Motivation and values of European Commission staff. Paper

Abstract

The concept of public service motivation has been central to the discussion of motivation in the field of public management but has never been studied in international organizations. This paper reports on a preliminary study of motivational issues within the European Commission, including motivation for entry and public service motivation. Based on a survey distributed to the entire staff of the European Commission, supplemented by personal interviews, we demonstrate the importance of public service motivation within the Commission and explore the antecedents of public service motivation, including socio-demographic variables, organizational position, and entry motivation. Results have significant implications for human resources management policy and efforts aimed at motivating staff.