Linking public service motivation, perceived external career barriers, and public-sector attraction

This study explores the association of different dimensions of public service motivation (PSM) and perceived external career barriers with the attraction, including general attractiveness and prestige, of the public sector in Vietnam. Perceived external career barriers are negatively related to the public sector’s prestige and applicants’ intentions to work in the sector. The analyses also reveal that individuals who demonstrate compassion exhibit stronger intentions to join the sector. Individual intentions, however, are influenced more by perceived external career barriers than by compassion. Also, there is a significant relationship between self-sacrifice and public organisation’s general attractiveness as well as between attraction to public services and perceived prestige. By contrast, the commitment to public values dimension shows no significant correlation with any aspects of public sector attraction. Interestingly, we discovered that a higher level of self-sacrifice would dampen the negative relationship between perceived external career barriers and perceived prestige. These findings highlight the role of the two affective-based PSM dimensions on public organisational attraction. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.