Hoeder van integriteit

Cohen, Job

doi:10.5553/bw/016571942018072002001

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Both aspects of ethical leadership can be expected to be of great importance to the Dutch mayoralty since mayors are strongly expected to behave with integrity and also find "being a moral person" of utmost relevance to being an officeholder themselves. In addition, mayors are confronted with strong moral manager expectations, not only by the law (Cohen, 2018;Karsten, 2019aKarsten, , 2019b.…”

Section: Theoretical Foundationmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Moral Person’ or ‘Ethical Leader’? A Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Councilors’ Integrity Requirements for Dutch Mayors (2008–2019)

Karsten

Jacobs

2021

Public Integrity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although the scholarly attention for the ethical leadership function in the public sector is increasing, empirical research into the importance of moral norms and values in governance and into what is expected of ethical leaders remains rare. The Dutch mayoralty provides an insightful case in point since a formal ethical leadership role has been attributed to the mayor and because job advertisements for the office are available, which, uniquely, enable tracing the use of the integrity concept. This article provides a quantitative longitudinal analysis of the integrity requirements placed on Dutch mayors in 349 vacancy text. The findings indicate that moral person expectations in particular feature prominently. But, contrary to expectations, the attention paid to integrity requirements for candidate mayors, both as moral persons and as ethical leaders, is found to decrease between 2008 and 2019. This finding may indicate that integrity has increasingly become a taken-for-granted value. In addition, a significant increase is observed in the focus on the role of the mayor in promoting integrity through proactive rather than reactive intervention. Although sanctioning violations remains at its core, the ethical leadership function, thus, seems to be moving towards the taking of preemptive measures.

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Foundationmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Moral Person’ or ‘Ethical Leader’? A Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Councilors’ Integrity Requirements for Dutch Mayors (2008–2019)

Karsten

Jacobs

2021

Public Integrity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Critical observers, from both practice and academia, fear that situations of "perverted accountability" have been produced, whereby decision makers face demands, which they perceive as illegitimate, to act contrary to professional ethics and risk the imposition of political sanctions if they do not bow to such pressures (e.g., Cole, 2001). Such worries are particularly strong regarding the ethical leadership role of Dutch mayors (Cohen, 2018;Karsten & Hendriks, 2017). Further, a rare exploratory study provides indications that perceptions of illegitimate accountability pressures do adversely affect the mayors' willingness to take assertive action against integrity violations (De Boer, 2014).…”

Section: A Situation Of "Perverted Accountability" and The Potential mentioning

confidence: 99%

Not Biting the Hand That Feeds You: How Perverted Accountability Affects the Ethical Leadership of Dutch Mayors

Karsten

2019

Public Integrity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dutch mayors are in the curious position that, by law, they are required to act against any integrity violations by their fellow political executives and municipal councilors. At the same time, they are fully accountable to the local council, and increasingly dependent on the political support of those they oversee for remaining in office and for their capacity to govern. Data collected from four focus groups and nine interviews indicate that this dependence has produced a precarious situation of "perverted accountability" in which mayors, because they perceive social and career risks, are more likely to refrain from assertive action against integrity violations than the accountability and ethical leadership literature suggests. Here, it is argued that there is an institutional aspect to such reluctance to be an effective moral leader that goes beyond Dutch mayors simply having weak personalities. The current study finds support for the unfashionable argument that accountability can be bad for democracy. It contributes to the study of ethical leadership by identifying perceived personal and positional risks as real-life impediments to ethical leadership and by drawing attention to the complexities of ethical leadership in the realm of politics.

show abstract

Hoeder van integriteit

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

‘Moral Person’ or ‘Ethical Leader’? A Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Councilors’ Integrity Requirements for Dutch Mayors (2008–2019)

‘Moral Person’ or ‘Ethical Leader’? A Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis of Councilors’ Integrity Requirements for Dutch Mayors (2008–2019)

Not Biting the Hand That Feeds You: How Perverted Accountability Affects the Ethical Leadership of Dutch Mayors

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About