Does Public Administration Education cultivate Public Service Motivation? Evidence from Panel Data

Since the concept of Public Service Motivation (PSM) was proposed by Rainey (1982) and Perry and Wise (1990), there have been numerous studies aiming to investigates causes and consequences of PSM (Bright, 2005; Naff & Crum,... [ view full abstract ]

Since the concept of Public Service Motivation (PSM) was proposed by Rainey (1982) and Perry and Wise (1990), there have been numerous studies aiming to investigates causes and consequences of PSM (Bright, 2005; Naff & Crum, 1999; Pedersen, 2015; Perry, 2000; Vandenabeele, 2011; Wright & Christensen, 2010). As indicated by Wright & Grant (2010), however, most of research in the literature adopted a one-shot survey design which makes it difficult to infer causality among variables. Moreover, cross-sectional data cannot allow us to examine dynamics of PSM (Perry et al., 2010). In order to fill this gap in the literature, the proposed study intends to understand determinants of public service motivation with particular attention to the impact of public administration (PA) education. The data this study uses come from a three-wave panel survey (2015, 2016 and 2017). The survey was distributed to the undergraduate students majoring in public administration (treatment group) and business administration (control group), respectively. We surveyed those students at the beginning of every academic years since their first year at college such that we are able to collect data on their PSM and other relevant factors before and after the receipt of PA education. Latent Variable Growth Curve Modeling (LGM) will be employed to capture a change of PSM-related values across time. Findings of this study are expected to contribute to the literature by discovering how PSM is developed via the process of educational socialization. Practically, this study can also provides suggestions on the improvement of PA education.