Does Public Service Motivation Matter in Volunteering Domain Choices? A Test of Functional Theory

Abstract

Functional theory suggests that people choose activities based on their perception of how well the work matches their personal motives.This process implies that worker motivations vary by activity even when controlling for typical motivational antecedents. Although this perspective is common in the volunteering literature, the public service motivation (PSM) literature has not formally considered functional theory hypotheses.Yet PSM theory asserts a relationship not to government work itself, but to activities related to public service such as volunteering.This study evaluates functional theory in regard to PSM based on using a survey of recipients of the Daily Point of Light Award (DPOL) and the President’s Community Volunteer Award (PCV). After controlling for common PSM antecedents such as gender, level of education, religious participation, and age, PSM and its subdimensions exhibit some variance across volunteering domains (viz., religious, educational/school, human services, and other), though most differences involve religious organizations.