Public Service Motivation of Public and Nonprofit Employees: Comparative Analysis of Social Service Providers in a Centralized System

ABSTRACT

The study adds to the understanding of the motivational differences between two pro-social sectors – public and nonprofit. The study analyzes employees’ responses collected in organizations that provide similar services (N = 371) and reveals that despite the relative novelty of the nonprofit sector in the studied country and associated unfavorable work conditions, the nonprofit employees on average remain more public service motivated than their public sector counterparts. The findings add to the previously supported theoretical propositions by suggesting that for the case of public service motivation, the sectoral motivational differences might be a stronger determinant than the administrative context of a state. Despite existing complications at work, nonprofit sector employees remain highly devoted to the cause. In addition, the study reveals several significant associations of public service motivation with the urban location of an organization, labor union membership, and professional experience abroad.

KEYWORDS:

• Work motivation
• centralization
• social development
• value change
• Eastern Europe

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Jean-Claude Garcia-Zamor and Dr. Wouter Vandenabeele for their expert advice and encouragement throughout this project. This project also would have been impossible without the following support: Civil Society Scholar Award of Open Society Institute; Dissertation Year and Doctoral Evidence Acquisition Fellowships of Florida International University; data acquisition grants from Orsa-Romano Cultural-and-Educational Foundation, NY and Krechevsky Foundation, NY; as well as Graduate Student Research Grant of the European Union Center of Excellence, Miami.

Notes

1. In contrast to similar public organizations in other countries, public service organizations under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Belarus do not serve homeless people – this population is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Florida International University; Open Society Institute [Civil Society Scholar Award]; Krechevsky Foundation, NY; Orsa-Romano Cultural-and-Educational Foundation, NY; European Union Center of Excellence, Miami.