Management interventions as conditions for motivation crowding of motivation in the European commission : a mediational analysis of basic needs satisfaction. Paper

Motivation of employees is crucial to achieve results within any organization, be it a public or a private organization (Rainey and Steinbauer 1999; Kojasteh 1993). It therefore can be considered to be one of the big questions in current public administration research (Behn 1995). Despite its importance, motivation is not easily grasped, being a multi-faceted and dynamic phenomenon. Nevertheless, recent efforts have provided openings to more fully understand the motivational processes of public servants. In particular, the current surge of public service motivation research (Perry and Hondeghem 2008) has been helpful in explaining why and how public servants are motivated by the idea of contributing to society. The state of affairs in public service motivation research highlights the impact of institutions in explaining public service motivation, the international incidence of public service motivation and conditions in which public service motivations resorts effect. However, public service motivation is not the only motivation that plays a role in motivating people to be employed, to perform and to retain in/with the public sector. This amalgam of motivations, of which public service motivation is only one, but which includes, among others, salary, work-life balance, tenure or pension rights, is generally considered as public sector motivation (Vandenabeele and Ban 2009). Little is known about the interaction of public service motivation with these other elements of public sector motivation.