Identifying job seekers’ perceptions of public officials in Korea using Q methodology

Public service positions have long been one of the most sought-after jobs among the youth in the Republic of Korea. Individuals may possess mixed motives to take the national civil service exam, which cannot be explained by a single theory or framework. Public choice or public service motivation theory, for example, may not alone describe young Koreans’ desire to work for the government. Furthermore, it may be necessary to specifically consider the Korean culture to examine the complex nature of one’s motivation to become a public official. The study aims to categorize how the youth perceive bureaucrats and find reasons behind the craze for taking the national civil service exam, thus suggesting theoretical and practical implication. Using Q methodology, this study identified four distinct perceptions of Korean public officials: genuine public servers, rise-in-status pursuers, self-interest maximizers, and public policymakers. These conceptions contribute to understanding how young Koreans feature mixed motivations to choose the government as their employer and designing better policies to tackle the issue of youth removing themselves from the labor market to prepare for the national civil service exam.