Volunteer Motivation in Emergency Services: Joint Effects of Leader Public Service Motivation and Citizen Gratitude on Volunteer Prosocial Behavior

ABSTRACT Emergency service volunteers in nonprofit organizations operate under intense pressure, often committing substantial time and effort in high‐risk, low‐recognition environments—making sustained motivation a critical challenge. Although prior research has broadly examined the association between volunteer motivation and leadership, little is known about how leaders' public service motivation (PSM) may shape volunteer PSM and prosocial behavior in these high‐stakes contexts. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study examines whether and how leaders' PSM relates to volunteers' prosocial behavior through the internalization of PSM among volunteers. We further theorize that this indirect effect is contingent on perceived gratitude from citizens—a key but understudied social cue in volunteer contexts. Using survey data from 476 emergency service volunteers across 50 charitable organizations in Thailand, we find evidence that leaders' PSM is associated with higher levels of volunteers' PSM, which, in turn, is linked to greater prosocial behavior. This indirect relationship is amplified when citizen gratitude is low but becomes non‐significant when citizen gratitude is high. Volunteers' PSM is lowest when both leaders' PSM and citizen gratitude are lacking. These findings highlight how leadership and citizen gratitude can jointly influence volunteer motivation, functioning as compensatory motivational sources in the nonprofit emergency services.