Organizational commitment of public service employees in Ghana: do codes of ethics matter?
| Author | Farhad Hossain,Anthony Sumnaya Kumasey,Justice Nyigmah Bawole |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852316634447 |
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
2017, Vol. 83(1S) 59–77
!The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0020852316634447
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International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Article
Organizational commitment
of public service employees in
Ghana: do codes of ethics matter?
Anthony Sumnaya Kumasey
University of Manchester, UK
Justice Nyigmah Bawole
University of Ghana Business School, Ghana
Farhad Hossain
University of Manchester, UK
Abstract
One of the most difficult and under-examined issues in the ethics research of developing
countries is whether the establishment of codes of ethics in public service organizations
leads to employees’ organizational commitment. This study investigates the link between
codes of ethics and organizational commitment, as well as its three dimensions of affect-
ive, normative and continuance commitment, in Ghanaian public service organizations.
Correlational, regression and descriptive statistics were used to study 228 participants
conveniently sampled from selected public service organizations within the Greater Accra
Region of Ghana. Empirical evidence showed that codes of ethics significantly and posi-
tively predicted employees’ organizational commitment, as well as the three dimensions
of the affective, normative and continuance commitment of employees.
Points for practitioners
Codes are intended to educate the general public, and employees in particular, about
the mission of an organization, to foster a good ethical climate, and to provide guidance
for resolving ethical problems in an organization. To ensure employee commitment to
the organization, the codes should be effectively implemented, well communicated and
strictly enforced with impartiality; otherwise, the codes will appear merely as ‘cosmetic
dressing’ to the organization.
Corresponding author:
Farhad Hossain, Global Development Institute (GDI), School of Environment, Education and Development,
University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Email: farhad.hossain@manchester.ac.uk
Keywords
codes of ethics, Ghana, governance reform, organizational commitment, public service
organizations
Introduction
In contemporary times, unethical practices including bribery and corruption,
embezzlement of funds, conflicts of interest, sexual harassment, misuse of confidential
information (Benavides et al., 2012; Trevino and Nelson, 2013), and other illegal
conduct are widespread in organizations. This trend has led to growing public concern
over the inappropriate conduct of leaders and public officials, resulting in the resur-
gence of interest in ethical issues (Pajo and McGhee, 2003). These unethical behaviours
have harmful effects on individuals as well as organizations. For instance, approxi-
mately US$2.9 trillion of global annual revenue is lost due to various forms of uneth-
ical behaviour (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 2010). Organizations have
therefore sought to reduce these unethical practices by instituting ethics or integrity
programmes (Beeri et al., 2013; Kolthoff et al., 2013), and these include the de velop-
ment of codes of ethics (Beeri et al., 2013; Kolthoff et al., 2013; Wolf, 2008). A code of
ethics reflects an organization’s standards and establishes realistic modes of behaviour
that apply to everyone in the organization. It therefore governs the actions and con-
duct of employees through the promotion of ethical practices, leading to reputational
benefits such as projecting the image of the organization (Ali and Al-Kazemi, 2007;
Matten, 2003; Mohamed et al., 2010; Saks et al., 1996; Valentine et al., 2011), guiding
the ethical behaviour of employees (Fritz et al., 2013; Glor, 2001) and contributing to
the success of the organization (Valentine and Barnett, 2007).
Closely related to codes of ethics is organizational commitment. Organizations
seek to generate commitment on the part of their employees because turnover is
costly and organizations tend to benefit from employees who are committed to their
jobs (Fritz et al., 2013). Organizational commitment has been conceptualized by
Porter et al. (1974: 604) as ‘the strength of an individual’s identification with and
involvement in an organization’, or ‘the state in whichan employee identifies with an
organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in that organization’
(Miller, 2003:73). Committed individuals possess ‘a willingness to exert considerable
effort on behalf of the organization’, ‘a strong desire to maintain membership in the
organization’ (Mowday et al., 1982: 27) and a bonding relationship with the organ-
ization (Meyer and Allen, 1997: 13). The factors influencing organizational commit-
ment include work experience, justice or fairness (Meyer and Allen, 1997),
communication, and the clarity of information and procedures (Fritz et al., 2013).
The public service of Ghana expects a work culture and professional ethics of
objectivity, integrity, meritocracy, confidentiality, anonymity, political neutrality
and permanence, bequeathed to the country at independence by its colonial mas-
ters. However, these professional ethics appears to have declined over the years and
sections of the public feel that the poor image and identity of Ghana’s public
60 International Review of Administrative Sciences 83(1S)
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