In the context of rising pressures on services without linked resources, service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (SOCB) has been recognized as a contributor to public sector success. Using the theory of empathy-induced altruistic motivation, we investigated how frontline public employees’ social mindfulness affects SOCB through PSM, as well as the moderating effects of perceptions of citizen mistreatment (PCM) and perceptions of gratitude on the relationship between PSM and SOCB. Online survey data from 409 Chinese frontline public employees from diverse sectors were analyzed. The results showed a positive and significant association between social mindfulness and SOCB, mediated through PSM. This link between PSM and SOCB remains non-significantly affected by PCM but is significantly strengthened by perception of gratitude, as consistently observed across the entire moderated mediator model. The public sector should consider social mindfulness when allocating and training frontline employees and create conditions for healthy interactions between them and citizens.
AlgoeS. B.FredricksonB. L.GableS. L. (2013). The social functions of the emotion of gratitude via expression. Emotion, 13(4), 605–609.
2.
AlqhaiwiZ. O.LuuT. (2024). Workplace spirituality and service-oriented performance via work engagement in public organizations: The moderating role of service climate. Public Management Review, 24, 2819–2846.
3.
AparicioM.CentenoC.RobinsonC. A.ArantzamendiM. (2022). Palliative professionals’ experiences of receiving gratitude: A transformative and protective resource. Qualitative Health Research, 32(7), 1126–1138.
4.
AxtellC. M.ParkerS. K.HolmanD.TotterdellP. (2007). Enhancing customer service: Perspective taking in a call centre. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 16(2), 141–168.
5.
Barboza-WilkesC.GonzalezE.ReshW.WongS. (2024). The emotional toll of the COVID-19 crisis on local government workers. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 44(1), 60–85.
BatsonC. D.DyckJ. L.BrandtJ. R.BatsonJ. G.PowellA. L.McMasterM. R.GriffittC. (1988). Five studies testing two new egoistic alternatives to the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(1), 52–77.
8.
BatsonC. D.LishnerD. A.StocksE. L. (2015). The empathy–altruism hypothesis. In SchroederD. A.GrazianoW. G. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of prosocial behavior (pp. 259–281). Oxford University Press.
9.
BelléN. (2012). Experimental evidence on the relationship between public service motivation and job performance. Public Administration Review, 73(1), 143–153.
10.
Benet-MartínezV.OishiS. (2008). Culture and personality. In JohnO. P.RobinsR. W.PervinL. A. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 542–567). The Guilford Press.
11.
BenteinK.LapalmeM. È.GuerreroS.Parent-RocheleauX.SimardG. (2022). How can servant leaders foster public employees’ service-oriented behaviors? A multilevel multisource study in Canadian libraries. Public Administration Review, 82(2), 269–279.
12.
BettencourtL. A.BrownS. W. (1997). Contact employees: Relationships among workplace fairness, job satisfaction and prosocial service behaviors. Journal of Retailing, 73(1), 39–61.
13.
BettencourtL. A.GwinnerK. P.MeuterM. L. (2001). A comparison of attitude, personality, and knowledge predictors of service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 29–41.
14.
BorstR. T.KruyenP. M.LakoC. J. (2019). Exploring the job demands–resources model of work engagement in government: Bringing in a psychological perspective. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 39(3), 372–397.
15.
BozemanB.SuX. (2015). Public service motivation concepts and theory: A critique. Public Administration Review, 75(5), 700–710.
16.
ChenC.ChenC.-A.LiuB.ChenT. (2023). Two sides of the same coin: How does civil servants’ public service motivation affect work-family conflict?Public Management Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2023.2259916
17.
ChenC.-h. V.KaoR. H. (2012). Work values and service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors: The mediation of psychological contract and professional commitment: A case of students in Taiwan police college. Social Indicators Research, 107(1), 149–169.
18.
ChenD.ZhangY.Bayiz AhmadA.LiuB. (2024). Exploring the trickle-down effect of public service motivation from supervisors to their subordinates. International Public Management Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2024.2314042
19.
ChenM.ChenC. C.SheldonO. J. (2016). Relaxing moral reasoning to win: How organizational identification relates to unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(8), 1082–1096.
20.
ChouS. Y.Lopez-RodriguezE. (2013). An empirical examination of service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. Managing Service Quality, 23(6), 474–494.
21.
DavisR. S.StazykE. C.DickmanZ. T. (2020). Advantages of feeling appreciated: An examination of how receipt of gratitude influences the linkages between PSM and behaviour. Public Administration, 99(4), 723–739.
