A principal question in the study of public administration is how to motivate personnel to work in public services and to work towards achieving public purposes. The conceptualisation of the notion of ‘public service motivation’ has provided researchers with openings to explain the disinterested behaviour often displayed by public servants. In a similar way other scholars trying to explain what motivates individuals to take up volunteering activities, struggle to explain disinterested or altruistic behaviour This article examines the contribution that the literature on volunteering can make to a better understanding of public service motivation. The article first, outlines major arguments used to explain why people volunteer and second, explores the extent to which these insights provide a fertile ground for public management scholars to further develop theories of public service motivation. The insight into the multi-dimensional nature of volunteering motivation and the notion of ‘impure’ altruism demonstrate that altruistic activities are both complex and rationally driven. This leads to ways of narrowing the existing gap between rational choice and principal-agent theories of motivation and a purely altruistic view of public service. Finally, the article examines what this implies for the development of human resource policies to obtain and retain committed and motivated staff.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, N. and Meyer, J. (1990), ‘The Measurement and Antecedents of Affective, Continuance and Normative Commitment to the Organization’ , Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol 63, No 1, pp. 1-18 .
2.
Alonso, P. and Lewis, G.B. (2001), ‘Public Service Motivation and Job Performance’ , American Review of Public Administration, Vol 31, No 4, pp. 363-380 .
3.
Andreoni, J. (1990), ‘Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving’ , Economic Journal, Vol 100, June, pp 464-477 .
4.
Brewer, G. and Selden, S. (1998), ‘Whistle Blowers in the federal Civil Service/ New Evidence of the Public Service Ethic’ , Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Vol 8, No 3, pp. 413-439 .
5.
Brewer, G. , Selden, S. and Facer II, R. (2000), ‘Individual Conceptions of Public Service Motivation’ , Public Administration Review, Vol 60, No 3, pp. 254-264 .
6.
Brooks, A. (2002), ‘Can Nonprofit Management Help Answer Public Management's ‘Big Questions’?’ , Public Administration Review, Vol 62, No 3, pp 259-266 .
7.
Brown, E. (1999), ‘The Scope of Volunteer Activity and Public Service’ , Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol 62, No 4, pp. 17-42 .
8.
Bussell, H. and Forbes, D. (2001), ‘Understanding the Volunteer Market: The What, Where, Who and Why of Volunteering’ , International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, Vol 7, No 3, pp. 244-257 .
9.
Chatman, J. (1989), ‘Improving Interactional Organizational Research: A Model of Person-Organization Fit’ , Academy of Management Review, Vol 14, No 1, pp. 333-349 .
10.
Clary, E. , Snyder, M. , Ridge, R. , Copeland, J. , Stukas, A. , Haugen, J. and Miene, P. (1998), ‘Understanding and Assessing the Motivations of Volunteers: A Functional Approach’ , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 74, pp. 1516-1530 .
11.
Clary, E. and Snyder, M. (1999), ‘The Motivations to Volunteer: Theoretical and Practical Considerations’ , Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol 8, No 5, pp. 156-159 .
12.
Cnaan, R. , Handy, F. and Wadsworth, M. (1996), ‘Defining who is a Volunteer: Conceptual and Empirical Considerations’ , Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Quarterly, Vol 25, No 3, pp. 364-383 .
13.
Coyle-Shapiro, J.A.-M. (2003), ‘The Employment Relationship in the U.K. Public Sector: A Psychological Contract Perspective’ , Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Vol 13, No 2, pp. 213-230 .
14.
Crewson, P. (1997), ‘Public-Service Motivation: Building Empirical Evidence of Incidence and Effect’ , Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol 7, No 4, pp. 499-518 .
15.
Dekker, P. and Halman, L. (2003), ‘Volunteering and Values: An Introduction’, in Dekker, P. and Halman, L. (eds), The Values of Volunteering. Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ( New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers ), pp. 1-17.
16.
Francois, P. (2000), ‘Public Service Motivation as an Argument for Government Provision’ , Journal of Public Economics, Vol 78, pp. 275-299 .
17.
Freeman, R. (1997), ‘Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor’ , Journal of Labor Economics, Vol 15, No 1, pp. S140-S166 .
18.
Gabris, G. and Simo, G. (1995), ‘Public Sector Motivation as an Independent Variable affecting Career Decisions’ , Public Personnel Management, Vol 24, No 1, pp. 33-51 .
19.
Greenslade, J. and White, K. (2005), ‘The Prediction of Above-Average Participation in Volunteerism: A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Volunteers Functions Inventory in Older Australian Adults’ , The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol 145, No 2, pp. 155-172 .
20.
Govekar, P. and Govekar, M. (2002), ‘Using Economic Theory and Research to Better Understand Volunteer Behavior’ , Nonprofit Management & Leadership, Vol 33, No 1, pp. 33-48 .
21.
Hodgkinson, V. (2003), ‘Volunteering in Global Perspective’, in Dekker, P. and Halman, L. (eds), The Values of Volunteering. Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ( New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers ), pp.35-53.
22.
