Fostering public service motivation through workplace trust : evidence from public managers in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Chen, Chung-An, Hsieh, Chih-Wei, Chen, Don-Yun
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science::Public administration
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103793; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/24562
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Existing literature addressing antecedents of public service motivation (PSM) focuses on personal predisposition and institutional shaping. The authors offer a new angle to the germane studies, arguing that workplace trust as a result of human interaction and personal choice has a bearing on PSM. It is postulated that, when public managers perceive the trustworthiness of citizens, colleagues, and agency leaders, their PSM increases. The authors test this proposition by using data collected from middle managers working in the Taiwan central government and receive strong support. We conclude that this study brings trust into the study of PSM, facilitates interdisciplinary dialogues, and thus helps make PSM a type of cross-boundary knowledge.