Public service motivation refers to the type of motivation to perform behavior that relates typically to the public sector; such as altruism or public interest. The concept was originally developed within an American context by James Perry and other academics. However; one can distinguish a similar, if not identical, concept in several European countries. This article makes a comparison between two European cases of public service motivation: the United Kingdom and Germany. The results show that although there are similarities between them, there are also marked differences. Our findings provide the basis for further research to explore the phenomenon in a cross cultural and international context.
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