چکیده:
زمینه و هدف: رسواییهای سازمانی جدی دهههای اخیر در سازمانهای عمومی که عمدتاً ناشی از فساد و منافع متضاد است، باعث کاهش شدید اعتماد جامعه نسبت به نهادهای عمومی شده است. این مسئله لزومیافتن فرایندها و ابزارهایی برای دستیابی به سازمانها عمومی و مدیریت اخلاقیتر را مورد تأکید قرار میدهد. هدف اصلی این پژوهش بررسی تجربی تأثیر انگیزه خدمات عمومی بر رفتارهای اخلاقی در سازمانهای عمومی است. روششناسی: پژوهش پیش رو از نظر هدف کاربردی و از نظر ماهیت و روش، از نوع پژوهشهای توصـیفی - پیمایشـی اسـت. جامعه آماری پژوهش حاضر سازمانهای عمومی شهر تهران است که با بهکارگیری روش نمونهگیری ترکیبی (طبقهای و در دسترس) حجم نمونهای برابر با 370 نمونه از 80 سازمان عمومی جمعآوری شده است. برای گردآوری دادهها پرسشنامههای استاندارد به کار گرفته شد که روایی و پایایی هر یک از متغیرها به تأیید رسیده است. همچنین برای تجزیهوتحلیل دادهها بر پایه مدلسازی معادلات ساختاری از نرمافزار اسمارت پی. ال. اس استفاده شد. یافتهها: یافتههای بهدستآمده نشان میدهد انگیزه خدمات عمومی (تمایل به خطمشیگذاری عمومی، تعهد به منافع عمومی، دلسوزی و ایثار) تأثیر مثبتی بر رفتارهای اخلاقی (احساس وظیفه، پشتیبانی، احترام، معنویت در محیط کار و خیرخواهی) کارکنان سازمانهای عمومی دارد و رهبری اخلاقی تأثیر مثبت انگیزه خدمات عمومی بر رفتارهای اخلاقی را میانجیگری میکند. نتایج: نتایج پژوهش شواهدی تجربی برای اهمیت انگیزه خدمات عمومی در رفتارهای اخلاقی در بین کارمندان دولتی ارائه میدهد. مطالعه حاضر نشان داد که رهبری اخلاقی و انگیزه خدمات عمومی در ارتقای رفتار اخلاقی کارکنان مؤثر است.
A B S T R A C T Background and Aim: Serious organizational scandals in recent decades in public organizations, mainly due to corruption and conflicting interests led to reduced public trust in public institutions. This emphasizes the need to find processes and tools to achieve public organizations and more ethical management. The main purpose of this research is to empirically examine the impact of public service motivation on ethical behaviors in public organizations. Methodology: The present research is practical in terms of purpose and In terms of nature and method, it is descriptive-survey research. The statistical population of the present study is public organizations in Tehran, which using a combined sampling method (stratified and available) a sample size of 370 samples was collected from 80 public organizations. Standard questionnaires were used to collect the data, which confirmed the validity and reliability of each of the variables. Based on modeling structural equations of Smart PLS were used to analyze the data. Results: The results show that the public services motivation (willingness to public policy, commitment to public interest, compassion and self-sacrifice) leads to increased moral behavior (sense of duty, support, respect, spirituality in the workplace and benevolence) in public organizations employees and ethical leadership mediates the positive impact of public service motivation on ethical behavior. Conclusion: The research results provide empirical evidence for the importance of public service motivation in ethical behaviors among civil servants. The present study showed that ethical leadership and public service motivation are effective in promoting the ethical behavior of employees Extended Abstract Introduction The recent ethical scandals both in the public sector and in the private sector have affected scientists, national and international organizations and forced them to pay close attention to this issue (Haq, 2011: 2792). Currently, public and moral values have received increasing attention in public administration research, and researchers often emphasize the need for public leaders to commit and promote public and moral values to protect public interests and build citizens' trust in the government (Tavares et al, 2021: 542). Ethical issues today are intertwined with our daily organizational activities and behavior. One of the reasons for the importance of ethical behavior in the public sector is its consequences on the quality of governance and the level of corruption (Moldogaziev & Liu, 2021: 476). Moral weakness harms the performance of the organization. When the organizational behavior is morally weak, the cost of performance increases in an obvious and hidden way. Therefore, it is necessary to research to identify the processes that encourage and strengthen ethical behavior in government organizations. Due to the importance of ethical behavior in government accountability, trust, and efficiency, several recent studies have focused on identifying ways to influence ethical behavior in government organizations (Wright et al, 2016). How can public sector institutions encourage ethical decision-making and behavior among civil servants? This article examines a potential variable: public service motivation. