Fit or commitment? A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship and mediating mechanisms between public service motivation and turnover intention

The literature has produced inconsistent findings on the effects of public service motivation (PSM) on employees’ turnover intention. To address this issue, we carried out a meta-analysis to examine this relationship across employment sectors and administrative traditions, synthesizing findings from 52 independent samples with pooled sample sizes N = 80,486. In addition, we conducted a meta-analytic structural equation modelling to further examine the mediating mechanisms. Overall, this study found that PSM affects turnover intention through fit more significantly than commitment. This research contributes to the knowledge on the role of PSM in organizational socialization processes to reduce turnover in public sector.