On the bright and dark side of public service motivation: the relationship between PSM and employee wellbeing

Abstract

This paper reveals that the relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and employee wellbeing depends on the societal impact potential (SIP) through the job and organizational type. In people-changing organizations, PSM relates to higher burnout and lower job satisfaction when SIP is high: employees sacrifice themselves too much for society. However, in people-processing organizations, low SIP relates to higher burnout and lower job satisfaction: employees experience frustration if they cannot contribute. This shows that whether PSM relates positively depends on institutional logics.

Keywords:

• Burnout
• job satisfaction
• public service motivation (PSM)
• societal impact potential (SIP)
• type of public organization

Acknowledgements

This work was financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). We would like to thank PMM's anonymous reviewers for their useful feedback.