Motivating Employees of the Public Sector: Does Public Service Motivation Matter?

By Simon Anderfuhren-Biget, Frédéric Varone, D. Giauque, A. Ritz. 2010

161 citations recorded by the source corpus.

ABSTRACT This article analyzes if, and to what extent, the public service motivation (PSM) construct has an added value to explain work motivation in the public sector. In order to address the specificity of PSM when studying work motivation, the theoretical model underlying this empirical study compares PSM with two other explanatory factors: material incentives, such as performance-related pay, and team relations and support, such as recognition by superiors. This theoretical model is then tested with data collected in a national survey of 3,754 civil servants at the Swiss municipal level. Results of a structural equations model clearly show the relevance of PSM. They also provide evidence for the importance of socio-relational motivating factors, whereas material incentives play an anecdotal role.

Subfields: Human Factors and Ergonomics, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Public Administration

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9e4b2a86ef53b59a5fbb0eeab61359c3b83e14d8

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Human Factors and Ergonomics

1. J. Caillier

In Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

1. J. Caillier
2. D. Giauque
3. Simon Anderfuhren-Biget
4. Frédéric Varone
5. Branda Nowell
6. Neil M. Boyd

In Public Administration

1. J. Caillier
2. D. Giauque
3. Simon Anderfuhren-Biget
4. Frédéric Varone
5. Neil M. Boyd
6. Branda Nowell

Citations in the corpus

• Satisfaction With Work-Life Benefits and Organizational Commitment/Job Involvement (2013, methodology): “…work motivation by employing several separate multiitem scales, including organizational commitment and job involvement, and Wright (2004) and Anderfuhren-Biget et al. (2010) incorporated items related to organizational commitment and job involvement in their overall work motivation measures.”
• HRM Practices, Intrinsic Motivators, and Organizational Performance in the Public Sector (2013, background): “However, some scholars have studied the association between work motivators and PSM; they have clearly demonstrated that intrinsic work motivators are related to PSM, whereas extrinsic work motivators are either not related to PSM or are related to a lesser extent (Anderfuhren-Biget et al., 2010; Ho”