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A recent thread in public administration research suggests that public service motivation (PSM) may have a dark side. However, empirical research supporting this assumption remains scarce. In this study, we build on and combine previous theoretical studies on the relationship between PSM and (im)morality. In particular, we test whether highly public-service motivated individuals vary their justification of an unethical behavior when the value advanced by this behavior safeguards or puts at risk their interpretation of the public interest. The research design combines two vignettes and various survey questions. Using a sample of more than 1500 citizens in Catalonia (Spain), we provide initial support for a dark side of PSM: justification of unethical behavior. The results for vignette A confirm our hypotheses, while the results for vignette B are insignificant. The discussion addresses the different findings, and provides directions for future research.

Ethics are important for personal, organizational and societal development. Although the literature has isolated some remedies and causes of unethical attitudes and behaviours, there is a still a need for further research. When focusing on the public context, it has been suggested that the motivation to serve the public interest has a negative relationship with different unethical outcomes. Thus, one interesting avenue of research is to explain how public service motivation can be enhanced by the outcome of certain managerial practices, which may also lead to ethical benefits indirectly. Using data collected from social workers in Catalonia (Spain), this article confirms that goal clarity directly increases the levels of public service motivation and indirectly reduces the acceptance of unethical behaviours by eliciting public service motivation. Research and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Points for practitioners This study highlights the importance of public service-oriented institutional contexts in indirectly shaping unethical outcomes. The findings recommend to public managers and practitioners to provide goal clarity (through certain human-resource management practices such as appraisal or job design) because it increases public service motivation and indirectly reduces the acceptance of unethical behaviour.