Book Review: Public service motivation? Rethinking what motivates public actors

• Published date: 01 September 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X241253270
• Author: Jinju Suk
• Date: 01 September 2024

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2024, Vol. 44(3) 625 –627

© The Author(s) 2024

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Book Review

Book Review

O’Leary, C. (2022, June 28). Public service motivation? Rethinking what motivates public actors

(1st ed.). Policy Press. 188 pp. ISBN-10: 1447360796; ISBN-13: 978-1447360797.

Reviewed by: Jinju Suk , The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734371X241253270

Public Service Motivation? Rethinking What Motivates Public Actors by Chris

O’Leary (2022) offers a new perspective of the role of the public service motivation

(PSM) theory in the development of concepts and empirical practices in public admin-

istration. With the original article by Perry and Wise (1990) in Public Administration

Review cited over 4,700 times, PSM is one of the most important and also most

researched concepts in public sector HR theory that still continues to interest many

scholars (Boyd, 2024; Perry & Hondeghem, 2008; Piatak & Holt, 2020). O’Leary’s

book builds on a lot of prior research that has evolved over the past decades and con-

tributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive and overarching overview of

the motives and behaviors of public employees outside of the PSM framework. It is a

relevant and timely book because it broadens our understanding of motivation theory

and poses challenging questions that can push it forward.

Through insightful seven chapters, the author reviews current empirical research on

PSM by shedding light on major debates and limitations. In the first part, chapters 1 to

5, O’Leary overviews and critique conventional perspectives of the PSM theory. In the

second part of the book, chapters 6 and 7, the author focuses on discussing how vari-

ous types of public employee motivation that go beyond the PSM model actually

manifest through their choices and decisions at work. This alignment with rational

choice theory presents a less-explored critique of PSMT.

O’Leary masterfully shows that the PSM theory is well aligned with the rational

choice theory, and that the latter may as well be applied in the public and non-profit

sectors to draw accurate inferences about human behavior. The book highlights hierar-

chal organizational designs in decision-making processes of public employees and

complexities of inherent public employee motivation. It offers a substantive critique of

PSM and provides a fresh perspective on why public employees may make socially-

motivated work choices even when they do not score high on public service motiva-

tion. In my view, the author convincingly argues that PSM may not always be a valid

tool for explaining human behavior.

1253270ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X241253270Review of Public Personnel AdministrationBook Review

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