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Public Service and Motivation: Does Mission Matter?
Author(s) -
Wright Bradley E.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2006.00696.x
Subject(s) - public service motivation , public sector , employee motivation , work motivation , task (project management) , work (physics) , public service , public relations , intrinsic motivation , goal theory , job design , service (business) , job performance , test (biology) , foundation (evidence) , empirical research , psychology , business , job satisfaction , social psychology , marketing , political science , management , economics , engineering , philosophy , law , biology , paleontology , epistemology , mechanical engineering
This study advances our understanding of employee work motivation and performance in the public sector by reinterpreting the literature on public service motivation within the psychological framework of goal theory. An empirical test of this new framework suggests that goal theory provides a strong theoretical foundation for understanding the independent contributions of task, mission, and public service to employee work motivation and performance. The importance of an organization’s mission increases employee work motivation in the public sector by making the job more important, even after controlling for the effect of performance‐related extrinsic rewards.