UNIVERSITY OF GHANA 
 
LEADER INTEGRITY: A PREDICTOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL 
CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOUR AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK 
BEHAVIOUR AMONG GHANAIAN CIVIL SERVANTS 
 
BY 
 
REGINALD ARTHUR 
INDEX NUMBER: 10254879 
 
 
 
 
THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, 
LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR 
THE AWARD OF THE MPHIL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 
DEGREE 
 
 
 
 
JUNE, 2015
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DECLARATION 
I, Reginald Arthur, author of this thesis titled, “Leader Integrity: A Predictor of Organizational 
Citizenship Behaviour and Counterproductive Work Behaviour among Ghanaian Civil Servants” 
do hereby declare that apart from references of other people’s work which have been duly 
acknowledged, this thesis is my original work done in the Department of Organization and 
Human Resource Management, University of Ghana Business School. This work has not been 
presented either in part or whole by anyone for any academic award in this or any other 
University.  
 
 
 
………………………………………    ……………………………… 
Reginald Arthur            Date 
(10254879) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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CERTIFICATION 
I hereby certify that this thesis was supervised in accordance with procedures laid down by the 
University.  
 
 
 
 
……………………………………………    ……………………………… 
Dr. Kwasi Dartey-Baah       Date 
(Supervisor) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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DEDICATION 
I dedicate this work to the Almighty God who has been the pillar and anchor of my life and from 
Whom I constantly drew inspiration throughout this research. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
I am forever grateful to Dr. Kwasi Dartey-Baah, my supervisor, mentor and father, for his 
display of great patience, encouragement, correction and admirable leadership throughout this 
study. I also want to extend my profound gratitude to all faculty members of the Department of 
Organization and Human Resource Management, particularly Prof. Dan Ofori, the Head of 
Department and Prof. Joshua Abor, the Dean of the Business School for their concern and 
contribution towards the successful completion of this work.  
I also extend my sincere appreciation to the management of the University of Ghana for their 
support and especially the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey for his direction and guidance 
throughout my postgraduate studies. I am also very grateful to all members of the Graduate 
Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG) at the University of Ghana for trusting me and 
giving me the opportunity to serve them as their President in the 2014/2015 academic year.  
I also want to express my profound gratitude to my father, Mr. John Wilfred Arthur, who has 
always been there for me throughout my whole life and also my family for showing great 
concern for progress in my research work. I am also indebted to Miss Elizabeth Asantewaa-Addo 
for showing so much love and care. I am also very grateful to Mr. Joshua Dogbey and Miss 
Mavis Aba Norman, the President and Womens’ Commissioner of UG-SRC respectively for 
their immense support and contribution towards the successful completion of my thesis. I cannot 
end this acknowledgement without appreciating the support of my friends Benjamin Mekpor, 
Richmond Acquah-Coleman, Benjamin Boateng and the entire 2014/2015 year group of the 
MPhil Human Resource Management class.  
God bless you all. 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
TITLE                                                                                                                                    PAGE 
Declaration...................................................................................................................................... i 
Certification ................................................................................................................................... ii 
Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... iii 
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................ iv 
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... v 
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. x 
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xi 
List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. xii 
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... xiii 
 
CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 1 
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1 
1.1 Background of Study ............................................................................................................. 1 
1.2 “So what”?............................................................................................................................. 3 
1.3 Purpose of Study ................................................................................................................... 6 
1.4 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................. 7 
1.5 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 7 
1.6 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................................ 8 
1.7 Context of the Study .............................................................................................................. 8 
1.7.1 Justification for the Context of the Study ....................................................................... 9 
1.8 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 12 
1.8.1 Significance to Research .............................................................................................. 12 
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1.8.2 Significance to Practice ................................................................................................ 13 
1.8.3 Significance to Policy ................................................................................................... 14 
1.9 Chapter Disposition ............................................................................................................. 15 
 
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................ 17 
CONCEPTUALIZING LEADER INTEGRITY, CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOUR AND 
COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR ................................................................ 17 
2.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 17 
2.1 What is Integrity? ................................................................................................................ 17 
2.2 Leader Integrity Defined ..................................................................................................... 23 
2.3 Leader Integrity and Employee Outcomes .......................................................................... 26 
2.4 Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) .................................................................... 27 
2.4 1 Dimensions of OCB...................................................................................................... 31 
2.5 Counterproductive Work Behaviour ................................................................................... 33 
2.6 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................... 35 
2.6.1 Authentic Leadership Theory ....................................................................................... 36 
2.6.2 Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) .................................................................. 38 
2.7 Empirical Review ................................................................................................................ 40 
2.7.1 Meaning of Leader Integrity ......................................................................................... 40 
2.7.2 OCB – CWB Nexus ...................................................................................................... 47 
2.8 Statement of Hypotheses ..................................................................................................... 50 
2.9 Conceptual Framework ....................................................................................................... 50 
 
 
 
