Premium
Bridging the Public Service Motivation and Calling Literatures
Author(s) -
Thompson Jeffery A.,
Christensen Robert K.
Publication year - 2018
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/puar.12913
Subject(s) - scholarship , public service , public relations , construct (python library) , sociology , work (physics) , service (business) , public service motivation , bridging (networking) , political science , public sector , business , marketing , computer science , mechanical engineering , computer network , law , programming language , engineering
Public administration research suggests there may be disparity in the extent to which public servants experience their work as a calling. The purpose of this article is to better illustrate and integrate calling research, which grows out of the positive organizational scholarship movement, into how we understand public service motives. The calling scholarship offers a productive way to view differences in public servants' orientations toward their work. Integrating calling into the public administration scholarship—particularly the public service motivation scholarship—provides insights to researchers and managers about how to help employees discover a deeper sense of meaningfulness in their work. In presenting the arguments and corresponding conceptual framework, the authors seek to supplement rather than replace the public service motivation construct. The authors articulate a research agenda that they believe will strengthen and enrich research on public servants' experience with their work .