Differential Public Service Motivation Among Hong Kong Public Officials: A Qualitative Study

This article adopts a qualitative approach to investigate public service motivation (PSM) among the government employees in Hong Kong. The government employees are not a homogeneous whole but a nuanced combination of rational self-interested motives, and PSM may help to explain the entry reason as w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public personnel management 2014-12, Vol.43 (4), p.415-441
Main Author: Yung, Betty
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Bureaucracy
Bureaucrats
Case studies
Civil service
Employee motivation
Employment
Evaluation
Government employees
Human resource management
Motivation
Power
Public employees
Public interest
Public officials
Public Service
Qualitative research
Research methodology
Social service
Social services
Studies
Surveys
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:This article adopts a qualitative approach to investigate public service motivation (PSM) among the government employees in Hong Kong. The government employees are not a homogeneous whole but a nuanced combination of rational self-interested motives, and PSM may help to explain the entry reason as well as work efforts of government officials of various ranks and employment terms, different nature of work, postings as well as time periods. Various obstacles to the development of PSM among the different groups are found, and the means of encouraging PSM are discussed. However, it should be pointed out that the primary requirements for a government employee should be competence and a “sense of responsibility” in carrying out the duties of the post concerned, while PSM serves only as an additional merit, indeed of secondary importance.
ISSN:0091-0260
1945-7421
DOI:10.1177/0091026014533092