Does a Public Service Ethic motivate Ethical Behavior?

This article aims to advance our understanding of and confidence in the relationship between employee public service motivation (PSM) and ethical behavior by testing the degree to which PSM predicts the ethical behavior or behavioral intention of government employees. Building on previous research, we argue that government employees with higher PSM are not only more likely to internalize values that support public interests they also are likely to be concerned less about the potential consequences that they may experience by reporting unethical conduct within their agencies. Using data collected through a survey from 477 employees working in a large state agency, we find that supervisors with higher PSM are more likely to be perceived by their subordinates as exhibiting ethical leadership and that employees with higher PSM express a higher willingness to report unethical behavior within their agency. We discuss implications of these findings for research in public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]