Abstract
Introduction. This paper examines the ideas about ‘serving’ among representatives of various professional groups, including civil servants, servicemen of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, and firefighters and rescuers of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of Russia). Methods. The study used expert evaluations to collect and to structure information (expert opinions) about the concept of ‘serving’ and involved civil servants, servicemen of the Russian National Guard, and firefighters and rescuers of EMERCOM of Russia. Content analysis was used to carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the content of experts’ responses concerning the concept of ‘serving’. Results and Discussion. The linguistic units from the experts’ responses were combined into 5 categories of content-analysis: ‘attitude towards work’, ‘fulfillment of civic and official duties’, ‘helping others’, ‘personality traits’, and ‘serving God’. In ideas of civil servants, serving is associated with the categories of ‘helping others’, ‘attitude towards work’, ‘fulfillment of civic and official duties’. Servicemen characterize serving using the categories of ‘fulfillment of civic and official duties’ and ‘attitude towards work’. The categories of ‘personality traits’, ‘helping others’, ‘attitude towards work’, ‘fulfillment of civic and official duties’ are the most significant in ideas about ‘serving’ among firefighters and rescuers of EMERCOM of Russia. All the experts understand serving as a professional activity aimed at helping others and fulfilling civic and official duties, which is accompanied by an emotional and value attitude towards work. Differences in the understanding of serving by representatives of various professional groups may be explained by the content of their professional activities. This study expands our understanding of the concept of ‘serving’ as a psychological phenomenon. The findings obtained in the study can be readily used for psychological and motivational support of specialists from these professional groups.
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