22.
de GeusC. J.IngramsA.TummersL.PandeyS. K. (2020). Organizational citizenship behavior in the public sector: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. Public Administration Review, 80(2), 259–270.
23.
DolamoreS. (2021). Detecting empathy in public organizations: Creating a more relational public administration. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 43(1), 58–81.
24.
DouK.WangY. J.LiJ. B.LiJ. J.NieY. G. (2018). Perceiving high social mindfulness during interpersonal interaction promotes cooperative behaviours. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 21(1–2), 97–106.
25.
EdlinsM.DolamoreS. (2018). Ready to serve the public? The role of empathy in public service education programs. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 24(3), 300–320.
FornellC.LarckerD. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.
28.
GrimmelikhuijsenS.JilkeS.OlsenA. L.TummersL. (2017). Behavioral public administration: Combining insights from public administration and psychology. Public Administration Review, 77(1), 45–56.
29.
GuulT. S.PedersenM. J.PetersenN. B. G. (2021). Creaming among caseworkers: Effects of client competence and client motivation on caseworkers’ willingness to help. Public Administration Review, 81(1), 12–22.
30.
GuyM. E.NewmanM. A.MastracciS. H. (2014). Emotional labor: Putting the service in public service. Taylor & Francis.
31.
HanZ.MengX. (2018). From conflict to cooperation: The evolution of the relationship between urban management officers and street pedllers and its reflection. Public Administration and Policy Review, 7(3), 56–74. (in Chinese)
32.
HardenK. P.KoellingerP. D. (2020). Using genetics for social science. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(6), 567–576.
33.
HobfollS. E.HalbeslebenJ.NeveuJ.-P.WestmanM. (2018). Conservation of resources in the organizational context: The reality of resources and their consequences. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5(1), 103–128.
34.
HoustonD. J. (2006). “Walking the walk” of public service motivation: Public employees and charitable gifts of time, blood, and money. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 16(1), 67–86.
35.
HsiehC. W.YangK.FuK. J. (2012). Motivational bases and emotional labor: Assessing the impact of public service motivation. Public Administration Review, 72(2), 241–251.
36.
IngramsA. (2020). Organizational citizenship behavior in the public and private sectors: A multilevel test of public service motivation and traditional antecedents. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 40(2), 222–244.
37.
JakobsenM.JensenR. (2014). Common method bias in public management studies. International Public Management Journal, 18(1), 3–30.
38.
JensenD. C.PedersenL. B. (2017). The impact of empathy: Explaining diversity in street-level decision-making. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 27(3), 433–449.
39.
JonasonP. K.Zeigler-HillV.OkanC. (2017). Good v. evil: Predicting sinning with dark personality traits and moral foundations. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 180–185.
40.
KimH. Y.KimS.HowellT. M.DoyleS. P.PettitN. C.BizzarroM. (2023). Are we essential, or sacrificial? The effects of felt public gratitude on essential worker recovery activities during COVID-19. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(2), 218–227.
41.
KimJ. (2018). The contrary effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on burnout and turnover intention in the public sector. International Journal of Manpower, 39(3), 486–500.
42.
KimS. (2006). Public service motivation and organizational citizenship behavior in Korea. International Journal of Manpower, 27(8), 722–740.
43.
KimT.HendersonA. C.EomT. H. (2015). At the front line: Examining the effects of perceived job significance, employee commitment, and job involvement on public service motivation. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 81(4), 713–733.
44.
KoopmannJ.WangM.LiuY.SongY. (2015). Customer mistreatment: A review of conceptualizations and a multilevel theoretical model. In PerrewéP. L.HalbeslebenJ. R. B.RosenC. C. (Eds.), Mistreatment in organizations (research in occupational stress and well being) (Vol. 13, pp. 33–79). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
45.
KozjekT.BrezovarN. (2022). Citizens mistreatment among public servants in social public services. Danube, 13(2), 82–106.
46.
KrollA.NeshkovaM. I.PandeyS. K. (2017). Spillover effects from customer to citizen orientation: How performance management reforms can foster public participation. Administration & Society, 51(8), 1227–1253.
47.
LaveeE. (2021). Who is in charge? The provision of informal personal resources at the street level. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 31(1), 4–20.
48.
LeeH. W.BradburnJ.JohnsonR. E.LinS.-H. J.ChangC.-H. D. (2019). The benefits of receiving gratitude for helpers: A daily investigation of proactive and reactive helping at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(2), 197–213.
