The effect of Ethical Public Leadership on public servants’ behavior: a comparative multilevel analysis on organizational citizenship behavior and performance

Abstract

Ethical standards in public leadership serve as moral principles that guide leaders' actions set by administrative discretion. Ethical public leadership builds trust through transparency and accountability, promotes fairness in governance, discourages corruption, and inspires positive change and innovations. Although ethical public leadership plays these crucial roles in the public sector, its influence on public servants’ behavior is not adequately explored across administrative levels. This article investigates the effect of ethical leadership on public servants’ behavior with particular reference to organizational citizenship behavior and performance across administrative levels. Quantitative research approach with survey research design was applied to determine their relationship. Representative samples were drawn using stratified sampling at each administrative level independently. The data were collected using self-administered questionnaire. Simple linear regression was applied to analyze the data. The findings indicated that ethical public leadership positively correlated with organizational citizenship behavior and performance at all administrative levels. It has a more substantial influence on performance than on organizational citizenship behavior. It influences public servants’ behavior with varying magnitude across administrative levels. Notably, the strongest predictive capacity is observed at the zonal level followed by local level. The variances in effectiveness across administrative levels attributed to contextual factors such as autonomy and oversight. Hence, ethical public leadership is an important organizational factor that affect behavior and more effective at local administrative levels. These insights underscore the necessity for public organizations to invest in tailored ethical leadership development programs to optimize organizational outcomes and cultivate a culture of integrity and accountability.