Bureaucratic Responses to the Cross Pressures of Political Neutrality in Relation to Cultural Orientation and Role Perception: The Case of Korean Civil Servants*

Relying on the premise that variations in civil servants’ responses to the dilemma of political neutrality might arise from preferences reflecting the unique cultural characteristics of their countries and their role perceptions, this study investigates whether such factors affect the response choices of Korean civil servants to the cross pressures of political neutrality. Although this study focuses on Korea, its findings, implications and theoretical underpinnings may be generalizable to other contexts, as the study explores dilemmas civil servants in most countries commonly face in administrative practice.