Worlds Apart? Worlds Aligned? The Perceptions and Prioritizations of Civil Servant Values Among Civil Servants From China and The Netherlands

Abstract

This study investigates the perceptions and prioritizations of five key civil servant values, based on in-depth qualitative interviews among 22 Chinese and 20 Dutch civil servants. It shows that Chinese and Dutch respondents interpret loyalty differently, referring respectively to the political party and to the organization. The common difficulty in upholding people-orientedness in practice is attributed to different reasons. Both view full transparency as unnecessary, and similarly, both value effectiveness more important than efficiency. This study offers substantial insight into civil servant values and a new perspective on cross-cultural value studies, along with implications for relevant research and practice.

Keywords:

• civil servant
• interview
• tradition
• values

Notes

¹ Haque (2011) critiques the tendency toward the universal application of core values in public management, ethical standards, and bureaucratic norms. Among these concepts, “values represent a set of relatively taken-for-granted beliefs or assumptions (embedded in culture, religion, and society)” (p. 172), which implies that values unconsciously deliver culture more than other ethics or norms.

² Party school aims to train CCP cadres. There are the highest institution of central party school and party schools in all levels of governments.

³ The cities were Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Dazhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Hefei (in China); Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam (in The Netherlands). It should be noted that the students of the programs in each city are not bound to work in the same city.

⁴ Hood (2006, p. 5) also correctly mentions the doctrine of Chinese Legalism as one of the “the oldest ideas” of the rule of law. Nevertheless, Chinese Legalism was abandoned after the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC), and Confucianism became the orthodox doctrine and official government ideology for the following more than two millennia. As Yao (2000) says, “since then, right up until the beginning of the twentieth century, Confucian scholar-officials were influential in laying down the basis for government” (p. 5).