Exploring the trickle-down effect of public service motivation from supervisors to their subordinates

Abstract

Although recent years have witnessed an exponential growth of studies on public service motivation (PSM) and interest in this topic continues to grow, the extant literature has overlooked the potential trickle-down effect of PSM from supervisors to their direct subordinates. The purpose of this study is therefore to empirically examine whether and how supervisors’ PSM might trickle down to their direct subordinates’ PSM. To test the hypotheses proposed in this study, multi-timed and multi-level field data were collected from 229 subordinates nested within 33 workgroups in the Chinese public context. The results show that supervisors’ PSM is positively related to their direct subordinates’ PSM and that this relationship is fully mediated by employees’ perceptions of role modeling. Relevant theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.