Does Public Service Motivation Influence the College Students’ Intention to Work in the Public Sector? Evidence From Korea

Previous studies have produced significant distinctions between public- and private-sector employees with respect to public service motivation (PSM) and PSM-related variables. Little, however, is known about whether those variables are associated with employment choice at a pre-entry level. This article will address this gap in the literature by exploring the effect of PSM on college students’ sector choice in Korea. In previous research on PSM, three types of PSM measures—Perry’s PSM scale, work values, and prosocial behaviors—were utilized as a PSM variable. In exploring the association between PSM and sector choice, we employed the three measures. The empirical model showed that PSM and prosocial behaviors were not associated with public-sector choice. Only job security was found to be a main reason why college students intended to enter the public sector in Korea. We will discuss the implications of our findings in this article.