49.
LewisJ. M. (2014). Individual and institutional accountability: The case of research assessment. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 73(4), 408–416.
50.
LinC.-S.JinM.HuangP.-C.XiaoR. (2023). Does it take two to tango? The joint role of high-performance work systems and ethical leadership. Journal of Business Research, 156, 113536.
51.
LipskyM. (2010). Street level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. Russell Sage Foundation. (Original work published 1980)
52.
LiuB. C.TangT. L.-P. (2011). Does the love of money moderate the relationship between public service motivation and job satisfaction? The case of Chinese professionals in the public sector. Public Administration Review, 71(5), 718–727.
53.
LuuT. T. (2019). Service-oriented high-performance work systems and service-oriented behaviours in public organizations: The mediating role of work engagement. Public Management Review, 21(6), 789–816.
54.
MasoodA.NisarM. A. (2021). Repairing the state: Policy repair in the frontline bureaucracy. Public Administration Review, 82(2), 256–268.
55.
MatsuoM. (2024). High-performance work systems and proactive behavior: The mediating role of customer-oriented behavior. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 46(1), 1–18.
56.
McCulloughM. E.EmmonsR. A.TsangJ. A. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(1), 112–127.
57.
McCulloughM. E.KilpatrickS. D.EmmonsR. A.LarsonD. B. (2001). Is gratitude a moral affect?Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 249–266.
58.
MeadeA. W.CraigS. B. (2012). Identifying careless responses in survey data. Psychological Methods, 17(3), 437-455.
59.
Miranda-DíazM.Clark-ShimH.KellerT. E.SpencerR. (2020). Determinants of motivation for mentoring among adults volunteering to mentor youth. Journal of Youth Development, 15(4), 174–189.
60.
MostafaA. M. S. (2022). Customer Incivility, work engagement and service-oriented citizenship behaviours: Does servant leadership make a difference?Human Performance, 35(1), 31–47.
61.
NasurdinA. M.AhmadN. H.TanC. L. (2014). Cultivating service-oriented citizenship behavior among hotel employees: The instrumental roles of training and compensation. Service Business, 9(2), 343–360.
62.
NiD.Jiwen SongL.ZhengX.ZhuJ.ZhangM.XuL. (2022). Extending a helping hand: How receiving gratitude makes a difference in employee performance during a crisis. Journal of Business Research, 149, 967–982.
63.
NiessenA. S. M.MeijerR. R.TendeiroJ. N. (2016). Detecting careless respondents in web-based questionnaires: Which method to use?Journal of Research in Personality, 63, 1–11.
64.
OsborneS. P.RadnorZ.NasiG. (2012). A new theory for public service management? Toward a (public) service-dominant approach. The American Review of Public Administration, 43(2), 135–158.
65.
PandeyS. K.WrightB. E.MoynihanD. P. (2008). Public service motivation and interpersonal citizenship behavior in public organizations: Testing a preliminary model. International Public Management Journal, 11(1), 89–108.
66.
PeetersR.CamposS. A. (2023). Street-level bureaucracy in weak state institutions: A systematic review of the literature. International review of Administrative Sciences, 89(4), 977–995.
67.
PerryJ. L.HondeghemA. (2008). Building theory and empirical evidence about public service motivation. International Public Management Journal, 11(1), 3–12.
68.
PiatakJ. S.HoltS. B. (2020). Disentangling altruism and public service motivation: Who exhibits organizational citizenship behaviour?Public Management Review, 22(7), 949–973.
69.
PotipiroonW.Srisuthisa-ardA.FaermanS. (2018). Public service motivation and customer service behaviour: Testing the mediating role of emotional labour and the moderating role of gender. Public Management Review, 21(5), 650–668.
70.
RaggioR. D.FolseJ. A. G. (2011). Expressions of gratitude in disaster management: An economic, social marketing, and public policy perspective on post-Katrina campaigns. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 30(2), 168–174.
71.
RaineyH. G.SteinbauerP. (1999). Galloping elephants: Developing elements of a theory of effective government organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 9(1), 1–32.
72.
RaynerJ.LawtonA. (2018). Are we being served? Emotional labour in local government in Victoria, Australia. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 77(3), 360–374.
73.
SchafferB. S.RiordanC. M. (2003). A review of cross-cultural methodologies for organizational research: A best-practices approach. Organizational Research Methods, 6(2), 169–215.
