The Impact of Public Service Motivation on Voice Behavior and the Moderating Role of Risk Preference: A Survey Among Grassroots Public Employees in China

Abstract

Voice behavior is increasingly recognized as a key driver of organizational responsiveness and innovation in public administration. Drawing on survey data from 691 grassroots public employees in Shandong Province, China, this study investigates how public service motivation (PSM) affects promotive and prohibitive voice, and whether this relationship is moderated by risk preference. Results show that PSM significantly enhances both forms of voice, underscoring its motivational strength even in environments with limited formal rewards. Moreover, risk preference, an individual trait reflecting one's tolerance for uncertainty, strengthens the link between PSM and promotive voice, but not prohibitive voice, suggesting that individual differences in risk-taking propensity shape how public employees translate moral motivation into action, particularly when the perceived stakes of dissent are high. These findings enrich our understanding of the psychological mechanisms and dispositional traits shaping voice behavior in bureaucracies, and offer practical insights for enhancing voice through targeted institutional mechanisms, such as fostering PSM, clarifying public goals, reducing red tape, and strengthening feedback and error management systems.

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