Tolerance of Injustice? How Public Service Motivation Shapes Turnover Intentions Under Perceived Organizational Injustice

Numerous studies have shown that organizational injustice is a critical factor in addressing the turnover intentions of government employees. This prominent reason to leave government appears to contrast with public service motivation (PSM), which is often regarded as a driver beyond extrinsic motivation for public services in public organizations in explaining turnover intention and is rooted in promoting social equity. Reconciling PSM and organizational justice theories, this study draws on moral approaches to organizational justice, which emphasize that justice is upheld out of a sense of moral duty that aligns with the public values embedded in PSM motives. Using pooled cross-sectional data from 2021 to 2023, this study examines how perceived organizational injustice moderates the influence of PSM on turnover intention. The results offer theoretical and methodological contributions to existing public management studies by resolving these two approaches that have been utilized to explain increasing and reducing turnover intention and by offering evidence for their interactive effects.