Within the public service motivation (PSM) literature, several studies have shown that PSM is positively associated with public sector employment. However, the question of whether PSM influences or is influenced by employment decisions remains open, since these studies mostly rely on samples with current employees. This paper investigates the relationship between PSM and employment sector in a pre-entry as well as entry and post-entry setting using data from two panels with Danish physiotherapists: one with students entering their first job in the public or private sector and one with current employees among whom some have made a sector switch. The analyses show that while different dimensions of PSM are relevant for attraction effects in both sectors, PSM does only to a limited extent predict actual job choices and sector switches. Furthermore, once employed, public organizational membership does not foster PSM; it rather prevents PSM from declining as much as in the private sector. This suggests that PSM acts both as an antecedent and as a consequence of sector employment but in a more complex way than previously assumed.

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The literature on public service motivation (PSM) has typically focused on the relationship between motivation and public/private sector of employment, while the character of the work being performed has been neglected. Using panel surveys with pre‐ and postentry measures of PSM among certified Danish social workers, this article provides a unique design for investigating PSM‐based attraction‒selection and socialization effects with respect to the choice between work related to service production or service regulation (controlled for public/private sector of employment). The article shows that the PSM profiles of social work students predict their preference for one of the two types of work tasks but do not predict first employment in the preferred job. Conversely, postentry shifts in social workers’ PSM profiles result from a complex interplay between influences from both work task and sector.

Further integration of the public value literature with other strands of literature within Public Administration necessitates a more specific classification of public values. This article applies a typology linked to organizational design principles, because this is useful for empirical public administration studies. Based on an existing typology of modes of governance, we develop a classification and test it empirically, using survey data from a study of the values of 501 public managers. We distinguish among seven value dimensions (the public at large, rule abidance, balancing interests, budget keeping, efficient supply, professionalism, and user focus), and we find systematic differences between organizations at different levels and with different tasks, indicating that the classification is fruitful. Our goal is to enable more precise analyses of value conflicts and improve the integration between the public value literature and other parts of the Public Administration discipline.

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