The examination of the relationship between psychological contract and public service motivation perceptions of academic personnel: The samples of Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University and Başkent University

Although academicians, perfoming their duties at state and foundation universities, are subject to the Law, numbered 2547; the employment relationships of the ones, who work at state universities, are subject to the Laws, numbered 2547, 657 and 2914; meanwhile the ones, who work at foundation universities, are subject to Labor Law, numbered 4857. Those aforementioned legal differences may shape the perception of psychological contracts and public service motivation of academicians at state and foundation universities. The aim of this study, in this framework, is to determine the relationship between psychological contract orientations and public service motivation (PSM) of academics working in Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (BMAKU) and Başkent University (BU). In order to determine the aforementioned relationship, a prediction design, a type of correlational study was used. According to the findings of this study, the relational psychological contract orientation affects the commitment to public interest positively, while the transactional psychological contract orientation had negative effects. On the other hand, the transactional and relational psychological contract orientations were found to be not statistically significant predictors of compassion dimension of PSM. In addition, the relational psychological contract orientation were found to affect self sacrifice dimension of PSM positively while the transactional psychological contract orientation had negative effects. Therefore either BMAKU or BU are supposed to establish their relations with their employees within the frame of relational contract based on mutual trust and commitment, since the relational contract orientation predominantly contributes to the motivation of the employees positively.