Public service motivation in Astana

Abstract

This research studies public service motivation factors in Astana. Since it is the administrative center of Kazakhstan, which is a highly centralized state, and is the second largest city in the country, this study can be representative of the public service overall in Kazakhstan. The research was carried out by conducting survey among employees of Kazakhstan Industry Development Institute and current and former students of the Master of Public Administration program of the Nazarbayev University. The survey consisted of six questions – control questions on gender, age, type of organization of employment, length of work experience and type of position of employment – and a question on evaluation of importance of factors of PSM. Based on the theory, it was assumed that more preference for the latter, than to the former, would indicate higher degree of PSM among respondents. As a result of the research, it is established that, when not controlling for the types of organizations, both extrinsic and intrinsic motives were rather not important, than important for the population in explaining its job motivation factors. However, when controlling for the types of organizations, it is established that employees of state and quasi-state organizations demonstrate greater preference for extrinsic, than for intrinsic motives. In addition to the above result, the study also found that in Astana females tend to exhibit a higher level of public service motivation than males and that employees at managerial positions show propensity to exhibit higher level of public service motivation, than employees at non-managerial positions.