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To ensure the quality of the work done in the Korean career civil service system (which is characterized by stability, such as lifelong job security), the public sector must use methods to motivate their employees and improve their performance in the long run. In this study, we propose that grit, as a type of work motivation, can boost employee well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, job stress) and organizational outcomes (i.e., organizational commitment, performance). Therefore, the main objective of this study is to assess the validity of grit among public employees from a collectivist culture; to this end, we use the 2016 survey of Korean public officials ( N = 2,070). The results are as follows: (a) grit has a direct positive effect on quality of work life (QWL), (b) QWL can increase employee's quality of life (QOL), and (c) professionalism and goal-oriented culture negatively and positively regulate grit and QWL. We also examined how employee motivation (e.g., grit) can enrich their QWL and QOL. Altogether, this study supports the argument that human resource (HR) managers should pay attention to grit. To achieve success, one needs not only some level of ability but also the zeal and capacity for hard labor, the latter two of which are considered to constitute grit. Given that, this research targeted grit in the Korean context—not the Western one—and examined its effects in the Korean public sector, where conscientiousness is emphasized.

Research indicates that entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to organizational innovation among central government agencies, public enterprises, and executive agencies in Korea. In addition, a performanceoriented with a humane orientation supports organizational innovation, while hierarchical culture has a negative impact on organizational innovation in Korean public sectors. Among organization types, only central government agencies have been found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between performance-oriented culture and organizational innovation. Given that public enterprise is more market-based and that executive agencies have great autonomy in budgeting and personnel to ensure the maximization of performance, central government agencies should adopt more practices designed to improve performance in a positive work culture.

Ethical values and performance have gained importance in the Korean public sector because of the new public management wave and social issues such as corruption. This study examines how the effects of types of organizational culture, such as performance-driven culture and ethics-driven culture, serve as the antecedents of public service motivation (PSM) among central government agencies, public enterprises, and executive agencies in Korea. Furthermore, it investigates how trust in top management affects PSM and how organizational culture moderates this relationship. A survey of 1,216 Korean public employees and seven focus group interviews show that trust in management strongly predicts PSM. Performance-driven culture is positively and significantly associated with norm-based PSM and affective PSM, and ethics-driven culture predicts rational PSM. The moderating effects of organizational culture differ by PSM dimension.