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the effect of public service motivation on employees' ethical behaviors through the mediation of ethical leadership. Methodology The current research is practical in terms of its purpose and descriptive survey in terms of its nature. The statistical population of the current research is made up of government organizations in Tehran. To select the samples and research environments, a stratified and accessible mixed sampling method was used. The classification of the statistical population is based on the ministries and their subordinate organizations. Some of the ministries have been excluded from the current research due to a lack of access. The ministries included in the sample are the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, Ministry of Economy and Finance., Ministry of Education, Ministry of Sports and Youth, Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, Ministry of Oil, Ministry of Energy. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Questionnaires were distributed in equal numbers among employees and deputies of 80 government organizations in Tehran. 370 questionnaires were completed and collected. In this research, structural equation modeling and the partial least squares method using SmartPLS software have been used to test hypotheses and analyze data. Results and discussion As mentioned earlier, the independent variable includes the public service motivation with four dimensions (willingness to public policy, commitment to public interest, compassion, and self-sacrifice), the mediator variable includes ethical leadership, and finally, the dependent variable includes ethical behaviors with five dimensions. (sense of duty, support, respect, spirituality in the workplace, and benevolence). To test the hypotheses, the T-value test is used. If the value of these numbers exceeds the absolute value of 1.96, it indicates the correctness of the relationship between the constructs, and as a result, the research hypotheses are confirmed at a confidence level of 95%. According to hypothesis 1 with a T-statistic of 10.439 and a path coefficient of 0.552, we found that employees with higher public service motivation behave more ethically than other employees. This shows that individual characteristics and motivations are important in ethical behavior. In addition, according to the second hypothesis, with a T-statistic of 18.24 and an influence coefficient of 0.615, public service motivation has a positive effect on ethical leadership in public organizations. In this article, both the effect of public service motivation dimensions on ethical behaviors and the mediating effect of ethical leadership on this relationship were discussed. According to the third hypothesis with a T-statistics of 3.36 and influence coefficient of 0.184 and the fourth hypothesis with a T-statistics of 2.82 and influence coefficient of 0.169, the influence of ethical leadership on ethical behaviors and its mediating role in the influence of public service motivation on ethical behaviors is confirmed. The findings of the current research are in accordance with the findings of previous researches in this field (Caillier, 2015; Wright et al, 2016; Vandenabeele, & Kjeldsen, 2011). Conclusion The present study advances our understanding of the mechanisms by which ethical behavior can be fostered in public sector offices by examining the relationship between public service motivation and ethical leadership. Our findings have important implications for the scientific understanding of public service motivation and ethical behavior in the public sector and research on public service motivation. Crucially, our findings provide empirical evidence for the importance of public service motivation in ethical behaviors among civil servants. The present study showed that ethical leadership and public service motivation with four sub-components of sacrifice, compassion, commitment to public interests, and willingness for public policy are effective in promoting the ethical behavior of employees including the sense of duty, support, benevolence, respect, and spirituality. Funding There is no funding support. Authors’ Contribution All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work. Conflict of Interest Authors declared no conflict of interest. Acknowledgments We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.