Public service motivation and job performance - Evidence from the federal sector

Perry and Wise (1990) argued that people with high public service motivatio n (PSM) are more likely than others to choose government jobs, to perform b etter on the job, and to respond more to nonutilitarian incentives once in government. Using multiple regression and logit analyses on responses by 35 ,000 federal, white-collar employees to the 1991 Survey of Federal Employee s and the 1996 Merit Principles Survey, this article tests the link between PSM and job performance in the federal service. There is mixed evidence on whether PSM positively affected grades and performance ratings, clearer ev idence that employees who expected to receive a material reward for excepti onal performance attained higher grades and performance ratings, and no evi dence that the link between material rewards and performance mattered any l ess to those with high PSM.