Public sector leadership‐subordinate ethical diffusion conundrum: perspectives from developing African countries

Abstract

The interaction between organizational superiors and their subordinates has a practical implication on the entire organizational life cycle in terms of ethical conduct. This study explores how ethics among public leadership could trickle down on the conduct of public employees by using two empirical cases from developing African countries context. Using the attraction–selection–attrition and social learning models, the study assesses how superiors influence street level bureaucrats' interaction with clients or customers. Drawing from existing cases and other secondary data, we propose a leadership-ethical diffusion model that argues that subordinates' perception and experience of superiors' behavior tend to create a kind of organizational ‘ethical groupthink’, which spans the rank and file of the organization.