Veit, Sylvia/Döhler, Marian/Klenk, Tanja/ Papenfuß, Ulf (2026): “Public Service Motivation und Politisierung von Führungskräften in Verwaltungen und Öffentlichen Unternehmen: Vergleichende Befunde und Perspektiven“, Zeitschrift für Gemeinwirtschaft und Gemeinwohl 49(3): 351–75. doi:10.5771/2701-4193-2026-3-351.
Abstract This article compares the public service motivation (PSM) and the politicisation of top-level executives across different types of public sector organisations, including federal and state ministries, federal agencies, federal departmental research institutions, and government-owned enterprises. The findings are based on a survey of 2.206 top executives in public sector organisations conducted as part of the Political-Administrative Elite (PAE) research project. The majority of respondents are male, were born in the 1960s or 1970s, and hold a university degree. Those with a migrant family background are highly underrepresented compared to the general population. The findings reveal that, while PSM is consistently high with little variation across the different types of public sector organisations, it is lowest in government-owned enterprises. The highest levels of perceived politicisation are found in ministries, followed by government-owned enterprises.