Revisiting Motivations for a Public Service Career (MPSC): The Case of China

• Author: Chung-An Chen,Chengwei Xu
• DOI: 10.1177/0091026020964504
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026020964504

Public Personnel Management

2021, Vol. 50(4) 463 –484

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0091026020964504

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Article

Revisiting Motivations for

a Public Service Career

(MPSC): The Case of China

Chengwei Xu1 and Chung-An Chen1

Abstract

Motivations for choosing a public service career have long been a core issue in public

administration research. This study focuses on China. Using the self-determination

theory (SDT) as the basic framework, we revise Chen etal.’s scale which captures

multiple motivations for a public service career (MPSC). We then validate the

revised scale with responses from a questionnaire. The results show five distinct

dimensions of MPSC, and all of them are associated with work-related attitudes

and perceptions in different ways. In the conclusion, we discuss the theoretical and

practical contributions of this study.

Keywords

motivation for a public service career (MPSC), self-determination theory (SDT),

China, scale development, job satisfaction, work amotivation

Introduction

Individuals’ public service career choice has long been a core issue for public admin-

istration scholars. In recent decades, scholars have explored how predictive public

service motivation (PSM) predicts individuals’ interest in pursuing a public service

career (Perry & Vandenabeele, 2015). Despite many convincing studies, this approach

has overlooked how nonaltruistic motives function in career choice (Ritz et al., 2016).

Therefore, some scholars use an alternative approach by examining multiple factors,

such as PSM, job security, and monetary reward to name a few (Awortwi & Vondee,

1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Corresponding Author:

Chung-An Chen, Nanyang Technological University, 14 Nanyang Drive, HSS-05-15, Singapore 637332,

Singapore.

Email: cchongan@gmail.com

964504PPMXXX10.1177/0091026020964504Public Personnel ManagementXu and Chen

research-article2020

464 Public Personnel Management 50(4)

2007; Bullock et al., 2015; Ko & Jun, 2015; Van der Wal & Oosterbaan, 2013). A

general finding suggests that for those who prefer a public service career to a private

sector career, their PSM and desire for job security are stronger. By contrast, their

desire for monetary reward is much weaker.

However, a recent study based in Korea shows that PSM is not predictive of college

students’ public-sector preferences (Lee & Choi, 2016). Lee and Choi attribute the

reason to cultural and institutional settings in Korea, arguing that perhaps the prestige

embodied by a public service position outweighs PSM in determining public-sector

preference. The findings imply that motivations for a public service career (MPSC)

may vary according to cultural contexts. Although it is agreed that cultural differences

between the East and the West require scholarly attention (Im et al., 2013; Tu et al.,

2006; Yang & Rutgers, 2017), they are not well articulated in MPSC research. So far,

a majority of research is still heavily grounded in western society.

Chen et al.’s (2018) study is an exception due to its focus on East Asia. They state

that cultural elements that are deeply rooted in East Asia, such as the cult of exam suc-

cess, official-centered culture, filial piety, and collectivism, play a role in determining

individual interest in taking the public service exam. They use the self-determination

theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000) as the basic structure to include five types of moti-

vation for a public service career, namely intrinsic motivation (IM; i.e., “Public service

is a calling”), identified regulation (IDEN; i.e., “I feel obligated to my country”),

instrumental regulation (INST; i.e., “The career is quite stable”), introjected regulation

(INTRO; i.e., “I don’t want to let down parents”), and external regulation (EXT; i.e.,

“Except taking exam, I lack special knowledge and skills”).

Despite its originality and comprehensive typology, the study by Chen et al. (2018)

leaves some room for improvement. First, they aim to provide an MPSC framework

for East Asia, but end up using only Taiwan as their case study. Do the measurement

items require revisions in the context of another East Asian country, and does the five-

dimensional MPSC construct still hold? Furthermore, their sample consists of newly

hired public employees but not incumbent public employees. Therefore, how each

MPSC is associated with work-related attitudes remains unexplored. This, to some

extent, compromises the practical implications of their study.

This study attempts to fill the aforementioned gaps by studying MPSC in Mainland

China (hereafter China). Despite being separate entities since 1949, both China and

Taiwan are largely influenced by traditional Chinese culture. We would imagine simi-

lar MPSCs in these two places. However, Taiwan is a developed westernized demo-

cratic regime where the separation of power and the two-party system dominate, while

China is a developing authoritative state with the Chinese Communist Party as the

only legitimate governing party. This makes China an interesting comparison to

Taiwan: Does Chen et al.’s (2018) MPSC framework require revisions to reflect the

different political situation in China? For example, an authoritative regime gives

Chinese public officials more power, so a desire for power should be an important

MPSC in China. We will elaborate on this point in one of the later sections.

This article begins with a review of Chen et al.’s (2018) MPSC framework. In the

following section, it investigates the possible similarities and differences in MPSC