Meta-analysis of country-level contextual moderators that impact the link between public service motivation and job satisfaction: evidence from 10 countries

ABSTRACT Public service motivation (PSM) has been found to predict job satisfaction (JS) of government and nonprofit organization employees in many varied industry, job grade, country, and culture contexts. However, the role that culture plays in this link, vis-à-vis the politico-economic context of countries, is not well understood. This meta-analysis looks at a combined sample size of 45,812 individuals, from 10 countries and 32 studies; and attempts to disambiguate the influence of these two moderators. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression techniques are employed to test hypotheses and contribute toward theory building. The study finds Asian countries to have a stronger correlation between PSM and JS, compared to Western countries; while two cultural traits, performance orientation and gender egalitarianism, demonstrate significantly higher strengthening impact in correlation effect sizes in Asia vis-a-vis the West. Future research directions and limitations are discussed.