74.
SchönherrL.ThalerJ. (2023). Personality traits and public service motivation as psychological antecedents of managerial networking. Public Management Review, 26, 1–27.
75.
ShimD. C.FaermanS. (2017). Government employees’ organizational citizenship behavior: The impacts of public service motivation, organizational identification, and subjective OCB norms. International Public Management Journal, 20(4), 531–559.
76.
SicilianoM. D.ThompsonJ. R. (2022). A field experiment on the impact of beneficiary contact on federal employee perceptions of prosocial impact and social worth. International Public Management Journal, 25(1), 120–139.
77.
SkarlickiD. P.Van JaarsveldD. D.WalkerD. D. (2008). Getting even for customer mistreatment: The role of moral identity in the relationship between customer interpersonal injustice and employee sabotage. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(6), 1335–1347.
78.
SongY.LiuY.WangM.LanajK.JohnsonR. E.ShiJ. (2018). A social mindfulness approach to understanding experienced customer mistreatment: A within-person field experiment. Academy of Management Journal, 61(3), 994–1020.
79.
TangP. M.IliesR.AwS. S. Y.LinK. J.LeeR.TrombiniC. (2022). How and when service beneficiaries’ gratitude enriches employees’ daily lives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(6), 987–1008.
80.
TaylorJ. (2008). Organizational influences, public service motivation and work outcomes: An Australian study. International Public Management Journal, 11(1), 67–88.
81.
TianY.WangL.XuY.JiaoL. (2022). Psychological structure of social mindfulness in Chinese culture. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 53(9), 1003–1017.
82.
TummersL. L. G.BekkersV.VinkE.MushenoM. (2015). Coping during public service delivery: A conceptualization and systematic review of the literature. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(4), 1099–1126.
83.
van der VoetJ. (2019). Organizational decline and innovation in public organizations: A contextual framework of cutback management. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 2(2), 139–154.
84.
Van DoesumN. J.de VriesR. E.BloklandA. A. J.HillJ. M.KuhlmanD. M.StiversA. W.TyburJ. M.Van LangeP. A. M. (2019). Social mindfulness: Prosocial the active way. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(2), 183–193.
85.
Van DoesumN. J.KarremansJ. C.FikkeR. C.de LangeM. A.Van LangeP. A. M. (2018). Social mindfulness in the real world: The physical presence of others induces other-regarding motivation. Social Influence, 13(4), 209–222.
86.
Van DoesumN. J.Van LangeD. A. W.Van LangeP. A. M. (2013). Social mindfulness: Skill and will to navigate the social world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(1), 86–103.
87.
Van LoonN. M.VandenabeeleW.LeisinkP. (2017). Clarifying the relationship between public service motivation and in-role and extra-role behaviors: The relative contributions of person-job and person-organization fit. The American Review of Public Administration, 47(6), 699–713.
88.
Van WitteloostuijnA.EsteveM.BoyneG. (2017). Public sector motivation ad fonts: Personality traits as antecedents of the motivation to serve the public interest. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 27(1), 20–35.
89.
WangT.-M.van WitteloostuijnA.HeineF. (2020). A moral theory of public service motivation. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 517763.
90.
WangY.ZhangJ.WangF.XuW.LiuW. (2023). Do not think any virtue trivial, and thus neglect it: Serial mediating role of social mindfulness and perspective taking. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 55(4), 626–641.
91.
WrightB. E.ChristensenR. K.PandeyS. K. (2013). Measuring public service motivation: Exploring the equivalence of existing global measures. International Public Management Journal, 16(2), 197–223.
92.
YueY.WangK. L.GrothM. (2022). It went downhill from there: The spillover effect from previous customer mistreatment on frontline employees’ service delivery. Journal of Service Research, 25(3), 478–493.
93.
ZhangQ.WangX. H.NerstadC. G. L.RenH.GaoR. (2022). Motivational climates, work passion, and behavioral consequences. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 43(9), 1579–1597.
94.
ZhangS.GuoS. (2021). Research on public organizational behavior in the field of behavioral public administration. China Public Administration Review, 3(3), 160–184. (in Chinese)
95.
ZhangX.WangM. C.HeL.JieL.DengJ. (2019). The development and psychometric evaluation of the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory-15. PLoS One, 14(8), e0221621.
96.
ZhaoL.JollyP. M.ZhaoS. (2022). Do illegitimate tasks undermine hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance? A moderated dual-path model. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 32(1), 95–121.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
