The Effects of Public Service Motivation on Job Choice Decisions: Disentangling the Contributions of Person-Organization Fit and Person-Job Fit

Abstract

Although most research focuses on person-organization fit to explain public service motivation (PSM)'s influence on job choice, this study investigates the independent effects of both person-organization fit and person-job fit using a policy capturing research design and a sample of first-year law students. Our findings suggest that PSM may play a more important role in person-job fit than person-organization fit. Consistent across three sectors of employment, individuals with stronger PSM were more likely to accept jobs that emphasize service to others-whether that be pro bono work (private sector), client interaction (public sector), or client representation (nonprofit sector). After controlling for characteristics that influence person-job fit, PSM neither increased the likelihood that individuals would accept a public sector job nor decreased the likelihood that they would accept a private sector job. Among other things, our findings suggest that sector may be an inaccurate proxy for values that are often taken for granted in PSM studies. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of a faculty research grant from the University of North Carolina Charlotte that facilitated this study. We are also indebted career services personnel at each of the law schools for their generous assistance. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge valuable comments from anonymous reviewers of this manuscript

Crowding Out Intrinsic Motivation in the Public Sector

“…On the other hand, a number of studies have also shown that public and private sector employees assign equal values to intrinsic rewards and earnings or other extrinsic rewards (e.g., Lyons, Duxbury, and Higgins 2006;Maidani 1991). Recent studies, investigating the role that extrinsic rewards play in sorting individuals into different employment sectors, find that higher earnings are still preferred to lower earnings, even among individuals with PSM who can still value, and be motivated by, financial rewards (e.g., Alonso and Lewis 2001;Christensen and Wright 2009;Rainey 1982;Wittmer 1991;Wright 2007;Wright & Pandey 2008;Vandenabeele 2008). Yet, whether it is the public sector causing individuals to exhibit behavior consistent with PSM or whether it is simply that public service motivated individuals who are drawn into the public sector remains an open empirical question.…”

The Moderating Effects of Organizational Culture on the Relationship between Work Motivation and Work Commitment of University Academic Staff

“…Researchers have proposed that public service motivation is least related to employees and more associated with PSM standards that are shared by organization and personnel's and the possibilities to perform in coherence with the standers tendered by the organization. Therefore, organizational culture can improve or diminish PSM (Christensen & Wright, 2011).…”

The role of public service motivation in performance. Examining the potentials and pitfalls through an institutional approach

“…Studies on the role of person-environment fit in the relationship between PSM and job choice (Christensen & Wright 2011;Kjeldsen & Jacobsen 2012) suggest that it 61 CHAPTER 2. All you need is public service motivation?…”

“…Studies on the role of person-environment fit in the relationship between PSM and job choice (Christensen & Wright 2011;Kjeldsen & Jacobsen 2012) suggest that it may be more important for the job to provide opportunities to contribute to society than for the organization be public or privately owned or controlled. The two are, however, likely to be related since most jobs in which an individual can have a meaningful contribution to society are presumably in public or semi-public organizations (Perry & Wise 1990;Rainey 2003).This leads to the sixth proposition:…”

“…| may be more important for the job to provide opportunities to contribute to society than for the organization be public or privately owned or controlled. The two are, however, likely to be related since most jobs in which an individual can have a meaningful contribution to society are presumably in public or semi-public organizations (Perry & Wise 1990;Rainey 2003).This leads to the sixth proposition:P6: The most important fit for the relationship between PSM and individual performance concern the publicness of the job.This proposition can only be tested if studies on the PSM-performance relationship start to include multiple types of fit or multiple aspects of the environment, as done by Christensen & Wright (2011). As outlined earlier, the publicness of the institutional context refers to several elements and is not only a matter of degree.…”