Public service motivation and willingness to collaborate. An examination in the context of homeland security

Date13 May 2014
Pages80-95
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-07-2013-0018
Published date13 May 2014
AuthorHeather Getha-Taylor,Alexa Haddock-Bigwarfe
Subject MatterHR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM
Public service motivation and
willingness to collaborate
An examination in the context of
homeland security
Heather Getha-Taylor
School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Kansas,
Lawrence, Kansas, USA, and
Alexa Haddock-Bigwarfe
Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine public service motivation (PSM) and the
connection with collaborative attitudes among a sample of homeland security actors representing
the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
Design/methodology/approach – This study examines relationships between measures of PSM
and collaboration using original survey data and hierarchical multiple regression.
Findings – Findings reveal strong positive relationships between PSM measures and attitudes
toward collaboration at the individual and organizational level.
Research limitations/implications – Survey results are cross-sectional and are from respondents
participating in a single state’s homeland security summit.
Practical implications – It is expected that results can be used to enhance collaboration at the
individual and organizational levels. At the organizational level, results can be used for matching
individuals with collaborative opportunities. At the individual level, results can be used for enhanced
self-reflection and effectiveness purposes.
Originality/value – This study provides insights on the relationship between PSM measures and
collaborative attitudes. The research contributes to the body of scholarly work connecting PSM
and correlates of interest.
Keywords Collaboration, Employee motivation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Public service motivation (PSM), say Perry and Hondeghem (2008, p. 295) “is a specific
expression of prosocial, other-oriented motives, goals, and values”. Studies examining
this construct have traditionally focussed on its application to public organizational
contexts. This theoretical construct, and its relationship with collaboration, should be
examined, given the need for boundary-spanning action to me et public service goals.
This study offers evidence of PSM among homeland security partners, with special
focus on the connection between PSM and willingness to collaborate. The study
context is South Carolina, which offers an appropriate lens, given notable collaborative
efforts there. For instance, initiatives such as South Carolina’s Project Seahawk, the
USA first collaborative counterterrorism task force designed to protect the nation’s
ports, was praised for protecting Charleston, one of the nation’s busiest container ports.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
Received 20 July 2013
Revised 30 November 2013
21 December 2013
23 December 2013
Accepted 23 December 2013
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 2 No. 1, 2014
pp. 80-95
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-07-2013-0018
The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments received from editors and anonymous
reviewers. No funding was received to support this research.
80
EBHRM
2,1
This project is considered a model for ensuring p ort security around the world
(National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, 2007).
Like Project Seahawk, this study includes lessons that extend beyond the research
setting of South Carolina to address public service in a broader context. The goal of this
study is to help extend the discussion of PSM and consider the ways this theory helps
us understand the desire to work together to address shared goals, regardless of sector
affiliation. Moynihan and Pandey (2007) identify the increasingly “blurry boundaries
between sectors” as reason for examining ind icators of PSM among members of
private and nonprofit organizations in addition to public o rganizations. It is expected
that the increasing interdependence among o rganizations working together to solve
complex public problems may in fact facilitate the development, or utilization, of such
motivation among partners.
A number of theoretical explanations have been offered to describe the motivation
to collaborate at the individual, group, and sector levels (Gazley, 2008). Theories
including agency theory, game theory, gender theory, and public choice theory are
among the lenses included as relevant to collaboration. However, PSM is not included
in that list; this research is intended to consider whether this construct should also be
included as a potential driving force fo r collaboration.
This study presents original survey data to examine the connection between PSM
measures and willingness to collaborate at the individual and organizational levels
among a sample of South Carolina’s homeland security partners, including public,
private, and nonprofit employees. Partnering is especially impor tant in the homeland
security context where no one organization has all the resources necessary to address
shared problems unilaterally (US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistanc e,
2005). Considering the motivational bases contributing to this goal is an imp ortant
research task. To this end, this work seeks to answer the following research question:
Is there a relationship between PSM and willingness to collaborate?
2. Linking collaboration and PSM
Kettl (2009) considered the contemporary challenges facing governments at all levels
and contended that some of the most pressing problems are made mo recom plicated by
“boundaries.” While boundaries have worked well in the past in terms of delineating
responsibility and ensuring accountability, Kettl notes that “it is becoming increasingly
hard for government to solve problems because the problems themselves confound the
boundaries created to solve them” (Kettl, 2009, p. 34). Homeland secu rity is arguably
one of those problems, creating unexpected challenges for pub lic management.
As noted by Kamarck (2003), homeland secu rity is a particularly appropriate context
for working across boundaries and through networks. Homeland security, says
Kamarck, is a problem that “will not fit into the organizational model of the 20
th
century, the bureaucracy” (Kamarck, 2003, p. 141).
While bureaucratic structu res have not been replaced, working effectively in
networks and other collaborative arrangements in addition is now an expectatio n
for public managers (Agranoff, 2007). In this context, these government managers
may find they must rely on cross-secto r partners whose “goals might not line up” with
those of the public sector (Kettl, 2009). This is in part explained by competing logics
that differentiate bureaucratic and capitalist institutions (Meyer et al., 2013) and a
traditional view of distinctively different characteristics by sector (se e Knott, 1993).
In his meta-analysis of public vs private sector studies of motivation, Boyne (2002)
concluded that the majority of studies found “strong evidence of the existence of a
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PSM and
willingness to
collaborate

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