scholarly journals Additional intervention evidence on the relationship between public service motivation and ethical behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley E. Wright ◽  
Robert K. Christensen

The nascent scholarship on public service motivation (PSM) and ethics exhibits mixed findings. This research article aims to describe and relate the current landscape of findings in this arena and to conduct an experiment that addresses design weaknesses that may explain some past null findings. Using a national sample of college-age respondents, we found that although self-reported PSM was positively correlated with ethical intentions, prosocial priming did not increase ethical intentions or behavior. We contextualize these findings in terms of previous studies, to inform our understanding of the efficacy of prosocial interventions. While our research suggests that self-reported PSM can predict, if not influence, ethical intention, we are unable to make conclusions about PSM’s effects on ethical behavior. Second, similar to past studies, we are not able to confirm specific mechanisms or interventions that might be used to increase ethical behavior or intentions.

Author(s):  
Robert K. Christensen ◽  
Bradley E. Wright

Public service motivation (PSM) research has grown rapidly in the last several decades, largely focused on the role of PSM in employment decisions and employee performance. More recently, researchers have raised the possibility that PSM may play a role in workplace ethical behavior. In this study we sought to empirically articulate this link with evidence from three experimental studies. Across three experiments our research fails to confirm the relationship between PSM and ethics. We measured ethics both attitudinally and observationally.  We conclude that even if the null findings are due to sample characteristics or weaknesses in the priming intervention, the three studies reported here raise concerns regarding the ease with which one can influence behavior by "priming" PSM.  PSM may increase ethical behavior but not always in ways that public managers and organizations can easily influence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-225
Author(s):  
ChiaKo Hung ◽  
Morgen S. Johansen ◽  
Jennifer Kagan ◽  
David Lee ◽  
Helen H. Yu

This essay provides a reflective commentary outlining Hawai’i’s unconventional response for employing a volunteer workforce of public servants when faced with the task of processing an unprecedented backlog of unemployment insurance claims triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although efforts are still ongoing, this essay applies volunteerism and public service motivation as a framework to explain why public servants would serve in a voluntary capacity at another public agency. The intent of this essay is to spur conversation on how public servants are further stepping up to the frontlines during times of crisis, as well as expand knowledge on the relationship between volunteerism and public service motivation.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asim Rafique ◽  
Yumei Hou ◽  
Muhammad Adnan Zahid Chudhery ◽  
Nida Gull ◽  
Syed Jameel Ahmed

PurposeInnovations are imperative for organizational growth and sustainability. This study focuses on the employees' innovative behavior, a source of organizational innovations, which has received substantial attention from the researchers. Based on the psychological empowerment theory, the study exposes the effect of the various dimensions of public service motivation (PSM) on employees' innovative behavior (IB) in public sector institutions especially in the context of developing countries such as Pakistan. Moreover, the study also investigates the mediating role of psychological empowerment (PSE) between the dimensions of PSM and IB.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the cross-sectional research design. By using random sampling, the adapted survey questionnaires were used to collect data from 346 faculty members of public sector universities located in provincial capitals of Pakistan. A partial least square–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) tool was used to assess the proposed hypotheses through SMART-PLS software.FindingsResults revealed that attraction to policymaking (APM), compassion (COM), self-sacrifice (SS) have a significant impact on employees' PSE and their innovative behavior, while the relationship of commitment to the public interest (CPI) with PSE and IB was found insignificant. Moreover, PSE partially mediated the relationship between PSM dimensions and employees' IB.Originality/valueThere was a scarcity of research on IB especially in public sector institutions such as academia. This study theoretically contributed to the literature by providing a refined picture in assessing the proposed relationship of the constructs. This is also one of the original studies that examine the relationship between the dimensions of PSM and IB.


Author(s):  
Adrian Ritz ◽  
Wouter Vandenabeele ◽  
Dominik Vogel

When pressure on human resource departments to make government more efficient is increasing, it is of great relevance to understand employees’ motivation and the fit of an employee with their job, as both contribute strongly to service performance. Therefore, this chapter discusses the role of public employees’ motivation and its relationship to individual performance. More specifically, this relationship is examined by focusing on public service motivation (PSM), a stream of research developed during the last three decades stressing the service orientation of public employees’ identity. Theoretically, how the relationship between PSM and individual performance is dependent on institutions is discussed, and an overview of the existing empirical evidence concerning this relationship is provided. The literature review discusses a variety of aspects such as direct vs. indirect effects, type of performance used, how performance is measured, and effect sizes. Finally, several avenues for future research are proposed, including methodological strategies.


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.


2020 ◽  
pp. 009102602093451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hemin Ali Hassan ◽  
Xiaodong Zhang ◽  
Ahmad Bayiz Ahmad ◽  
Bangcheng Liu

Implementing change is considered as a difficult task for public organizations. Some individual dispositional factors have been suggested to influence recipient responses to change in public organizations. Past research has shown a link between public service motivation (PSM) and employee positive responses to organizational change. However, the psychological processes underlining this relationship are not specified. Building on the PSM theory and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study examines the role of psychological variables (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) in mediating the relationship between PSM and change-supportive intention. A sample of 143 employees is collected from a public university in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that was going through a change initiative. The results revealed that PSM predicts change-supportive intention, and the relationship between PSM and change-supportive intention is mediated by change-related attitude and subjective norm. The implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geunpil Ryu

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.


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