When service calls: Public service motivation and calling as complementary concepts for public service

Abstract

This study explores the distinctions between public service motivation (PSM) and the calling to public service and, specifically, how public servants describe these concepts. Using the calling and PSM framework put forth by Thompson and Christensen (2018), 31 semistructured interviews were conducted with city government employees in the Omaha, Nebraska metro area. Findings indicate interviewees identify with the ideas of PSM and calling. In particular, findings suggest predictive themes based on the individual, contextual, and job-based dimensions of the framework highlighting how PSM and calling inform each other as meaningful work concepts. This research validates the PSM-calling framework by providing empirical evidence that the concepts of PSM and calling are complementary, indicating that, when taken together, these concepts can inform and enrich public management research and practice.

Notes

1 The definitional features dimension of the framework was not included in the interview protocol since this dimension is based on a synthesis of existing PSM and calling research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Nebraska at Omaha Office of Graduate Studies under the Graduate Research and Creative Activity Grant.

Notes on contributors

Morgan D. Vogel

Morgan D. Vogel is now a doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the School of Public Administration. Her primary research interest is understanding public service work as a vocation. She also studies the motivations, ethics, and work-life balance of public and nonprofit practitioners. She has her BA in political science and her MPA from the University of Dayton.