Public service motivation, job satisfaction, and the moderating effect of employment sector: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Public service motivation (PSM) literature suggests that PSM has a positive effect on employees’ job satisfaction. Using meta-analysis, this study examines the aggregate effect of PSM on job satisfaction. In addition, this study investigates whether sector affiliation moderates the relationship between PSM and employee job satisfaction. Based on reported correlations between PSM and job satisfaction from 46 studies, this study finds compelling evidence for a positive relationship between PSM and job satisfaction. Furthermore, a subsequent analysis reveals that this relationship is stronger for individuals who work in the government sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Public service motivation
• job satisfaction
• employment sector
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In Homberg et al.’s (2015) study, one of the criteria used to determine whether a job offers the ‘opportunity to serve the public’ was whether survey participants work for public agencies. However, their primary focus was on the characteristics of the job, not the public organization per se, and they used the public agency as a proxy. For example, they regarded a job is not public-oriented if ‘there is very little contact with the public and limited opportunity to contribute to society (p. 714)’ even if the employee works for a public organization.

2. Especially they did not find statistical significance for the compassion dimension, and we suspect it might have resulted from a relatively small sample size.

3. This is also consistent with the attraction and selection claims suggested by Perry and Wise (1990), where individuals with higher levels of PSM are attracted to organizations as they offer more possibilities of using this motive in the work.

4. www.webofknowledge.com.

5. These items include ‘In general, I like working here,’ ‘In general, I don’t like my job,’ and ‘All in all, I am satisfied with my job.’ All items are measured in a 5-point Likert scale.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Naon Min

Naon Min is an adjunct faculty in the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. Her research interests include public management, publicness, public values, public service delivery mechanism, and organizational theory.

Namhoon Ki

Namhoon Ki is an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami. His research revolves around network analysis, public management, local government, and governance, which appears in Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, Rationality and Society, and The Social Science Journal.

Taewon Yoon

Taewon Yoon received Ph.D. in the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. His research area is in the area of public management. His research and teaching interest include public organization (management), organizational behavior & theory, performance management, goal ambiguity, leadership, and family-friendly policy.