There are features of public service ethos identified in common between the various organizational and professional groups that populate the ‘public sector’ (Pratchett and Wingfield 1996; Hebson et al. 2003). Education professionals employed in colleges in the further education sector in England, were chosen for this study although other public sector occupations such as the police, health or social services are also viable. These public services have undergone NPM reforms in terms of target-setting, have been subject increasingly to efficiency and effectiveness measures and have also been subject to business-like practices (Randle and Brady 1997; Exworthy and Halford 1998; Brown and Humphreys 2003). Our sample represents an under researched sector that has been subject to a number of different managerial reforms during the past decades. It is characterized by what Lipsky (1980) describes as ‘street level’ public servants.
The adoption of a positivistic approach testing public service ethos theory is nascent although, as discussed earlier, evidence from associated constructs, such as public service motivation, is growing. This exploratory research is
intended to make a unique contribution to public service theory and, contribute, if not converge, with the emerging
evidence from studies measuring relationships between public service motivation and OCB.