Public service ethics, values and spirituality in developing and transitional countries: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Summary Concerns over the unethical conduct of leaders and public officials have led to the renaissance of interest in public service ethics and values. Although national and organizational systems and structures have been instituted to either eradicate or ameliorate unethical behaviours in the public service of countries, the practice still persists with devastating consequences. As one way forward, spirituality has been touted as having the potential of stimulating the moral thoughts of individuals who are dealing with ethical issues, thereby reducing unethical behaviour and generating positive organizational behaviour. Drawing from the perspectives of developing and transitional countries, this special issue empirically examines the extent to which ethics, values and spirituality can reduce unethical behaviours.

Public Administration and Values Oriented to Sustainability: A Systematic Approach to the Literature

“…By taking with them their personal beliefs, choices, and actions into organizations, individuals count on them to make decisions [63], even if what forms the value(s) of public service differs from one country to another [64], considering that understanding the roles of values involves much questioning related to ethics in public administration [65]. For Hossain et al [10], public service should serve the public interest as a way to ensure institutions' sustainability, and although some unethical and illegal practices persist, leading to public distrust, not all the behavior of civil servants is considered unethical, and some of this should be encouraged by stimulating practices to ensure such behavior is applied.…”

“…The notion of values is especially appropriate in public service [10], considering that this should be permeated by values that benefit citizens collectively [11], covering aspects of integrity, legality, and participation related to good governance [12]. Recently, conflicts of values in the circumstance of the modernization of public services have been shown, particularly regarding the principles of reform concerning the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM), which aims to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness of public services in countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) [13].…”

Unethical leadership behaviour in Algerian public organizations: unravelling social and organizational factors

“…To date, the problem has received scant attention in the research literature in Algeria and other African countries (Benlahcene and Meddour, 2020). Among the many questions about unethical leadership behaviour in public organizations, yet to be investigated is the role of social and organizational factors (Hassan, 2019; Hossain et al , 2020). In line with this, Hassan et al (2022) posited that in spite of the significance of organizational factors in eliciting unethical leadership behaviour, scholarly attention given to this issue is very scarce.…”

Government bureaucrats and ethical conduct in Nigeria’s fourth republic: Implications for good governance

“…Thus, the emergence of a powerful state bureaucracy in the modern societies has raised the need for rules and regulations to instill ethical practices and prevent abuse of power either for selfish gain or in the course of their dealings with the public individuals. It is, therefore, crucial that public officials act justly and equally to everyone, not merely stating their commitment to ethical behavior but also ensuring that these commitments are obviously and unmistakably demonstrated in action (Hossain et al 2020). Oni and Oluye (2019) emphasized on the importance of public officials abiding by rules and regulations when fulfilling their duties, stating that the civil service executes its primary task in line with established rules and procedures.…”

“…It is imperative to note that several studies in the area of ethical practices in Nigerian Civil Service abound in literature. Much of these scholarly works are concern with the aim of expanding the frontier of knowledge on the obligations of the public service, and the manner it should interrelate and confluence with governments, citizens, civil society and foreign as well as domestic corporations and private institutions (Ara & Islam 2019, Hossain et al 2020, Olanrewaju et al 2020. Also, some of the studies are concerned with the impact of ethics on civil service performance (Uche et al 2019, Afolabi et al 2021.…”