Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-6898cfcb55-w5hgh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T04:38:38.703Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Public Service Motivation and Public Opinion

Examining Antecedents and Attitudes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2021

Jaclyn S. Piatak
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Stephen B. Holt
Affiliation:
University at Albany, State University of New York

Summary

Practitioners, policymakers, and scholars across fields and disciplines seek to understand factors that shape public opinion and public service values, especially in today's polarized context. Yet we know little about how the two relate. Research on public service motivation (PSM), a drive to help others grounded in public institutions, has grown to examine career decisions and behaviors within and outside the workplace, but does the influence of PSM extend to individual values? Using data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study surrounding the 2016 US presidential election, we first examine the antecedents of PSM; how do individual characteristics as well as socioeconomic and sociocultural factors influence levels of PSM? Second, we describe the role PSM plays in shaping public opinion on policy preferences, budget priorities, and political behaviors. Findings have implications for both understanding who has PSM as well as how PSM shapes public preferences, attitudes, and behaviors.
Get access

Information

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Element purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Public Service Motivation and Public Opinion
  • Jaclyn S. Piatak, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Stephen B. Holt, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Online ISBN: 9781108966672
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Public Service Motivation and Public Opinion
  • Jaclyn S. Piatak, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Stephen B. Holt, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Online ISBN: 9781108966672
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Public Service Motivation and Public Opinion
  • Jaclyn S. Piatak, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Stephen B. Holt, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Online ISBN: 9781108966672
Available formats
×