Configurations of Confucian Entrepreneurship in the Asian Public Sector: A Preliminary Study of South Korean Public Organizations

Abstract

In any organization, creativity is an important resource to ensure survival in a competitive market. Recently, entrepreneurship has been highlighted as a means of improving the public sector’s quality. Many public organizations have created innovative ways of managing their employees for administrative reform activities. Yet, in the public sector, few studies have attempted to systematically model the actions of public entrepreneurs in well-defined contexts. Based on the research question (Could a special form of entrepreneurship based on Confucian values be discovered in Confucian Asian countries?), this study focuses on public organizations in South Korea as a means of exploratory research to extend previous studies on the uniform and universal attributes of entrepreneurship. This study confirms the existence of Confucian and entrepreneurial values in South Korean public organizations, identifies relationships between Confucianism and entrepreneurship, develops a Confucian Asia Entrepreneurship (CAE) index, and compares the differences among South Korean public organizations. The empirical analysis shows that there are significant similarities and differences among South Korean public organizations and raises the examples in applying our CAE index. In sum, the overall findings of the analysis suggest that there are meaningful relationships between Confucianism and entrepreneurship that should be addressed.