In a context where French public organizations are confronted with a rise in the demand for high-quality services, with limited financial resources and with a new form of management based upon a ‘results culture’, understanding work commitment in the civil service seems to be more crucial than ever Committing servants to their public organization is necessary to improve public services quality. According to Perry and Wise (1990), public service motivation seems to be important in explaining organizational commitment in public organizations. Further, psychological contract and organizational commitment appear to be significantly associated in public organizations (Coyle-Shapiro and Kessler, 2003). This study investigates psychological contract and public service motivation as antecedents of organizational commitment using survey responses from 754 civil servants, including police officers, teachers and servants working in Civil Engineering Administration. According to the results, psychological contract and public service motivation could both explain organizational commitment in French public administration. However, depending on the form of commitment, public service motivation and psychological contract vary in their predictive power.
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