Gyeonggi Province Senior Officials Score 9.32 out of 10 in Integrity Assessment

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jang Kyung-hee] Gyeonggi Province announced that senior officials under the provincial government recorded a composite average score of 9.32 out of 10 points in the integrity assessment. This represents a 0.07-point decline from 9.39 points last year; however, it is assessed as maintaining a high level of integrity.

From June 5 to July 31, Gyeonggi Province commissioned an external professional research firm (Wow Survey) to conduct the "2019 Senior Officials Integrity Assessment" for 246 senior officials at grade 4 and above under the province (37 bureau/division heads and 209 department heads).

The senior officials integrity assessment is conducted once annually under the "Gyeonggi Province Integrity Improvement Support Ordinance," and the evaluation period for this assessment spans from May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019.

A total of 8,673 participants took part in this evaluation: 6,536 internal evaluators (85%) consisting of supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates, and 2,137 external evaluators (15%) composed of Gyeonggi Province policy customers. The composite score was calculated by combining the scores from both evaluation groups.

In this online survey-based evaluation conducted via email and mobile platforms, the internal evaluation panel assessed 12 items: ▲transparency in business processing ▲business processing influenced by improper solicitations ▲business processing influenced by nepotism ▲improper requests and exercise of influence ▲private use and provision of job-related information ▲solicitation and acceptance of gifts, entertainment, and favors, among others.

By evaluation item in the internal assessment, "solicitation and acceptance of gifts, entertainment, and favors" (9.53 points) and "private use and unauthorized use of operational expenses" (9.47 points) showed the highest scores.

By contrast, "transparency in business processing" (9.15 points), "business processing influenced by regional, educational, and family connections" (9.11 points), and "creation of a harmonious workplace atmosphere" (8.94 points) received relatively lower scores.

Subsequently, the external evaluation covered 8 items: ▲improper requests and exercise of influence ▲business processing influenced by improper solicitations ▲business processing influenced by regional, educational, and family connections ▲private use and provision of job-related information to third parties, among others.

By evaluation item in the external assessment, "business processing influenced by improper solicitations" (9.75 points) and "improper requests and exercise of influence" (9.68 points) were rated highly, while "transparency in information disclosure" (9.25 points) and "anti-corruption and integrity improvement efforts" (9.36 points) appeared relatively lower.

Notably, this assessment also included a concurrent "organizational culture integrity perception survey."

The "integrity perception survey" was conducted across five "internal" areas—▲abuse of authority ▲workplace culture ▲personnel affairs ▲budget execution ▲fairness in work directives—and three "external" areas—▲corruption perception ▲corruption control ▲corruption experience. The evaluation results tallied an internal composite score of 8.80 points and an external composite score of 8.31 points.

A provincial official stated, "We plan to notify individual evaluation results through the research firm to promote self-management and encourage exemplary conduct in creating an integrity culture. The organizational culture integrity perception survey results will be actively utilized as data for improving provincial organizational culture."