Generational differences in public service motivation

The purpose of this study is to investigate the generational differences in public service motivation of employees of public organizations. In other words, this study seeks to answer the question of whether there is a difference between the level of public service motivation of different generations working in public organizations?

In this study, a quantitative method was used for which a questionnaire of 33 statements of public service motivation after localization was distributed and collected among 351 employees of public organizations in Tehran and the analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test to assess differences of generations was exploited.

The findings showed that of the four dimensions of public service motivation, all have significant differences in the four generations. Thus, there was a significant difference between the generations in the tendency to general policy-making (F = 4.443,> p0.01); Commitment to the public interest (F = 3.728, p> 0.05); compassion (F = 3.148,> p0.05) and self-sacrifice (F = 6.809,> p0.01) and in general there is a significant difference between the generations in the motivation of public service (F = 6.832,> p01). / 0). The post hoc test also showed that the third generation (Y generation) (mean = 1.935) had significantly more public service motivation than the first generation (baby boomer generation).

The results showed that there is a significant difference between the different generations working in the public sector in terms of public service motivation, so that contrary to conventional wisdom, people of newer generations compared to older generations have a higher level of public service motivation and all four dimensions.