What do local governments teach about in ethics training? Compliance versus integrity

ABSTRACT

Ethics research has focused on issues such as codes of conduct and ethical values and less on ethics training. This paper examines evidence from a national survey of local governments on what approaches they take to ethics training through the topics they teach. Our analysis showed that they use both of the two common types of training approaches: “compliance-based,” focusing on enforceable rules, and “integrity-based,” which aims more at instilling values. The research showed that the compliance-based approach was most commonly used, and integrity-based topics were less heavily emphasized. It found that these training topics were most likely to be offered in the Midwest, and managers were given the same training as employees. Population size and form of government did not register much impact. The results support prior research that local governments more often take the “low road” in ethics training and do not teach values and public interest topics.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics training
• local government
• survey
• public affairs education

Notes

1. Dr. Suzanne M. Ogilby is a governmental accounting professor at California State University at Sacramento. With the support of her university, she partnered with the ICMA in the development and administration of the survey. The authors want to gratefully acknowledge and thank the ICMA for its permission to use the data analyzed in this article and to emphasize that the findings, opinions, and conclusions in it are solely those of the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bruce J. Perlman

Bruce J. Perlman is Regents’ Professor and Director of the School of Public Administration at the University of New Mexico. His research interests are state and local government, comparative and international administration, and public sector organization and management.

Christopher G. Reddick

Christopher G. Reddick is Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests are in information technology and public-sector organizations.

Tansu Demir

Tansu Demir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research areas include politics and administration, power, local government, city managers, and professionalism. He has published articles in such journals as Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration, and Administration & Society.

Suzanne M. Ogilby

Suzanne M. Ogilby is Professor of Accounting in the College of Business Administration at the California State University, Sacramento. Her research areas include governmental and financial accounting and accounting pedagogy. She has published articles in such journals as the Journal of Government Financial Management and the Journal of Forensic Studies in Accounting and Business