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Is occupational locus or focus important for public service motivation? Does national context influence public service motivation? To answer both questions, the author examines attitudes toward work motives from national samples in 11 North American and Western European nations using multilevel binary logistic regression analysis. The findings demonstrate that the locus of an occupation in government and its focus on a public service activity both are important in shaping preferences for work motives related to public service motivation. Also, the preference for work motives held by citizens is correlated with the type of welfare regime in a nation. Although it is less pronounced, some evidence suggests that the type of welfare regime influences preferences toward work motives among government employees.

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The common pronouncement of a career in public service as a “calling” echoes with a decidedly spiritual chord. However, the spiritual roots of public service have been ignored in much of the public administration scholarship. This essay examines the empirical connection between individual spirituality and participation in public service occupations. Data from the 1998 General Social Survey are analyzed to determine whether those in public service occupations are more spiritual than persons in non–public service occupations. The findings indicate that individuals in public service occupations, especially government‐related ones, are in fact more spiritual in their attitudes than others. Moreover, belief in the notions of transcendence and compassion for others are more pronounced in public service employees. Finally, the experience of interconnectedness and life meaning is greater for those in the public service.

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How well does public service motivation apply to occupational locus and focus in the post‐communist state? Survey data from the ISSP 2005 Work Orientations module gathered in five post‐communist Central and Eastern European countries and Russia are examined using multilevel binary logistic regression analysis. It is found that occupational focus is a more important correlate of public service motivation than is occupational locus in these post‐communist countries. Because the relative importance of work motives varies across countries, it is important to account for national context when developing a theory of public service motivation.