An Ecological Perspective on Systemic Challenges in Public Service: A Grey Causal Modeling Approach

Public systems are witnessing a major surge in unethicality and instances of underperformance. These systems mainly employ high public service motivation (PSM) individuals, whose involvement in such instances puzzles. This study aims to consolidate systemic challenges that may hinder individuals with high PSM ability from acting ethically and performing effectively and find the most impactful challenges leading to such instances. To resolve this puzzle, we find 11 systemic challenges from the literature and expert consultations. We use the ecological systems theory to categorize them in a multi‐level framework. Further, grey causal modeling is used to map a network of influence among these challenges based on expert perceptions. Our model finds regulatory uncertainty and political interference as the most impactful challenges that cascade through the system to trigger negative individual behaviour. This study contributes by consolidating systemic challenges into a framework and then identifying the major drivers and the driven challenges among them.