The Relationship Between Islamic Work Ethic and Public Service Motivation

The purpose of this article is to examine the differences between public and private sector employees’ public service motivation (PSM) levels and also examine the impact of Islamic work ethic (IWE) as a potential antecedent of PSM in a non-Western setting. This quantitative investigation is based on a sample of 419 employees in 13 public and private organizations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Independent t test results reveal no statistically significant differences in PSM level between public and private sector employees. The analysis of the data also reveals that PSM is significantly influenced by IWE. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.