HOW DOES THE ETHICAL CLIMATE AFFECT PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION AND MISSION VALUE


ERTEN Ş., TÜRKMEN İ.

Public Administration Issues, no.6, pp.23-44, 2024 (ESCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.17323/1999-5431-2024-0-6-23-44
  • Journal Name: Public Administration Issues
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.23-44
  • Keywords: ethical climate, mission valence, public organizations, public service motivation
  • Uşak University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Public service motivation and mission valence are two significant and up-to-date approaches to explaining the motivation of public employees. This study aims to demonstrate the role of ethical climate in both the relationship between public service motivation and mission valence and the motivation of public service employees by adding ethical climate. The research was carried out in public universities operating in Turkey. Data was collected from a total of 1415 participants consisting of academicians, administrative personnel, and administrators with an online questionnaire form. The data obtained was evaluated with the structural equation model in three different groups for academicians, administrative personnel, and administrators. Our findings primarily confirmed the positively significant relationship between mission valence and public service motivation previously demonstrated in the literature. Secondly, it was understood that mission valence affected ethical climate. Furthermore, the findings revealed that ethical climate for all three groups had a strong mediation effect between public service motivation and mission valence. In other words, ethical climate in organizations contributes to the internalization of the organization’s mission and the development of prosocial behavior.