Houston, D. (2000), ‘Public Service Motivation: A Multivariate Test’ , Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory’, Vol 10, No 4, pp. 713-727 .
23.
Le Grand, J. (2003), Motivation, Agency, and Public Policy. Of Knights & Knaves, Pawns & Queens, ( Oxford: Oxford University Press ).
24.
Lewis, G. and Alonso, P. (2001), ‘Public Service Motivation and Job Performance. Evidence from the Federal Sector’ , American Review of Public Administration, Vol 31, No 4, pp. 363-380 .
25.
Lewis, G. and Frank, S. (2002), ‘Who wants to work for Government?’ , Public Administration Review, Vol 62, No 4, pp. 395-404 .
26.
Meijs, L. , Handy, F. , Cnaan, R. , Brudney, J. , Ascoli, U. , Ranade, S. , Hustinx, L. , Weber, S. and Weiss, I. (2003), ‘All in the Eyes of the Beholder? Perceptions of Volunteering Across Eight Countries’, in Dekker, P. and Halman, L. (eds), The Values of Volunteering. Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ( New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers ), pp.19-34.
27.
Mesch, D. , Tschirhart, M. , Perry, J.L. and Lee, G. (1998), ‘Altruists or Egoists? Retention in Stipended Service’ , Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Vol 9, No 1, pp. 3-21 .
28.
Meyer, J. and Smith, C. (2000), ‘HRM Practices and Organizational Commitment: A Test of a Mediation Model’ , Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, Vol 17, No 4, pp. 319-342 .
29.
Mullins, L. (2005), Management and Organisational Behaviour, ( London: Prentice Hall ).
30.
Naff, K. and Crum, J. (1999), ‘Working for America. Does Public Service Motivation make a Difference?’ , Review of Public Personnel Administration, Vol 19, No 4, pp. 5-16 .
31.
Omoto, A. , Snyder, M. and Martino, S. (2000), ‘Volunteerism and the Life Course: Investigating Age-Related Agendas for Action’ , Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Vol 22, No 3, pp. 181-197 .
32.
O'Reilly, C. , Chatman, J. and Caldwell, D. (1991), ‘People and Organizational Culture: A Profile Comparison Approach to assessing Person-Organisation Fit’ , Academy of Management Journal, Vol 34, pp. 487-516 .
33.
Perry, J. (1996), ‘Measuring Public Service Motivation: An Assessment of Construct Reliability and Validity’ , Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Vol 6, No 1, pp. 5-23 .
34.
Perry, J. (1997), ‘Antecedents of Public Service Motivation’ , Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Vol 7, No 2, pp. 181-187 .
35.
Perry, J. (2000), ‘Bringing Society in: Toward a Theory of PSM’ , Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Vol 10, No 2, pp. 471-488 .
36.
Perry, J. and Thomson, M. (2003), Civic Service. What Difference does it make?, ( New York: Sharpe ).
37.
Perry, J. and Wise, L. (1990), ‘The Motivational Bases of Public Service’ , Public Administration Review, Vol 50, May/June, pp. 367-373 .
38.
Rainey, H. (1982), ‘Reward Preferences among Public and Private Managers: In Search of the Service Ethic’ , American Review of Public Administration, Vol 16, No 4, pp. 288-302 .
39.
Rainey, H. (2003), Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, ( San Francisco: Jossey-Bass ).
40.
Reed, P. and Selbee, L. (2003), ‘Do People Who Volunteer Have a Distinctive Ethos? A Canadian Study’, in Dekker, P. and Halman, L. (eds), The Values of Volunteering: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ( New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers ), pp.91-109.
41.
Salamon, L. and Sokolowski, W. (2003), ‘Institutional Roots of Volunteering: Toward a Macro-Structural Theory of individual Voluntary Action’, in Dekker, P. and Halman, L. (eds), The Values of Volunteering. Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ( New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers ), pp.71-90.
42.
Schiff, J. (1990), Charitable Giving and Government Policy: An Economic Analysis, ( New York: Greenwood Press ).
43.
Tschirhart, M. , Mesch, D. , Perry, J. , Miller, T. and Lee, G. (2001), ‘Stipended Volunteers: Their Goals, Experiences, Satisfaction, and Likelihood of Future Service’ , Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol 30, No 3, pp. 422-443 .
44.
Unger, L. (1991), ‘Altruism as a Motivation to Volunteer’ , Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol 12, No 1, pp. 71-100 .
45.
Vandenabeele, W. and Hondeghem, A. (s.d.), Naar een bestuurskundige theorie over ‘Public Service Motivation’. Maakt ‘public’ een verschil?, http://soc.kuleuven.be/io/ned/project/inhoud/hrml4.htm
46.
Vandenabeele, W. and Hondeghem, A. (2005), ‘Valeurs et Motivation dans L'Administration Publique: La Motivation de Service Public dans une Perspective de Comparaison Intemationale’,Revue Franfaise d'Administration Publique, 115, pp.463-80.
47.
Wittmer, D. (1991), ‘Serving the People or Serving for Pay: Reward Preferences among Government, Hybrid Sector, and Business Managers’ , Public Productivity and Management Review, Vol 14, No 4, pp. 369-383 .
