Relationship of organizational culture and ethical climate in public administration organizations

A core principle of public administration is a need for a self-sufficient public administrator to act ethically. This inquiry focuses on the role in influencing the exercise of discretionary power of public servants. The question examined is what critical organizational cultural factors account for differences in the ethical climates of public organizations.; Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to examine the relationship between culture and ethics in public organizations. Drawing from previous research, a survey examining organizational cultural variables and ethical climates was developed and tested. Public managers were surveyed and interviewed to provide data. Employing correlational analysis, regression models and examination of multicollinearity issues, the data revealed a positive relationship between the cultural variables of supportive leadership, cohesion, support, innovation and structure with ethical climate dimensions. A positive relationship was revealed between task leadership and ethical climate dimensions that was not as hypothesized in this study. Interviews with eighteen public leaders provided further evidence of these relationships. In addition, public managers indicated that while they operate in a number of ethical climates on a daily basis, one ethical climate is typically dominant in the organization. Clearly, public managers who focus on cultural variables in their management of their public organizations can positively influence ethical climate.