Why Do You Want to Take the Public Service Exam? Evidence from Two “Exam Societies”: Taiwan and South Korea

Abstract

In the Western context, scholars have conducted ample research on people’s interest in a public service career. They find that prosocial tendency, desire for job security, and economic downturn are critical reasons that attract people to the public sector. Recent evidence shows that East Asians are much more interested in a public service career than their Western counterparts, despite having to go through difficult public service exams. What contributes to East Asians’ strong interest in a government job? In addition to formerly addressed reasons, are there more underlying motivations embedded in the social structures of East Asian societies? The present study investigates this issue using data collected in 2021 from both Taiwan and South Korea. Findings show that Koreans are more interested in taking the public service exam than Taiwanese. Determinants of people’s interest in public service exams are multidimensional: material dimension (perception of current economic condition, family income, and exam participants being the major bread winner), prestige-related dimension (public service position as a symbol of prestige, perceived exam difficulty, and perceived academic ability), parents-related dimension (parental expectation and filial piety), and prosocial dimension (prosocial motivation). We also find that prosocial motivation is a much more important antecedent in South Korea than in Taiwan. This is probably a result of more active nonprofits in Taiwan that attract prosocial individuals.