Public service motivation and the circumplex model of affect: Profiling Australasian public servants
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Esme Franken: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6869-3155
Ben Farr-Wharton: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9987-934X
Fleur Sharafizad: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2495-4381
Abstract
This paper explores public servants’ public service motivation through the prism of the circumplex model of affect (CMA). The application of CMA to work, and specifically public sector contexts, is relatively novel, and the framework helps explain how multiple states of affect (i.e., comprised of underlying feelings, emotions, and moods) cluster together and are shaped by one’s work environment. The mixed method paper begins with a qualitative study of Australasian public servants, presenting evidence of the CMA and its connection to PSM. The subsequent quantitative analysis of 222 survey respondents offers four distinct latent profiles of public servants’ PSM and associated circumplex states of affect. The research builds on the state and trait proposition of PSM, showing how PSM and associated states of affect, shape and are shaped by public servants’ underlying psychology and their work environment.
Keywords
Affective commitment, circumplex model of affect, job satisfaction, public governance, public service motivation, turnover intentions
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Publication Title
Review of Public Personnel Administration
Publisher
Sage
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
91594
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Franken, E., Farr-Wharton, B., Sharafizad, F., Ng, K., Plimmer, G., & Berman, E. (2026). Public service motivation and the circumplex model of affect: Profiling Australasian public servants. Review of Public Personnel Administration. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X251409781