Public service motivation and prosocial motivation: two sides of the same coin?

ABSTRACT

This study raises the important question of how public service motivation and prosocial motivation are related to one another and how, together, these two concepts affect behavioural outcomes of public employees. Based on a sample of 747 public employees and using partial least squares structural equation model, we analyse the relationships between public service motivation, prosocial motivation, and different behavioural outcome variables in a single model simultaneously. Our study shows that public service motivation and prosocial motivation are not only theoretically, but also empirically distinct concepts. This has important implications for the use of these concepts, as will be discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Public service motivation
• prosocial motivation
• sense of community responsibility
• volunteering
• voting behaviour

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Please refer to the Method section to find more information on how we reduced the risk of CMV.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adrian Ritz

Adrian Ritz is a professor of public management at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His research interests focus on public management, leadership, motivation, and performance in public organizations. He has published in various scholarly journals, and his German co-authored book Public Management has been published in its sixth edition.

Carina Schott

Carina Schott is assistant professor at Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht University, in The Netherlands. She conducts research in the field of Public Management at the individual level. Specifically, her research concerns the motivation and decision-making processes of public servants and the implications of a changing work environment on the nature of their work.

Christian Nitzl

Christian Nitzl is researcher for the Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies (CISS) at the Bundeswehr University Munich. He has published in Acta Astronautica, Business Research, Financial Accountability & Management, Hospital Pharmacy, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Journal of Accounting Literature, Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Health Organization and Management, Journal of Management Control, Journal of Public and Non-Profit Management, and Public Management Review, among others.

Kerstin Alfes

Kerstin Alfes holds a chair in organization and human resource management at ESCP Europe Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin. Her research interests include employee engagement, strategic human resource management, and over qualification. She has written on these topics in journals such as Human Resource Management, the International Journal of Human Resource Management, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Gender, Work & Organization, and International Public Management Journal.