Abstract

Public service motivation (PSM) is a core concept in public administration, studied in surveys across numerous countries. Whether these studies accumulate comparable knowledge about PSM crucially depends on PSM measurement invariance: that PSM has a similar measurement structure in different national contexts. Yet, large-scale cross-country research to address this conundrum remains scant. Drawing on an original survey of 23,000 public servants in ten countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, our paper addresses this gap. Replicating Kim et al.’s 16-item scale, we find partial metric invariance for the four PSM dimensions in eight countries, but scalar non-invariance. This suggests that results from structural equations about the causes and consequences of PSM may be compared across most countries, yet means of PSM and its dimensions are not generally comparable. PSM research thus cannot adjudicate in which countries public service motivation is higher or lower on average but can compare relationships between PSM and individual characteristics or management practices between countries. Our findings underscore the cross-cultural basis of public service motivation and its limits.

摘要

公共服务动机 (PSM) 是公共行政的核心概念，在许多国家的调查中都得到了研究。这些研究是否积累了有关 PSM 的可比知识，关键取决于 PSM 测量的不变性：PSM 在不同的国家背景下具有相似的测量结构。然而，解决这一难题的大规模跨国研究仍然很少。根据对东欧、亚洲、拉丁美洲和非洲 10 个国家的 23,000 名公务员的原始调查，我们的论文解决了这一差距。复制 Kim 等人的 16 项量表，我们发现八个国家/地区的四个 PSM 维度的部分度量不变，但标量非不变。这表明，关于 PSM 的原因和后果的结构方程的结果可以在大多数国家进行比较，然而，PSM 的方法和它的维度通常没有可比性。因此，PSM 研究无法判断哪些国家的公共服务动机平均较高或较低，但可以比较 PSM 与个人特征或国家间管理实践之间的关系。我们的研究结果强调了公共服务动机的跨文化基础及其局限性。