Gender and public service motivation: recognizing gender as a social structure

Public service motivation represents one of a few concepts originating from the public administration literature. While scholars have spent decades studying motivation, they have given minimal attention to the relationship between gender and motivation. Explanations of how gender impacts motivation follow basic understandings of gender norms and expectations - scholars rely on common stereotypes of masculinity and femininity to predict motivation. To expand our understanding of gender and motivation, we must take stock of the ways in which gender is conceptualized in organizations and how this influences the field's understanding of employee motivation. This chapter explores the ways that research commonly constructs gender in organizational settings and argues that public administration scholarship rarely treats gender as a social structure. By shifting our understanding of gender to recognize these key characteristics, we can refine our understanding of gender and public service motivation.