TY - JOUR
T1 - A Moral Theory of Public Service Motivation
AU - Wang, Tse Min
AU - van Witteloostuijn, Arjen
AU - Heine, Florian
PY - 2020/9/18
Y1 - 2020/9/18
N2 - Morality constructs the relationship between the self and others, providing a sense of appropriateness that facilitates and coordinates social behaviors. We start from Moral Foundation Theory (MFT), and argue that multiple moral domains can shape the meaning of public service and engender Public Service Motivation (PSM). From the lens of cognitive science, we develop a causal map for PSM by understanding the social cognition process underlying PSM, focusing on five innate moralities as the potential antecedents of PSM: Care, Fairness, Authority, Loyalty, and Sanctity. Extending moral domains beyond compassion and justice can provide a disaggregated view of PSM, which may help to identify institutional and cultural variation in the meaning of PSM. We discuss the theoretical implications of synthesizing MFT and PSM literatures, and provide directions for future research that could improve our understanding of PSM.
AB - Morality constructs the relationship between the self and others, providing a sense of appropriateness that facilitates and coordinates social behaviors. We start from Moral Foundation Theory (MFT), and argue that multiple moral domains can shape the meaning of public service and engender Public Service Motivation (PSM). From the lens of cognitive science, we develop a causal map for PSM by understanding the social cognition process underlying PSM, focusing on five innate moralities as the potential antecedents of PSM: Care, Fairness, Authority, Loyalty, and Sanctity. Extending moral domains beyond compassion and justice can provide a disaggregated view of PSM, which may help to identify institutional and cultural variation in the meaning of PSM. We discuss the theoretical implications of synthesizing MFT and PSM literatures, and provide directions for future research that could improve our understanding of PSM.
KW - altruism
KW - moral foundation theory
KW - prosocial behavior
KW - public sector
KW - public service motivation (PSM)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091896891&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85091896891&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.517763
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.517763
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091896891
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
M1 - 517763
ER -