Perry & Wise's Theory Of Public Service Motivation

1330 Words3 Pages

Perry & Wise’s (1990) Public Service Motivation (PSM) Theory provides a better understanding of people’s motivation to work for the government. This theory is based “an individual’s predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions and organizations” that are related to “altruism and pro-social behaviour”. Having altruistic behaviour means to be self-sacrificing by considering other people’s needs while pro-social behaviour means to have the aspiration to do something for the greater good (Perry & Hondegham, 2008). PSM comprises of three types of motives which have significant implications on individual’s behaviour and responses, namely rational, norm-based, and affective. Perry & Wise’s (1990) view …show more content…

Besides that, Bright (2005) determined the individual characteristics, management level, and financial reward preferences of high PSM public sector employees which resulted in employees with high PSM are generally female, are managers, have higher education levels, and place less emphasis on financial rewards. This finding further reinforces Perry & Wise’s (1990) findings on employees with high PSM and their reward preferences. However, there are also contrasting views that public sector employees value extrinsic rewards as well because traditionally, people are attracted to work for the government because of the job stability, opportunities for career development and the pension system (Perry & Hondegham, 2008). Besides that, people also perceive that government jobs are more flexible and less stressful for those with families (Vandenabeele, 2008). Research studies have mainly focused on the PSM theory from the angle of public service as public

Open Document