The Korea Local Administration Review

This study aimed to investigate ‘ways of life’ of the Korean local governments’ welfare officials. Given the increasing importance of welfare services in Korean local governments, the results of this study would contribute to the quality of the services. The theoretical model of grid-group cultural theory was applied, and this study found that sixty six percent of those surveyed welfare officials represented egalitarianism. The way of life taking the second place was individualism which accounted for about twenty five percent of the surveyed. Hierarchy and fatalism took up very small amount of the responded officials. The ways of life of the surveyed welfare officials showed differences according to their individual attributes. The ‘group’ dimension(i.e., social solidarity) of their ways of life was stronger among the newly entered and the veteran officials and among the more professional officials. The ‘grid’ dimension(i.e., autonomy and discretion) was stronger among the younger and the more professional officials. These results could be considered as a reference when the Korean central and local governments design improvement plans regarding welfare officials’ professionalism and welfare services for local residents.   □ Keywords: welfare officials, way of life, grid, group, professionalism