Affiliation:
1. Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.
Abstract
This study sought to expand Greenleaf's (1970) “feeling that one wants to serve” to examine public service motivation and professional commitment in an education context. The participants of this study were graduate education students enrolled in three East Coast universities. The sample was stratified into three groups based on their roles as teachers, aspiring leaders, and school district administrators in K–12 public schools. Based on an abridged version of Perry's (1996) multidimensional scale that was modified for the education sector, the public service motivation and professional commitment constructs were measured with a web-based survey. The findings have several important implications for education institutions, academic scholars, human resource managers, and leadership preparation programs.