Public Service Motivation in a Work Group: Role of Ethical Climate and Servant Leadership
| Author | Dong Chul Shim,Hyun Hee Park |
| Published date | 01 June 2019 |
| Date | 01 June 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0091026018806013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
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Article
Public Personnel Management
2019, Vol. 48(2) 203 –225
Public Service Motivation
© The Author(s) 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026018806013
DOI: 10.1177/0091026018806013
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Ethical Climate and Servant
Leadership
Dong Chul Shim1 and Hyun Hee Park2
Abstract
The current study attempts to examine Perry’s assertion that the public service
motivation (PSM) of government employees may be influenced by the logic of
appropriateness. Based on a survey of 596 Korean local government employees in 110
work groups, this study investigated the associations between ethical climate, servant
leadership, and PSM. Multilevel structural equation models (SEM) were employed.
At the individual level, ethical climate (i.e., efficiency, rule/law, independence) was
significantly associated with PSM. However, at the work group level, ethical climate
did not demonstrate a significant association with PSM. In addition, this study found
that servant leadership is effective in helping government employees develop PSM at
both the individual and work group levels.
Keywords
public service motivation, motivation theory, servant leadership, ethical climate,
organizational behavior
Introduction
Perry and Wise (1990) defined public service motivation (PSM) as “an individual’s pre-
disposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions”
(p. 368). Since then, PSM has been understood as a value-laden behavioral orientation
that might be found among, although is not limited to, public sector employees. The
general concept of PSM is widely accepted in explaining public servants’ motivation to
1Korea University, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea
2Kookmin University, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Corresponding Author:
Hyun Hee Park, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-702, South Korea.
Email: hhpark@kookmin.ac.kr
204
Public Personnel Management 48(2)
pursue public values, which cannot be fully explained by traditional theories of motiva-
tion (Perry, 2000). Numerous studies have identified PSM as a significant concept in
explaining public sector employees’ motivational bases and have examined its anteced-
ents and consequences (Ritz, Brewer, & Neumann, 2016). Furthermore, PSM has drawn
much attention outside the United States, and significant efforts have been made to test
the generalizability of its components and develop measurements that can be adopted
internationally (e.g., Kim & Vandenabeele, 2010).
Perry (2000) proposed a process theory of PSM and described four factors that
contribute to its formation, namely, the sociohistorical context, individual characteris-
tics, motivational context, and individual behavior. Since then, recent studies concern-
ing PSM have made significant progress toward understanding the emergence of PSM
in the context of an organization. For example, organizational factors (e.g., organiza-
tional culture, red tape, and quality of leadership) and employees’ work experience
and attitudes (e.g., organizational commitment, satisfaction of needs, role ambiguity,
and role conflict) have been suggested as important factors in shaping PSM (Ritz
et al., 2016). Examining the organizational mechanisms involved in PSM is especially
important in clarifying how public managers can instill the values of PSM in govern-
ment employees.
Based on the assertion by Perry (2000) that the motivation of government employ-
ees is influenced by self-concept and logic of appropriateness to pursue a morally right
path, this study focuses on the role of ethical climate to understand the organizational
formulation of PSM. Ethical climate is a type of psychological climate “reflecting
organizational procedures, policies, and practices with moral consequences” (Martin
& Cullen, 2006, p. 177). It pertains to employees’ perception of what behaviors and
decision-making procedures are appropriate in an organization (Cullen, Parboteeah, &
Victor, 2003). Therefore, ethical climate could play a role in forming employee’s
beliefs regarding proper behaviors and one’s response to ethical dilemmas in an orga-
nization (Martin & Cullen, 2006). This provides behavioral guidelines for employees
to use in managing their own ethical issues in an organization.
In addition, based on the notion that work group leaders are in a good position to
form the ethical climate of their work group, the current study investigated the influ-
ence of servant leadership on ethical climate and PSM. Because the core value of
servant leadership is leaders’ prosocial behavior based on self-sacrifice, this study
posits that government employees might learn the value of PSM by embracing the
visions promoted by their servant leaders or observing leaders’ behaviors (Liu, Hu, &
Cheng, 2015; Shim, Park, & Eom, 2016). By examining the associations between
servant leadership, ethical climate, and PSM, this study provides a better understand-
ing of how to develop PSM in an organization.
This study is distinct from previous PSM studies in that it examines the influence
of ethical climate and servant leadership on PSM both at the individual and work
group levels. As Perry and Wise (1990) defined PSM as a personal motive to realize
public value, even at the cost of self-sacrifice, PSM is considered an individual’s val-
ues or disposition. As such, many PSM studies focused on the individual level of
analysis. However, if public servants internalize their PSM through organizational
Shim and Park
205
socialization by sharing the meaning of work and interacting with other members in
their public offices, government employees in the same work group might have a simi-
lar level of PSM. By adopting multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM), the
current study attempts to examine the joint influence of servant leadership and ethical
climate on PSM based on a survey of 596 Korean local government employees in 110
work groups.
The next section of this article provides a literature review to clarify the proposed
associations between servant leadership, ethical climate, and PSM. Following the lit-
erature review, the methodology is explained. The article then presents findings from
the data analyses, which examine the joint effects of servant leadership and ethical
climate on subordinates’ PSM. Implications and conclusions are discussed in the last
section.
Literature Review
Organizational Process of PSM
Although few empirical studies have examined how the values of public institutions
influence PSM, a well-established theoretical foundation exists. Perry (2000) pro-
posed that the behavior of government and nonprofit employees might be regulated by
the logic of appropriateness and logic of consequences. Although traditional theories
of motivation based on the logic of consequences have advanced understanding of
how employees are motivated by expectations of rewards or punishments or by orga-
nizational goals, another line of studies contend that these theories fail to explain the
other key aspect of government employees’ motivation, namely, the logic of appropri-
ateness (Perry, 2000). Perry (2000) posited that government employees are motivated
by a desire to satisfy their self-concept, which tends to be grounded in a desire to
pursue a morally right path. This line of research argues that individuals’ motivation in
the public sector may be influenced more by the logic of appropriateness than logic of
consequences.
Perry (2000) further stated that this sense of appropriateness might be shaped by the
social environment of public sector employees. That is, public sector employees’ moti-
vation could be socially constructed by their perceived sense of normative beliefs or
behavioral appropriateness. Based on this notion, he suggested that contextual factors
such as professional ethics in a specific field, organizational norms, and institutional
rules can contribute to forming employees’ motivation, because these factors model
government employees’ preferences and provide behavioral guidelines (March &
Olsen, 2010). Similarly, Vandenabeele (2007) further explained how the organiza-
tional-level logic of appropriateness (institutionalism) influences individual-level
motivation (PSM). Applying the theoretical implications of self-determination theory
(SDT; Gagné & Deci, 2005; Reeve, Deci, & Ryan, 2004), Vandenabeele (2007) pro-
posed that PSM forms part of employees’ public service identity and that individuals
display a consistent and persistent set of public service values when they internalize
and integrate these into their work-related identity. Aligned to this argument, previous
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Public Personnel Management 48(2)
studies examined the role of organizational factors such as transformational leadership
(Paarlberg & Lagvina, 2010; Wright, Moynihan, & Pandey, 2012), organizational
commitment (Pandey & Stazyk, 2008), and organizational culture (Moynihan &
Pandey, 2007).
Based on the theoretical propositions of Perry (2000) and Vandenabeele (2007),
this study examines whether employees’ identification with institutional values is
associated with their level of PSM. As ethical climate reflects employees’ perception
of organizational values, this study considers ethical climate as a means of investigat-
ing the proposed association. Moreover,...
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