Abstract
Abstract. This study provides the first nationwide, mixed-methods portrait of motivational drivers, job satisfaction and reform priorities among Kazakhstan’s civil servants. A purposive-stratified survey of 886 officials from five economic regions and five ministries (March–April 2025) combined validated quantitative scales — Public Service Motivation (PSM), Job Satisfaction Index, organizational-climate items and an employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) — with an open-ended reform question. Multivariate regression and thematic coding were applied. Job security (63%) and the desire to contribute to society (49%) dominate entry motives, confirming a coexistence of instrumental and altruistic rationales. Managerial support and working conditions strongly predict overall satisfaction (β = 0.34 and 0.27, p < 0.01), while career opportunities are the main retention lever (β = 0.41, p < 0.001). Salary dissatisfaction triples the odds of intending to exit for the private sector (OR = 2.8). Despite high educational attainment (18% master’s degrees), only 27% of respondents are institutional “promoters”, yielding an eNPS of +6 and signalling fragile advocacy. Gender and cohort effects are pronounced: women exhibit higher loyalty (+10 eNPS points), whereas officials under 30 show the highest exit propensity. Qualitative data highlight inadequate pay, burnout and opaque promotion as chief dysfunctions; yet proposed solutions remain technocratic (digitalisation, salary grids), overlooking relational legitimacy. By integrating PSM theory with eNPS in a hybrid post-Soviet context, the article extends motivation research and identifies policy levers — pay realignment, meritocratic mobility and manager-as-coach models — to stabilise Kazakhstan’s civil-service talent pipeline. Key words: Public Service Motivation, Job Satisfaction, Civil-Service Reform, Kazakhstan, Retention