Motivated to Serve: A Regulatory Perspective on Public Service Motivation and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Drawing on regulatory focus theory, we investigate how public employees’ regulatory orientations (promotion and prevention focus) at work affect public service motivation (PSM) and change‐oriented and maintenance‐oriented organizational citizenship behavior (change‐OCB; maintenance‐OCB). The results, based on a three‐wave study of 1,397 French police officers, empirically support expectations that the two regulatory orientations may activate PSM differently and are positively associated with change‐OCB and maintenance‐OCB. These findings underline the role of regulatory orientations as key psychological sources of PSM and OCB, extending existing public administration knowledge. This article suggests that police organizations could benefit from integrating regulatory focus insights into their practices.