This cutting-edge Research Handbook brings together international scholars to provide a comprehensive overview of motivation within and beyond the field of public administration. Discussing the implications of contemporary research for theory and practice, it offers suggestions for the development of future research in the field. Contributions offer cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary insights into the theories that underpin motivation research and how motivation drives decisions across public, nonprofit, and private sector settings, highlighting key sector differences that influence decision-making. Covering a wide range of core motivational topics and subfields relevant to the study of public and nonprofit administration, chapters emphasize the key motivational factors that affect employee recruitment, selection, and retention and how they affect - and are affected by - employee behavior. Providing a wide-ranging coverage of the field, this Research Handbook is critical reading for scholars, researchers, and upper-level students of public administration and policy. It will also benefit practitioners in public and nonprofit organizations in need of a deeper understanding of the links between motivation and employee behavior.