Organizational Goal Characteristics and Public Duty Motivation in U.S. Federal Agencies

Abstract

Some authors have claimed that ambiguous goals frustrate public service motivation (PSM). This study uses data from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) 1 to develop organizational goal ambiguity measures for U.S. federal agencies. These measures, from this very separate and independent source, are then significantly and negatively related to a variable measured by a questionnaire item on the U.S. Merit System Protection Board’s 2005 Merit Principles Survey. The item asks respondents about whether they are motivated to do a good job by their duty as a public employee. Responses on this item appear relevant to PSM, but because the question does not fully represent more elaborate measures of PSM, we call the variable as “public duty motivation.” Public duty motivation also relates significantly and positively to employees’ Merit Principles Survey responses about the specificity of their job goals and of their agency’s mission, and about job-goal importance and job-goal commitment.

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