the survey questionnaire of public sector employees

Three items measured the depth of JC, such as “My job gives me the opportunity to have meaningful interactions with those who benefit from my work” and “My job enables me to build close relationships with the people affected by my work”. Three items measured the frequency of work contact, such as “My job often gives me the opportunity to get to know people who benefit from my work” and “My job enables me to interact regularly with the people who benefit from my work”.

The scale is a seven-point Likert scale, with 1-7 representing “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. The internal consistency coefficient for this scale in this study was 0.862.Public service motivation PSM was measured using the scale developed by Wright et al. [38]. The scale consists of five items, such as “Meaningful public service is very important to me” and “Making a difference in society means more to me than personal achievements”.

It is rated on a scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The internal consistency coefficient for this scale in this study was 0.684.Work calling The unidimensional WC scale developed by Dobrow [39] was used. The scale consists of 12 items, including “I am passionate about my job” and “My job is a vital part of my life”.

The scale is a five-point Likert scale, with 1 to 5 representing the range from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. The higher the score is, the greater the degree of WC and the more the individuals see their current job as an integral part of their life. The internal consistency coefficient of this scale in this study was 0.780.Proactive service behavior Rank’s proactive service behavior scale [4] was used.

It consists of seven items, such as “I take ownership by following through with the citizen interaction and ensures a smooth transition to other service representatives” and “I actively create partnerships with other service representatives to better serve citizen”. The scale is a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Higher scores indicate higher levels of PSB.

The internal consistency coefficient of the scale in this study was 0.667.Control variablesThe demographic variables in this study included gender, level of education, marital status, age, whether they were established, and job tenure in the current organization. Establishment status was used as a control variable because established public sector employees typically have strong social interests. Holland’s theory of vocational choice and adjustment suggests that individuals with strong social interests exhibit high prosocial motivation (e.g., WC) and prosocial behavior (e.g., PSB) [40].