New development: Ethical dilemmas and emotional labour—what can we learn from the shared Covid-19 crisis?

IMPACT

This article will be of value to public officials and managers who are grappling with the ethical questions arising from public sector work and service delivery. This is especially relevant in the context of Covid-19 where new forms of emotional labour are emerging. Procurement officers and politicians are encouraged to consider the possibilities of unethical behaviour and the consequences.

ABSTRACT

This article identifies ethical perspectives in emotional labour against the context of Covid-19. It briefly outlines current ethical thinking in this space before focusing specifically on issues arising from vaccine development. The authors argue that the discourse needs to be extended, to include a broader range of ethical perspectives and move beyond the experiences of street level bureaucrats, vital though these are.

KEYWORDS:

• Covid-19
• emotional labour
• ethics
• procurement
• street-level bureaucrats
• vaccines