Public Service Motivation and Public Opinion

Abstract

Practitioners, policymakers, and scholars across fields and disciplines seek to understand factors that shape public opinion and public service values, especially in today's polarized context. Yet we know little about how the two relate. Research on public service motivation (PSM), a drive to help others grounded in public institutions, has grown to examine career decisions and behaviors within and outside the workplace, but does the influence of PSM extend to individual values? Using data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study surrounding the 2016 US presidential election, we first examine the antecedents of PSM; how do individual characteristics as well as socioeconomic and sociocultural factors influence levels of PSM? Second, we describe the role PSM plays in shaping public opinion on policy preferences, budget priorities, and political behaviors. Findings have implications for both understanding who has PSM as well as how PSM shapes public preferences, attitudes, and behaviors.

Public Service Motivation and Trust in Government: An Examination Across the Federal, State, and Local Levels in the United States

“…PSM also extends beyond the workplace to prosocial behaviors in the community like volunteering (Clerkin et al, 2009;Piatak, 2016;Piatak & Holt, 2020). PSM not only shapes behaviors but also as a measure of attitudes and beliefs influences public opinion on policy issues (Piatak & Holt, 2021). Perhaps like public opinion on different policy areas, PSM may shape trust in government.…”

“…PSM is "the drive to help others based in public institutions" (Piatak & Holt, 2021, p. 6). PSM is most commonly described as a predisposition (e.g., Piatak & Holt, 2021;Perry & Wise, 1990) or a social identity (e.g., Pedersen, 2015;Vandenabeele et al, 2018). In either conceptualization, PSM varies among the general population and may be altered by one's surroundings and interactions.…”

“…The primary independent variable in our analysis is PSM. We use the five-item measure of PSM (originating from Perry, 1996; for details, see Piatak & Holt, 2021;Wright et al, 2013). Scholars have validated this measure since it was originally included in the Merit System Protection Board Survey (the MSPB5 scale; e.g., Naff & Crum, 1999).…”

Servant Leadership and Followers Prosocial Rule-Breaking: The Mediating Role of Public Service Motivation

“…The literature has evidence that leadership not only directly influences the followers’ behaviors but also through altering and activating the followers’ attitudes and motivations ( Walumbwa et al, 2010 ). Public service motivation (PSM) is an important concept and construct of public management, which has received increased attention from public management scholars and practitioners with special relevance to public administration ( Piatak and Holt, 2021 ). Consistently, state-owned enterprises ( Papenfuß and Keppeler, 2020 ) public sector volunteers as well as non-profit public service organizations ( Costello et al, 2020 ) where the goal of service delivery is to contribute to society.…”

Scaling up local climate action: A survey of climate policy priorities in the Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities region

“…We employed a web-based survey of local government elected officials and staff (n=106) from 38 municipalities and 10 regional districts in the VICC region. Collecting primary survey data from government 'elites' (Sovacool et al, 2018) represents an empirically novel approach to inform regional planning given the emerging research into the importance of public service motivation in shaping policy preferences, budget priorities, and strategic planning processes (Piatak & Holt, 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically explore climate policy preferences and barriers in local governments to inform a regional climate plan.…”