Creating a public service topology: Mapping public service motivation, public service ethos, and public service values

Abstract Public service motivation (PSM), public service values (PSV), and public service ethos (PSE), we argue, constitute theoretically complementary dimensions of public service psychology. Using multi‐dimensional scaling (MDS), we also empirically map the three constructs to identify their interrelationships as constituent parts of a public service topology. Using a survey of public and private employees, we determined which of the PSM, PSV, and PSE instruments most strongly correlate with (1) sector of employment, (2) preferences in public service decision vignettes, and (3) prosocial citizenship behavior. We find PSM, PSV, and PSE to be distinctly complementary, rather than competing psychological phenomena. Incorporating—theoretically and empirically—the three approaches into one topology suggests dimensions of an integrated public service psychology comprising two axes that vary on an advocacy–neutrality scale and a self‐focused–other‐focused scale. With this topographical orientation, public administration scholars can better select the appropriate instrument(s), whether PSM, PSV, or PSE, for the public service situation/question.