Serving the Greater Good With Less: Survey Experiment on How Public Service Motivation Shapes Perception of Staff Shortages

Personnel shortages are presenting significant challenges for many municipalities, as well-qualified civil servants in smaller cities and non-urban areas leave their positions. Given this dynamic, understanding how local government employees perceive staff shortages is key to designing effective strategies for promoting staff well-being and productivity. This article analyzes the influence of public service motivation (PSM) on shaping the perceptions of job demand and resources in local governments, through an experimental design ( n = 120) and a survey of local government employees ( n = 414), and further interprets the findings through semi-structured interviews. The experiment results show evidence of bi-directional effects—activating PSM heightened the perceived severity of staff burnout, while simultaneously lowering the perceived need for increased manpower. These findings suggest that PSM may raise an individual’s expectations of their job, which is possibly associated with feelings of frustration with current demands in local government. Conversely, the reduced perception of the need for additional manpower may show an increased sense of responsibility toward the job and willingness to overstretch for the local communities they serve. The employee survey results show that perceptions of the causes and solutions of staff shortages vary depending on their managerial rank, years of experience, and marital status.