The Normative Model in Decline? Public Service Motivation in the Age of Governance

Abstract

This paper examines how public management reforms that foster market values (through performance measurement, financial incentives and contracting out) crowd-out the public service motivation of employees. The flaws of the market model in practice means that it encourages opportunistic behavior, making it even more important that the public sector curtails financial motivators, encourages intrinsic motivation and selects people who are not primarily driven by self-interest.