Creating a Motivated Workforce: How Organizations Can Enhance and Develop Public Service Motivation (PSM)

• Date: 01 September 2011
• Published date: 01 September 2011
• DOI: 10.1177/009102601104000303
• Author: Willow S. Jacobson
• Subject Matter: Article

Creating a Motivated
Workforce: How
Organizations Can
Enhance and Develop
Public Service
Motivation (PSM)
By Willow S. Jacobson, PhD
The impact of organizational action on the enhancement and development of
public service motivation (PSM) was explored through interviews with mid-level
managers at two federal agencies. Participants expressed substantial individual
variation in their initial reasons for pursuing government employment, with a large
majority citing pragmatic reasons rather then the altruistic ones PSM research
might indicate. However, individuals’ conceptions of public service motivation are
dynamic over time and change as those individuals move through organizational
levels and positions. This research was undertaken in response to the call for more
investigation into the practical implications of PSM for public employers, and
results indicate that organizations can have a distinct impact on the development
and framing of employees’ public service motivation.
Introduction
The effects of public service ideals and ethics are of crucial concern for human
resource managers, public administrators, and scholars alike. What causes individuals
to seek public sector employment? What motivates them to stay in their jobs and,
most importantly, to perform well? What traits characterize those who dedicate their
lives to public service? Can organizations effectively impact motivation, specifically
public service motivation? These and similar questions have been the foundation for
academic and practitioner efforts aimed at gaining a better understanding of how pub-
lic management practices impact the performance of government.1
Public service motivation (PSM), a specific branch of motivational research, is
one theoretical framework that is useful for considering these issues. It offers a lens
for viewing the nature of public sector incentives as well as a mechanism to evaluate
public servants’ behavior. PSM is most often grounded in the definition developed by
James Perry and Lois Wise: “[A]n individual’s predisposition to respond to motives
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grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions and organizations.”2 This defini-
tion suggests that some individuals are instilled with a unique public-service ethos
attracting them to government service and influencing subsequent job performance.3
In the past two decades, research into PSM from theoretical, conceptual, and
empirical perspectives has produced many advances.4 To date, a majority of the research
has focused on the existence of PSM and on broad comparisons between public sector
and private sector employees, with some authors expanding the scope to include non-
profit organizations. Extensive comparisons of public and private sector employees
yielded rich results that have extended the understanding of what PSM is, the pro-social
impacts of PSM levels, and antecedents of PSM5, as well as the behavioral impacts of
PSM.6 Human Resources journals have seen an expansion of this topic in their pages as
authors have further explored the managerial implications of this topic.7
The research presented in this article responds to the call for more empirical
work aimed at validating and testing the theory of public service motivation specifi-
cally in the area of practical implications for public employers. An examination of the
comments of mid-level managers at two federal agencies explores the role that orga-
nizational action plays in the enhancement and development of employees’ public
service motivation. In addition, the research examines whether public service motiva-
tion or orientation was in fact an important determinant in job selection.
Participants expressed substantial individual variation in their initial reasons for
pursuing government employment, with a large majority citing pragmatic reasons
rather than the altruistic ones PSM research might indicate. However, individuals’ con-
ceptions of public service motivation are dynamic over time and change as those
individuals move through organizational levels and positions. Findings indicate that
individuals view organizational behavior as having an impact on the development of
employees’ public service motivation and organizational dedication.
Individual perceptions of the importance, their personal level of public service
motivation, and perspectives on public service were found to be highly varied; rea-
sons for higher levels were attributed first to personal development or characteristics,8
with secondary reasons stemming from organizational factors, management practices,
and leadership styles.9 The findings presented in this research offer support for pre-
vious research in the area of public service motivation development, and contribute
to the understanding on this concept through the inclusion of a unique sample and
the use of in-depth qualitative research with rich data that provides contextually based
results.
The article begins with a brief review of the literature. It then outlines the
research method employed and reports the principal research findings and conclu-
sions. The article ends with a number of recommendations and suggestions for future
research.
Literature Review
As the “human capital crisis” in government becomes more pressing, PSM may offer
some insight into ways of attracting and retaining talent.10 To marshal the human
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resources necessary to achieve their missions, organizations must convince individu-
als to accept employment and remain in their jobs. Additionally, to prosper,
organizations must encourage employees to work effectively and efficiently.11 Motivat-
ing employees to perform at these high levels remains a crucial concern for
organizations and a central focus of public management studies.12
The notion that some individuals have a “public service ethic” that attracts them
to public service and subsequently influences their job performance drives much of
PSM research.13 PSM provides both the analytical framework to determine the nature
of public sector incentives and an evaluative mechanism through which the behaviors
of those connected to providing services can be examined. As noted, the most wide-
ly accepted definition of PSM stems from research in which Perry and Wise both
defined the concept as well as identified three analytically distinct categories of
motives primarily associated with public service motives: rational, norm-based, and
affective. Actions grounded in utility maximization fall into the rational category; for
example public policy making can be exciting and dramatic and reinforce a person’s
self-image of their own importance (so while serving the public they are also satisfy-
ing a personal need). Norm-based motives are actions that originate from an effort to
conform to social or cultural norms. Affective motives are actions grounded in emo-
tional responses to various social contexts.14
In 1996 James Perry extended this research by developing a measurement scale
for PSM. Working with the theoretical literature and focus groups and testing his
results with confirmatory factor analysis, Perry identified four categories for a PSM
scale: public policy making, public interest, compassion, and self-sacrifice. Perry’s PSM
scale provides a methodologically sophisticated measurement instrument and is an
important contribution to research on this topic.
Much of the PSM research has clarified and tested the Perry and Wise construct
and explored presumed differences in the motivation of employees in the public, pri-
vate, and nonprofit sectors. Through the work of several authors,15 the hypothesis
that motivation differs across sectors has been affirmed and continues to gain atten-
tion and empirical support. With few exceptions, researchers have found significant
motivational distinctions between employees in the public and private sectors.16
Those in the public sector are consistently found to have a lower need for financial
compensation, status, and prestige but a greater need for meaningful work.17
Additional research has examined how different levels of public service motiva-
tion are translated into practice as well as how that practice affects outcomes for
individuals and organizations.18 Researchers’ efforts to understand the behavioral
impact of PSM have found PSM to be correlated with pro-social behaviors and posi-
tive organizational outcomes.19 For example, Gene Brewer and Sally Selden examined
the link between attitudes (a common focus of research) and behavioral outcomes,
thus enhancing the understanding of how different levels of PSM manifest in actual
work.20 These researchers found that individuals with higher PSM levels are more like-
ly to engage in pro-social behaviors such as whistle-blowing. Phillip Crewson found
that individuals with high levels of PSM also exhibit higher levels of organizational
commitment.21 Katherine Naff and John Crum found a significant relationship
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between federal employees’ job satisfaction, performance, intention to remain in gov-
ernment service and support for government reinvention efforts.22 David Houston
found that public employees are more likely to place a higher value on the intrinsic
rewards of work that is important and provides a feeling of accomplishment.23
Perry contributed further to the construct validity of his PSM scale when he
investigated the relationship of PSM to five sets of correlates: parental...