Public Service Motivation and Trust in Government: An Examination Across the Federal, State, and Local Levels in the United States

In the United States, trust in government across the federal, state, and local levels has been on the decline for decades. With increasing polarization and politicization, the work of public administrators is frequently made more difficult by challenges that stem from low levels of public trust—responding to these challenges as well as recent calls that encourage public administrators to regain the trust of the public they serve. Could public service motivation (PSM) promote trust in government? We examine the association between PSM and trust in government across the federal, state, and local levels of government in the United States. We find that the association between PSM and governmental trust varies by level of government. At the state and local levels, PSM is positively associated with trust in government. However, we find no significant relationship between PSM and trust at the federal level. Thus, there exists the potential for state and local administrators to use PSM to build trust in the government and to facilitate improved policy implementation. Our findings also provide insight into how key predictors of public trust in government vary at the federal, state, and local levels of the U.S. government.