The relationship between public service motivation and work outcomes: The moderating role of pay cut

Abstract

Despite the increase in research on Public Service Motivation (PSM) in recent years, there is still a lack of empirical research testing factors that may moderate the relationship between PSM and work outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to fill the gap in the literature by empirically exploring the role of salary reduction on the relationship between PSM and work outcomes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) of public employees. A sample of 257 employees is collected from 15 public organizations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The results revealed that PSM is positively associated with organizational commitment, but not with job satisfaction. In addition, pay cut did not show any significant moderating effects on the relationships between PSM and the two work outcomes. However, the pay cut is significantly and negatively related to job satisfaction.