Public Service Motivation
| Author | Domenica Farinella,Francesco Paolo Cerase |
| Published date | 01 July 2009 |
| Date | 01 July 2009 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0952076709103812 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Public Service Motivation
How Does it Relate to Management Reforms and
Changes in the Working Situation of Public
Organizations? A Case Study of the Italian Revenue
Agency
Francesco Paolo Cerase and Domenica Farinella1
University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Abstract To what extent can PSM be considered a characteristic that evolves in the
course of the individual’s working life? After offering this question as a
contribution to a research agenda on PSM, the article examines in what way
the different dimensions of PSM, held by a group of employees in the Italian
Revenue Agency, relate to their perceptions of recent changes in working
conditions. It also explores the relationship between perception of change,
PSM dimensions and job satisfaction, work motivation and organizational
commitment. Out of the web of interactions that tie together these variables
some support is found for the argument that there is a relationship between
some PSM dimensions and changes in the work environment. It is suggested,
however, that the question raised, besides needing further studies, could be
much better researched with a longitudinal study of a cohort of individuals.
Keywords job satisfaction, management reforms, public service motivation,
organisational commitment, work motivation
1. Introduction
Does public service motivation (PSM) draw people to a job they perceive to be
designed to promote the public interest and public welfare, and which is a reward
in itself? Is this what distinguishes public service rewards from those of higher
pay, better career prospects and higher prestige, that jobs in the private sector may
offer? Of course, there is an implicit assumption here that public service jobs are
DOI: 10.1177/0952076709103812
Francesco Paolo Cerase, Dipartimento di Sociologia, Università di Napoli Federico II,
Vico Monte della Pietà, 1 – 80138 Napoli, Italy. [email: cerase@unina.it] 281
© The Author(s), 2009.
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0952-0767
200907 24(3) 281–308
aimed at providing help, support and assistance in the name of the general interest
and well-being of society-at-large rather than seeking a profit or personal advan-
tage. If this assumption holds, public service jobs are more likely to be sought and
better performed by people who are moved primarily by PSM, rather than self
interest.
According to Brewer et al. (2000), in addition to attracting people into the
public sector, PSM also helps to improve productivity, management practices,
accountability, and trust in government. In short, employing people driven by
PSM is likely to enhance both the scope and the quality of public service. The
reasons for seeking a job in the public sector and how well a given job is
performed, however, may go beyond an individual’s PSM and factors such as
specific job characteristics, organizational commitment and human resource
management (HRM) practices have been investigated at length (Crewson, 1997;
Houston, 2000; Leisink, 2004; Lewis and Frank, 2002; Moynihan and Pandey,
2007; Wright, 2001) and found to be significant variables in explaining both moti-
vation and performance in public organizations. Indeed, the web is quite intricate
and varies between types of public service jobs and public employees.
This article offers a further contribution to the debate by examining the case of
a group of employees – mainly officials and executives – working for the Italian
Revenue Agency. Its aim is not to validate and test a theory of PSM, like
Moynihan and Pandey (2007), but to widen the analytical perspective and the
range of variables that need to be taken into consideration in examining what PSM
public employees exhibit in their performance and the impact it may have in any
given situation. In doing so this article is inspired by the work of other European
scholars who have been exploring the concept of public sector ethos (Horton,
2006, 2008; Vandenabeele et al., 2006) and advancing the work first developed in
an American context by Perry (1996; Perry and Wise, 1990). The question of an
‘Italian’ public ethos is explored here from a different angle.
This article clearly shares a concern with others (Perry, 1997, 2000;
Vandenabeele, 2007; Vandenabeele et al., 2006) about both the antecedents and
consequences of PSM. However, given that the pursuit is a general theory of PSM
and to give further strength to PSM as a ‘universal concept’ (Horton and
Hondeghem, 2006, p. 3) – more attention needs to be addressed to a wider range
of structural, institutional and organizational factors that help to understand in
what context – where, when and how – PSM grows and whether its presence can
‘make a difference’.
In short, in an international ‘research agenda’ on PSM, three general questions
may deserve further attention: (1) How much and under what conditions does
PSM actually count in searching for and finding a job? In particular, how PSM
compares to given characteristics of the labour market and to the channels through
which people succeed in gaining access to public jobs needs further investigation;
(2) Can PSM actually predict pro-social behaviour? In this respect a closer atten-
tion needs to be paid to the different contingencies addressed by ideas and talk, on
Public Policy and Administration 24(3)
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