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CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................... 53 
METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 53 
3.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 53 
3.1 Research Paradigm .............................................................................................................. 53 
3.2 Research design ................................................................................................................... 55 
3.2.1 Justification of Research Design .................................................................................. 56 
3.3 Sources of Data ................................................................................................................... 58 
3.4 Target Population ................................................................................................................ 58 
3.5 Sampling Technique ............................................................................................................ 60 
3.6 Sample Size ......................................................................................................................... 60 
3.7 Instruments for Data Collection .......................................................................................... 62 
3.7.1 Data Collection Procedure for Quantitative Analysis .................................................. 62 
3.7.2 Data Collection Instruments for Qualitative Analysis .................................................. 64 
3.8 Procedure for Data Collection ............................................................................................. 64 
3.8.1 Quantitative Data Collection ........................................................................................ 65 
3.8.2 Qualitative Data Collection .......................................................................................... 65 
3.9 Reliability and Validity for Pilot Study .............................................................................. 66 
3.9.1 Reliability for Quantitative Study ................................................................................. 66 
3.9.2 Reliability and Validity for Qualitative Study .............................................................. 67 
3.10 Method of Data Analysis................................................................................................... 68 
3.10.1 Quantitative Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 68 
3.10.2 Qualitative Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 69 
3.11 Challenges and Delimitations of this Study ...................................................................... 71 
3.12 Ethical Consideration ........................................................................................................ 73 
 
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CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................................................................................... 75 
PRESENTATION OF RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ........................ 75 
4.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 75 
4.1 Socioeconomic Characteristics of Respondents .................................................................. 75 
4.1.1 Age and Sex Distribution of Respondents .................................................................... 75 
4.1.2 Educational Qualification ............................................................................................. 76 
4.1.3 Job position and Tenure of Service .............................................................................. 76 
4.2 Validity and Reliability of Variables .................................................................................. 77 
4.3 Assessing Leader Integrity, OCB and CWB among Civil Servants ................................... 78 
4.4 Correlation among Leader Integrity, OCB and CWB ......................................................... 79 
4.4.1 Test statistics................................................................................................................. 80 
4.5 Regression results ................................................................................................................ 81 
4.6 Summary of Quantitative Analysis ..................................................................................... 83 
4.7 Qualitative Data Analysis.................................................................................................... 84 
4.8 Major Themes of the Study ................................................................................................. 86 
4.8.1 Major Theme 1: Fair, Honest and Trustworthy ............................................................ 86 
4.8.2 Major Theme 2: Behaviour Consistency in all Situations ............................................ 88 
4.8.3 Major Theme 3: Societal value – behaviour consistency ............................................. 90 
4.8.4 Major Theme 4: Strict Compliance to Rules and Regulations ..................................... 93 
 
CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................................................................ 96 
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ................................................................................................... 96 
5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 96 
5.2 Reliability of Findings ......................................................................................................... 96 
5.3 Research Objective One ...................................................................................................... 97 
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5.4 Research Objective Two ................................................................................................... 101 
5.5 Research Objective Three ................................................................................................. 102 
5.6 Research Objective Four ................................................................................................... 104 
 
CHAPTER SIX ......................................................................................................................... 107 
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................ 107 
6.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 107 
6.1 Summary of Findings ........................................................................................................ 107 
6.2 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 108 
6.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 110 
6.4 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Studies ..................................................... 112 
 
