We measured the three dimensions of public service ethos via the 9-item measure which has proven reliability and
validity (Rayner et al. 2011). Participants were asked to respond on a 5-point scale ranging from strongly disagree
(1) to strongly agree (5). Example items include ‘‘Private sector organizations deliver services to the public more
efficiently and effectively than public sector organizations’’(reverse coded) (public service practice); ‘‘Making a
difference in society means more to me than personal achievements’’ (public service belief) and ‘‘I believe that
the public sector should not be concerned with profit’’ (public interest). Composite reliabilities (qc) for the three
factors were .70, .70, and .77 for public service belief, public service practice, and public interest, respectively.
For a full set of items see Appendix.