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

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