Education and Public Service Motivation: A Longitudinal Study of High School Graduates

• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Author: Sangmook Kim
• Date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13262

260 Public Administration Review • March | Apri l 202 1

Abstract: Prior studies examined an individual’s level of education as one of the antecedents of public service

motivation (PSM). Despite having the same level of education, why are the levels of PSM different among

individuals? This study investigates the various components of high school education that may influence graduates’

levels of PSM by analyzing longitudinal data (3,592 cases in four waves) of the Korean Education Longitudinal

Study. It shows that leadership experience, volunteering satisfaction, peer collaboration, and constructive self-assessment

on achievement in high school Social Studies courses have positive influences on graduates’ PSM. This study provides

support for the institutional perspective that PSM can be cultivated through processes of institutional socialization,

and suggests that the self-determination theory and the social interdependence theory are useful for understanding

the effects of extracurricular activities and peer collaboration on PSM, and that collaborative learning and service-

learning will be valuable in cultivating PSM.

Evidence for Practice

• PSM can be cultivated by studying Social Studies courses, experiencing various leadership positions and

volunteering satisfaction, and peer collaboration in high schools.

• Educational policy-makers need to encourage high schools to adopt service learning, collaborative learning,

or other devices to establish good peer collaborative relationships.

• School administrators need to open civics and other courses on social studies and offer various extracurricular

activities through which students can experience leadership positions and worthwhile volunteering activities.

• Teachers can create more positive learning environments such as collaborative learning and service learning

for enhancing skills that support PSM.

Introduction

Public service motivation (PSM) represents a

desire to serve the public. PSM is thought of

as “an individual’s orientation to delivering

services to people with a purpose to do good for

others and society” (Perry and Hondeghem2008, vii).

The stronger an individual’s PSM, the more likely

the individual is to engage in behaviors that benefit

the public, even when there is a lack of tangible

individual rewards attached to those behaviors (Kim

and Vandenabeele2010; Wise2000). PSM is an

increasingly researched and hotly debated concept

in the field of public administration and public

management (Ritz, Brewer, and Neumann2016;

Vandenabeele, Ritz, and Neumann2018). However,

relatively lower attention has been given to studying

the antecedents of PSM (Holt2019; Wright and

Grant2010). Bozeman and Su(2015, 705) noted that

“[o]nly limited progress has been made in providing

an adequate set of explanations or hypotheses about

how PSM develops and why some people have more

of it than others” and called for more research.

Much of the literature on the antecedents of PSM

focuses on the organizational factors that affect

PSM among workers in or entering labor markets

(Ritz, Brewer, and Neumann2016). However, there

may already be important differences in PSM prior

to workforce entry or during the transition from

education to employment (Holt2018). However,

how these differences in PSM emerge and evolve

still constitutes a “black box” in the PSM literature

(Kjeldsen2012, 501). Previous studies provide

empirical evidence that family, education, political

affiliation, religious affiliation, and volunteer

organizations have an important influence on PSM

(Camilleri2007; Moynihan and Pandey2007;

Perry1997; Perry et al.2008; Vandenabeele2011).

One consistent result across most studies on the effect

of sociodemographic attributes is that education

has a positive association with PSM (Bright2005;

Camilleri2007; Moynihan and Pandey2007;

Perry1997; Vandenabeele2011). With heterogeneous

samples, it has been found that, the higher an

individual’s level of education, the higher their level

Sangmook Kim

Seoul National University of Science & Technology

Education and Public Service Motivation: A Longitudinal

Study of High School Graduates

Research Article

Sangmook Kim is professor of

public administration at Seoul National

University of Science and Technology,

Korea. His research interests are public

service motivation, organizational behavior,

and human resource management. His

research has been published in numerous

journals, including Journal of Public

Administration Research and Theory

and Public Administration Review.

Email: smook@seoultech.ac.kr

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 81, Iss. 2, pp. 260–272. © 2020 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13262.