When Culture Is Harmful

This article is based on mixed-method research conducted into the Georgian public administration system. The author of the article studied Georgian public administration from the perspective of sociocultural theories. The study proposed and confirmed the hypothesis that the persisting issues in Georgian public administration have deep cultural implications which originated from unchangeable centuries-old traditions of local society. With that, the study disproves the common opinion that corruption arose in local managerial traditions primarily during the soviet period. Besides, the results of the study revealed that a new generation of Georgian public servants in some matters demonstrate more traditionalism than their senior colleagues. At the same time, data analysis exposed a subgroup of Georgian bureaucrats which might be considered as potential modernizers among homogeneous groups of cultural traditionalists. Overall, the author makes the conclusion that models of behaviour which are assessed in Western societies as corrupt, are legalized and approved in Georgian society, as well as in local public office.