Adverse Childhood Experiences as a Determinant of Public Service Motivation

• DOI: 10.1177/0091026018801043
• Author: Gregory R. Evans,Crystal Evans
• Published date: 01 June 2019
• Date: 01 June 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026018801043

Public Personnel Management

2019, Vol. 48(2) 123 –146

© The Author(s) 2018

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0091026018801043

journals.sagepub.com/home/ppm

Article

Adverse Childhood

Experiences as a Determinant

of Public Service Motivation

Crystal Evans1 and Gregory R. Evans2

Abstract

The wounded healer archetype predicts that people who suffer negative experiences

in childhood would be motivated to enter helping fields as a way of self-healing.

Developmental traumatology, however, suggests that people who have negative

experiences in childhood may have their development stunted, particularly when it

comes to caring for others. To test these competing theories, researchers test the

effect of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on public service motivation (PSM)

and find negative experiences in childhood are associated with a lower willingness to

help others. However, some evidence suggests that a curvilinear relationship exists

such that extreme levels of ACEs result in more PSM.

Keywords

public service motivation, adverse childhood experiences, wounded healer

Public service motivation (PSM) has received much attention in academia. This may

be owing to PSM’s “international, multidisciplinary, and multisectored” nature (Ritz,

Brewer, & Neumann, 2016, p. 1). This area of research has grown considerably since

the 1990s. “Scholarly work on public service motivation has blossomed, attracting

scholars from all around the globe” (Pandey, Pandey, Breslin, & Broadus, 2017, p.

314). PSM has also been shown to have implications in not only the public sector

(Gould-Williams, 2016) but the business (Battaglio & French, 2016) and nonprofit

(Bright, 2016; Clerkin & Fotheringham, 2017; Houston, 2006) sectors as well.

Those individuals with high levels of PSM are defined as having “common focus

on motives and action in the public domain that are intended to do good for others and

1Regis University, Denver, CO, USA

2CSU-Global, Denver, CO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Crystal Evans, Regis University, 3333 Regis Blvd., Denver, CO 80221-1099, USA.

Email: Cevans005@regis.edu

801043PPMXXX10.1177/0091026018801043Public Personnel ManagementEvans and Evans

research-article2018

124 Public Personnel Management 48(2)

shape the well-being of society” (Perry & Hondeghem, 2008, p. 3). They also value

social rewards more than monetary rewards (Dilulio, 1994; Jurkiewicz, Massey, &

Brown, 1998) and may be motivated into specific kinds of employment (Bright, 2016;

Word & Carpenter, 2013).

While several studies have explored correlations between PSM and other factors,

these studies have looked at PSM as an independent variable seeking to explain some-

thing else (Bright, 2016; Gould-Williams, Mostafa, & Bottomley, 2013; Word &

Carpenter, 2013). Such studies do not, however, shed any light on what leads to higher

levels of PSM. Currently, little is known about the underlying causes of PSM. There is

a growing call to rectify this deficiency. Wright and Grant (2010) spoke to the need for

a deeper understanding of PSM by determining if it is a cause or effect. They high-

lighted the fact that there is uncertainty if PSM is the cause or consequence of employee

job decisions. In their critique of PSM, Bozeman and Su (2015) stated, “One charge

against PSM research is that it has often been used as an independent variable, but

much less often have researchers examined PSM as a dependent variable or, related,

the causal mechanics leading to PSM” (p. 705). Despite these critiques, there has been

some movement in that direction (Perry, 1997; Vandenabeele, 2010).

Interestingly, in the field of therapy, there is evidence that negative childhood expe-

riences can unconsciously motivate someone to enter helping fields (Barnett, 2007),

and that such events may better prepare people to help others because people heal

through their own brokenness. This idea is the basis for the wounded healer archetype

(Groesbeck, 1975). If the wounded healer is real, then negative childhood experiences

would result in higher levels of PSM, and negative childhood experiences would thus

be a predictor of PSM.

This research will test the idea of the wounded healer as it relates to PSM.

Specifically, do adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) result in higher levels of PSM?

The main contribution of this research relates to PSM theory. Better understanding the

factors that precede or result in PSM can lead to a better understanding of the theory,

thus answering the calls of Wright and Grant (2010) and Bozeman and Su (2015) to

explore the determinants of PSM.

In this article, background information regarding PSM and ACEs is first presented.

Then the first hypothesis, which is grounded in the wounded healer theory, is explained.

In addition, a second and competing hypothesis, which is grounded in developmental

traumatology, is also offered. Subsequently, the method, results, and discussion are

presented. Finally, the conclusion and future research ideas are presented.

Theoretical Background

PSM

PSM is not a new concept and some have argued that it is one of the most important

theories within public administration:

One bellwether for assessing the foundation of a scientific discipline is its ability to

produce original insights that are relevant both within and beyond the discipline. Public