Dual Faces of Ministerial Leadership in South Korea: Does Political Responsiveness or Administrative Responsibility Enhance Perceived Ministerial Performance?

Abstract

This study is designed to examine dual faces of ministerial leadership that functions in the gray area of politics and administration when a minister performs his or her role as a political appointee and as a department head. The dual faces of ministerial leadership require somehow both political responsiveness and administrative responsibility for effective ministerial performance. Using the perceptual data of middle- and high-ranked South Korean government officials collected from the 2002 and 2007 Korean Minister Surveys, this study attempts to understand the relationship between types of ministerial leadership and performance in agenda setting, policy implementation, and internal management. The results of this study show that president-centered ministerial leadership (political responsiveness) is positively associated with agenda-setting performance and policy implementation performance whereas department-centered leadership (administrative responsibility) is positively associated with all performance areas, including agenda setting, implementation, and internal management.