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Implications of Occupational Locus and Focus for Public Service Motivation: Attitudes Toward Work Motives across Nations
Author(s) -
Houston David J.
Publication year - 2011
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.1540-6210.2011.02415.x
Subject(s) - public service motivation , public service , welfare , preference , government (linguistics) , public relations , multilevel model , political science , context (archaeology) , service (business) , social psychology , psychology , sociology , public sector , business , economics , marketing , law , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , machine learning , computer science , microeconomics
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.