Servant leadership and public service motivation: Antecedents of PSM in the instance of Turkish district directors of social assistance and solidarity foundations and civil registry offices

This dissertation explored antecedents of public service motivation (PSM) in the Turkish public administration context. Data was collected from two occupational groups of middle managers working in the public sector. Findings obtained from inferential statistical techniques confirmed significant positive relationships of parental socialization, professional identification, and frequency of witnessing situations associated with suffering (WSAS) to PSM. No significant relationship was found between level of education and PSM. In addition to these variables in socio-historical context, the study investigated antecedent role of job characteristics, servant leadership and organizational tenure with respect to PSM. Motivation potential level, frequency of needs-testing tasks in work routine and servant leadership proved strong positive predictors of public service motivation. Yet, findings concerning `frequency of needs-testing tasks in work routine' were anomalous. Organizational tenure and adversarial tension did not have an effect on PSM. On the other hand, the study found positive moderating effect of WSAS on the relationship between servant leadership and PSM. This finding boded well for possible interactions between socio-historical and motivational contexts. Lastly, three control variables, age and gender and occupation emerged as having significant implications for PSM. Policy implications and future research suggestions were discussed.