Do Trust and Culture Matter for Public Service Motivation Development? Evidence From Public Sector Employees in Korea
| DOI | 10.1177/0091026019869738 |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2019
Article
Public Personnel Management
2020, Vol. 49(2) 290 –323
Do Trust and Culture
© The Author(s) 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026019869738
DOI: 10.1177/0091026019869738
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Motivation Development?
Evidence From Public Sector
Employees in Korea
Hyo Joo Lee1, Hyun Gyu Oh1,
and Sung Min Park1
Abstract
Ethical values and performance have gained importance in the Korean public sector
because of the new public management wave and social issues such as corruption.
This study examines how the effects of types of organizational culture, such as
performance-driven culture and ethics-driven culture, serve as the antecedents
of public service motivation (PSM) among central government agencies, public
enterprises, and executive agencies in Korea. Furthermore, it investigates how
trust in top management affects PSM and how organizational culture moderates
this relationship. A survey of 1,216 Korean public employees and seven focus group
interviews show that trust in management strongly predicts PSM. Performance-
driven culture is positively and significantly associated with norm-based PSM and
affective PSM, and ethics-driven culture predicts rational PSM. The moderating effects
of organizational culture differ by PSM dimension.
Keywords
public service motivation, performance-driven culture, ethic-driven culture, trust in
top management, Korean public sector
1Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea
Corresponding Author:
Sung Min Park, PhD, Department of Public Administration/Graduate School of Governance,
Sungkyunkwan University, Faculty Hall 223, Sungkyunkwan-ro 25-2, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03063, Korea.
Email: sm28386@skku.edu
Lee et al.
291
Introduction
Accounting for various national crises and increasing public demands, public organi-
zations must adapt their systems to accommodate such circumstances. The Korean
government has also made extensive efforts to show its new government paradigm
amid these changes. However, because of the recent problems in the Korean public
sector,1 such efforts to reform public organizations have failed, as public employees
continue to demonstrate a lack of responsibility and capability. Unless there is volun-
tary and active participation of public employees, innovation in such organizations can
only be cursory. Therefore, for effective organizational innovation and development,
it is crucial for existing members to break from a peace-at-any-price principle and
foster high public service motivation (PSM), interest, and recommitment with respect
to civil service values.
Although not all members of public organizations are intrinsically motivated, indi-
viduals who become members of public organizations and are motivated can make a
more profound contribution to organizational performance than others (S. Kim, 2005;
Pandey, Wright, & Moynihan, 2008). The pathway to the Korean public sector is more
related to job safety considerations than to intrinsic PSM, leading to the possibility of
decreasing levels of public responsibility and service. In this context, this study inves-
tigated factors that improve PSM among Korean public employees from the perspec-
tive of organizational management.
Considering that the strong effects of senior managers’ authority and leadership,
public employees’ trust in top management within their organization could be an
important factor in the Korean public sector. In the rapidly changing environment sur-
rounding public service organizations, trust has been highlighted as a driving force for
societal change and a source of new development (Fukuyama, 1995). Overall, trust has
been reported to play a significant role in increasing the level of organizational adapt-
ability toward uncertain changes (Reina & Reina, 2006). Therefore, promoting PSM
through trust is clearly pivotal.
Examining the relationship between trust in top management and PSM, this study
focuses on organizational culture as an essential intervening element. Based on empir-
ical evidence suggesting that organizational culture strongly impacts a variety of orga-
nizational outcomes, we address the following key research question:
Research Question: How do the effects of trust in top management on PSM change
depending on the two types of organizational culture (performance-driven and eth-
ics-driven culture)?
This question is particularly pertinent considering the Korean government’s recent
focus on enhancing the efficiency of organizational operations by reshuffling the sys-
tem based on empirical results and on eradicating corruption by emphasizing public
service ethics.
Our primary research purpose is thus to explore the relationship between trust,
culture, and PSM (see Figure 1). The research contributes to the understanding of
292
Public Personnel Management 49(2)
Figure 1. Research model.
PSM in the following ways: (a) we extend the research on PSM conducted from a
global perspective by examining it in the context of the Korean public sector; (b) we
expand on the interpersonal and organizational dispositions that result in PSM by
studying trust and culture as its antecedents and moderators; and (c) we contribute to
the available knowledge on the motivational basis and processes of public employees
by performing content analysis, which can identify specific psychological factors and
changes.
Besides performing empirical analyses to test our research hypotheses, we analyze
related interview content to facilitate the interpretation of the quantitative results. To
better interpret the results, we also perform a content analysis by extracting pertinent
core themes. In considering the relationship between trust, organizational culture, and
PSM, we seek to present a nuanced and refined perspective on the state of civil service
in the Korean government, as well as on the organizational processes and innovation
that can foster improvements in the Korean public service sector.
An Overview of the Korean Public Sector
Korean public sector organizations providing public services and delivering public
goods exist in various forms. Generally, the Korean public sector comprises govern-
ment agencies, executive agencies, and public agencies, including public enterprises.
Government agencies include both central and local government agencies. Central
government agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are established by law at
the national level and headed by the president who also appoints the ministers. In con-
trast, the top leaders of local governments are mayors, who are elected by the local
voters. Executive agencies such as statistics bodies perform their own management
and finance based on the Executive Agency Act, although they are a part of a govern-
ment department; such agencies thus have flexibility and autonomy to manage the
organization for their own purpose (Berman, 2010). The minister of the ministry to
Lee et al.
293
which the executive agency belongs appoints the top leader of the executive agency
after an open competition. Public enterprises are classified as market-based and quasi-
market-based public corporations depending on their asset size and ratio of self-gener-
ated revenue (M. Y. Kim, Kim, Lee, & Park, 2016). The president, with the minister’s
recommendation, appoints the CEO of a public enterprise after an open competition.
Korean bureaucracy is based on a “rank-in-person” system that emphasizes the
development of incumbents over time within the organization (J. H. Park, 2015). The
system comprises nine grades from Grade 9 to Grade 1, and the new entrance through
open competition applies to only three grades—Grades 5, 7, and 9. Once appointed,
public officers are given job security under the career civil service system (S. G. Kim,
2009). Conventional career civil service systems typically include generalist-driven,
rank-in-person-based, closed, and seniority-based career systems, as well as the stable,
hierarchical, and merit-based system that has been developed in Korea since 1960 (S.
M. Park, Park, & Ryu, 2013). Although the Korean government has driven innovation
against criticism for “its closeness, lack of flexibility and lack of competitiveness”
(Kim, 2010, p. 383), a strong hierarchical culture rooted in Confucian values, which
affects employees’ attitudes and public management practices, is highly prevalent in
the “rank-in-person” system (Lee, Kim, & Park, 2017).
Various types of public organizations are included in this research. Although the
functions and operations of these public organizations vary, a commonality is that all
their employees have high job security and are expected to pursue the public interest.
Furthermore, the method of selecting the top leader, such as appointment or election,
is related to the political environment, as the president and ministers are supported by
the ruling party. The term of the top leader of public organizations is normally 2 to 5
years, as it is affected by the political environment, whereas the employees have life-
long job security. Thus, we can conclude that employees’ trust in top management, one
of the main variables in this study, can be analyzed irrespective of the type of public
organizations.
Literature Review
PSM
While the definition of PSM varies, Perry and Wise (1990) give a widely accepted con-
ceptual...
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