Vietnamese Civil Servants’ Public Service Responsibilities

Abstract

Civil servants are people who implement state policies and resolve people's requests to ensure the people's legitimate rights and interests according to the law. Therefore, the effectiveness of social management by government agencies, especially at the local government level, depends heavily on the public service responsibilities of civil servants. In this study, the author builds a theoretical framework on the civil servants’ public service responsibilities, including responsibility for performing professional work and attitude of serving people. The author surveyed 330 leaders of commune-level local government agencies in 3 provinces representing 3 regions of Vietnam, including Thai Nguyen province (Northern region), Nghe An province (Central region), and Dong Thap province (Southern region). Research results have confirmed that local leaders evaluate civil servants who demonstrate public service responsibilities to meet the requirements of public service activities; However, the content “attitude of serving people” is evaluated at a lower level than the content “responsibility for performing professional work”. From the results of this research, the author suggests several contents that need to be researched and adjusted for managers to improve the quality of local civil servants to meet the requirements of serving the people in Vietnam.