated some remedies and causes of unethical attitudes and behaviours, there is a still a need for further research. When focusing on the public context, it has been suggested that the motivation to serve the public interest has a negative relationship with different unethical outcomes. Thus, one interesting avenue of research is to explain how public service motivation can be enhanced by the outcome of certain managerial practices, which may also lead to ethical benefits indirectly. Using data collected from social workers in Catalonia (Spain), this article confirms that goal clarity directly increases the levels of public service motivation and indirectly reduces the acceptance of unethical behaviours by eliciting public service motivation. Research and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Points for practitioners This study highlights the importance of public service-oriented institutional contexts in indirectly shaping unethical outcomes. The findings recommend to public managers and practitioners to provide goal clarity (through certain human-resource management practices such as appraisal or job design) because it increases public service motivation and indirectly reduces the acceptance of unethical behaviour.


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