Civil Servants’ Perception on the Effect of Bhutanese Culture on Favouritism

A Case Study of Ten Ministries

Abstract

This study examines how Bhutanese civil servants perceive the impact of traditional cultural values on favouritism within the civil service. While favouritism is recognized as a widespread form of corruption in Bhutan’s public sector, its cultural underpinnings have received little scholarly attention.

Drawing on Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964) and Institutional Theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), this quantitative study surveyed 367 civil servants across ten ministries through a structured Likert- scale questionnaire. The data were analysed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient to explore the relationships between Bhutanese cultural values and favouritism.

The results revealed significant positive correlations between favouritism and four core Bhutanese cultural dimensions: prevailing cultural norms and values, the practice of gift-giving (chanjay), respect and loyalty (driglam chosum), and compassion (nyingje). These findings indicate that traditional cultural practices, when misapplied in a professional setting, may unintentionally encourage favouritism within the civil service.

This study offers valuable insights for policymakers and human resource professionals, emphasizing the need for culturally informed anti-corruption policies that harmonize traditional values with ethical standards and merit-based practices. While acknowledging methodological limitations inherent in survey-based approaches to complex cultural phenomena, this research expands the limited scholarship on the cultural roots of favouritism in South Asian civil services, highlighting the distinctive influence of Bhutanese values on organizational behaviour