![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The research on employee motivation for choosing a public service career has largely been grounded in the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy along with limited motives such as job security, instrumental reward, and public service motivation (PSM). Such an approach narrows the view of researchers, especially those in cultures where major reasons for choosing a public service career exceed these factors and the intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy. By employing self-determination theory (SDT) to examine data collected in Taiwan, an East Asian cultural setting, a measurement instrument is developed that captures five major motivations for a public service career. A discussion of applying this survey instrument for future research follows.
Notes
In Mainland China, the average rate in passing the public service exam at the central government level in 2015 was 1.90% (http://news.ftv.com.tw/NewsContent.aspx?ntype=class&sno=2015B29I04M1). In Korea, the average rate in 2005 was 81 applicants competing for one position, according to Kim (Citation2009). In Taiwan, where we collected data for the present study, the exam is less competitive, but the passing rate is still low: the rate for the C3-Level Public Service Exam (open to college graduates and above) was 7.51% in 2013, 8.46% in 2014, and 9.78% in 2015.
We do not include this regulatory style because it is irrelevant. Public sector new hires receiving public service training are unlikely to be amotivated regarding their choice of being a public servant.
In the original design of SDT, integrated regulation exists between intrinsic motivation and identified motivation. Integration occurs when individuals bring new regulations into congruence with their values and needs. However, integrated regulation is difficult to differentiate from identified regulation. As a result, many recent SDT studies do not discuss integrated regulation (Gagné et al., Citation2010). The present study follows this line.
Many people may see both a desire for job security and a desire for high pay as the same type of motivation in job selection, namely, external regulation (i.e., taking action due to an external reward). This is misleading. “Need” differs from “want.” While job security can be deemed a basic human “need,” high pay signifies what people “want” (Tang, Tang, & Luna-Arocas, Citation2005). Regarding empirical evidence, Sheldon, Elliot, Kim, and Kasser (Citation2001) have found that in the United States, a desire for money-luxury has zero impact on positive affect, but leads to a more negative affect. By contrast, a desire for security is related to a more positive affect and less negative affect. This provides preliminary evidence that a desire for job security and a desire for money do not belong to the same motivational category. More recently, Chen and Hsieh (Citation2015) have found that pursuing a high pay differs from pursuing job security in their correlation to people’s prosocial propensity, or more specifically, PSM. A desire for high pay is negatively correlated to PSM, whereas a desire for security is positively correlated to PSM. Overall, both theoretically and empirically, it is inadequate to see the desire for job security as external regulation.
The two Chinese characters (科舉, Kējǔ) exist in modern Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese languages with different pronunciations: Kakyo, Gwageo, and Khoa Cu respectively.
The null hypothesis is that difference exists between the sample and population. Insignificant p values imply that there is little difference between the sample and population.
Multicollinearity can occur if scholars use regression. As mentioned, a high correlation exists between two autonomous motivations and between two controlled motivations. While regression assumes the independence of all predictor variables, entering highly correlated motivations into a regression model apparently violates this assumption.
In fact, the value assigned to each motivation is quite subjective. Theoretically, assigning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to external regulation, introjected regulation, instrumental regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation respectively is also acceptable, as long as the assigned values are in line with the self-determination continuum.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Chung-An Chen
Chung-An Chen is an assistant professor in the Public Policy and Global Affairs Programme at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Don-Yun Chen
Don-Yun Chen is a professor in the Department of Public Administration at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chengwei Xu
Chengwei Xu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Public Policy and Global Affairs Programme at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.