Effects of Ethics and Performance Management on Organizational Performance in the Public Sector

Abstract

This study empirically tests the effects of ethics management, performance management, and transformational leadership on organizational performance in Korean public organizations by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) on data collected from 270 public employees. In examining the relationships among ethics management; performance management; transformational leadership; and organizational performance, this research also explores the mediating roles of organizational commitment and ethical performance that contribute to organizational performance. Informal ethics management and transformational leadership are found to increase organizational performance by reducing unethical behavior and improving organizational commitment in public agencies.

Keywords:

• ethics management
• ethical performance
• Korea
• organizational commitment
• organizational performance
• performance management
• transformational leadership

Notes

1 It should be noted that the emphasis on performance and competition often lead to cheating and unethical behaviors (Bohte & Meier, 2000), which is different from performance management where accountability is embedded.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2017S1A3A2067636).