Driven to serve: Exploring meaningful work for doctors through the lens of public service motivation
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Uma Jogulu: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2642-0161
Esme Franken: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6869-3155
Rahatulaain Ahmad: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6473-3030
Tim Bentley: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3859-548X
Abstract
This paper reports on a study of meaningful work amongst doctors in a non-Western context. This study advances the current understanding of meaningful work by establishing a connection with public service motivation theory. By examining unique contextual features where societal, public systems, institutional, and individual factors are diverse and unique, we contribute to public service motivation theory in three ways. First, public service motivation theory argues that individuals are not only driven by self-interest but also by a drive to contribute to society and to help others, and that this motivation is particularly high amongst public servants in the West. We provide a non-Western perspective to augment this established conception. Second, despite the growing maturity of public service motivation research, significant gaps remain because much of the literature is focused on Western bureaucracies and tends to overlook frontline roles in public healthcare. We provide empirical data using frontline doctors in publicly funded healthcare hospitals from a developing country context. Lastly, we provide evidence to show the association between public service motivation and meaningful work, an association that has yet to be fully theorised or empirically explored in under-resourced or crisis-prone systems of developing countries where institutional pressures are more profound. This line of inquiry also links to broader debates within the public administration domain on the significance of contextualisation.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2025
Publication Title
Public Administration and Development
Publisher
Wiley
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
87992
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Hussain, A., Jogulu, U., Franken, E., Ahmad, R., & Bentley, T. (2025). Driven to serve: Exploring meaningful work for doctors through the lens of public service motivation. Public Administration and Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.70024