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 113 
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................... 128 
Appendix A ............................................................................................................................. 128 
INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................. 128 
Appendix B ............................................................................................................................. 136 
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ................................................................................................... 136 
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LIST OF TABLES  
Table 3.1  Ministries and Number of Respondents     61 
Table 3.2 Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficients of Pilot Study   66 
Table 4.1  Socio-economic Characteristics of Civil Servants    77 
Table 4.2  Reliability of PLI, OCB and CWB      78 
Table 4.3 Descriptive Statistics for PLI, OCB and CWB    79 
Table 4.4 Pearson’s Correlation Matrix       81 
Table 4.5 Regression Results for PLI and OCB      83 
Table 4.6 Coded Responses from Directors      85/86 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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LIST OF FIGURES 
Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework of LI, OCB and CWB    51 
Figure 3.1 Concurrent Embedded Mixed Method     57 
Figure 5.1 Modified Conceptual Framework of LI, OCB and CWB   106 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 
CWB - Counterproductive Work Behaviour 
LI - Leader Integrity 
OCB - Organizational Citizenship Behaviour 
PLI - Perceived Leader Integrity 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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ABSTRACT 
The concept of leader integrity has become topical as part of the call for positive organizational 
research. In an attempt to explore the meaning of this character strength in leaders and how it 
influences employee outcomes, this study employed the use of robust methodology to examine 
how leader integrity predicts the citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour of 
civil servants in Ghana. The concurrent embedded mixed method design was adopted to 
subjectively provide a contextual understanding of leader integrity and its relationship with 
employee voluntary behaviours using a total sample of 143 respondents; 135 workers and 8 
directors. A thematic content analysis of the response of the directors revealed that leader 
integrity in the Ghanaian context was understood as both morality as prescribed by the Ghanaian 
culture and the consistency between values and actions. Correlation and regression analysis of 
the relationship between three variables revealed that the leader integrity had a significant 
positive relationship with the citizenship behaviour of employees though it accounted for a small 
percentage of its variation but had no significant relationship with unproductive employee 
behaviours. It was also found that employees who engaged in more citizenship behaviours had a 
less likelihood to engage in counterproductive behaviours at the workplace. It was therefore 
recommended from the findings of this study that codes of conduct for workers in the Ghanaian 
context must reflect the societal norms prevalent in the country. Also, it was recommended that 
leaders in organizations demonstrate more integrity at the workplace in order to influence 
positive outcomes from employees. The major contribution of this study to research is about the 
contextual meaning of leader integrity in the African context, particularly in Ghana.  The study 
also serves as a nuanced supplement to recent studies on character strengths and their impact on 
employee outcomes.  
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CHAPTER ONE 
INTRODUCTION 
1.1 Background of Study 
The relevance of integrity in leadership seems to be catching up in literature as a critical feature 
for effective and responsible leadership (Palanski & Yammarino, 2009). Amidst the 
overwhelming amount of recent corporate and government scandals, integrity appears to be a 
missing character trait among leaders (Edelman, 2012). The concept of integrity, basically 
defined as having moral principles and consistently acting upon them (Bauman, 2013), is 
currently being advocated as an “axiom in leadership” (Palanski & Yammarino, 2009, p.405) and 
gaining relevance in the leadership discourse. From this analogy, leader integrity is basically 
conceptualized as a leader who has moral principles and consistently acts upon them. Of what 
essence then is a leader who acts in such a moral manner to an organization? How can the 
demonstration of integrity in leadership be the panacea to ailing businesses and a catalyst for 
sustainable business growth and development (Vogelgesang, Leroy & Avolio, 2013). These 
questions bring to fore how integrity exhibited at the top levels in organizations influence 
employee outcomes such as organizational citizenship behaviour. 
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB) is originally defined as individual behaviors that 
are discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in 
the aggregate promote the effective functioning of the organization (Organ, 1988, p. 4). 
Employees engage in OCBs by way of discretion and such acts usually have positive impact on 
the performance of the organization (Podsakoff, Ahearne, & MacKenzie, 1997). OCBs 
contribute to “the maintenance and enhancement of the social and psychological context that 
supports task performance” (Organ, 1997, p. 91).  
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It has however been strongly argued in recent times that when people engage in morally 
praiseworthy behaviors, they often grant themselves a moral license to behave immorally (Klotz 
& Bolino, 2013). This argument has brought to the surface a long standing contention in 
literature about the link between organizational citizenship behaviour and counterproductive 
work behavior (CWB). CWB describes acts that are “harmful to the organization by directly 
affecting its functioning or property, or by hurting employees in a way that will reduce their 
effectiveness” (Fox, Spector, & Miles, 2001, p. 292).  
A number of studies have shown some correlation between OCB and CWB such as job 
satisfaction, justice and conscientiousness but relate to them in opposing ways (Dalal, 2005; 
LePine, Erez, & Johnson, 2002). Although there is a universal acceptance of the negative 
correlation between the two concepts, recent research suggests that, within individuals, these 
behaviors are actually independent and may, in fact, co-occur (Klotz & Bolino, 2013). Some 
studies have also shown that OCB and CWB are only moderately negatively correlated, and 
when measured properly, the correlation is even lower (Dalal, 2005). The ongoing empirical 
examination of the relationship between OCB and CWB calls for further investigations to 
validate the relationship between the two. 
Now, to what extent will the integrity of a leader influence a subordinate to engage in 
discretionary positive behaviours in the workplace? Will the absence of a display of integrity on 
the side of the leader engender unproductive organizational behaviours? How does the two 
concepts of OCB and CWB relate especially in the context of the public sector in Ghana. These 
questions constitute the focus of this study and are empirically proven in this study. 
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1.2 “So what”?  
Hernon & Metoyer-Duran (1993) maintain that a research must avoid any impression of being 
trivial or pedestrian by addressing the “so what” question. According to them, the attempt to 
answer the question “so what” could be demonstrated in the statement of a research problem that 
is succinct, expressive and written to stimulate the interest of readers. The gaps stated below seek 
to address the “so what” question of this study. 
The main problem of this study stems from the need to clarify and explore the behavioural aspect 
of leadership. The concept of leadership is one that has been extensively investigated. Most of 
these studies have sought to conceptualize leadership in a way that seeks to provide a generic and 
holistic definition of the concept (Burns, 1978; Avolio, 2005; Avolio, Walumbwa & Weber, 
2009). However, the inundation of various definitions and conceptualizations of leadership by 
various researchers over the years has apparently made the concept lose (Warren, 1989), a 
situation which can consequentially lead to a subtle deviation of the actual meaning of the term 
leadership. For instance, in recent times, leadership has been described as a form of performance 
(Mumford, 2011). In other words, leadership according to Mumford (2011) is an outcome of a 
phenomenon. This simplified definition of a complex concept, though to some extent factual, 
leaves out critical components of leader development which is inherent and has behavioural 
underpinnings. If this assertion was to be the fundamental understanding of the concept of 
leadership, then the issue of former President of the United States, Mr. Bill Clinton and his sex 
saga immediately after he left office should have easily been swept under the carpet. This is 
because the former President’s leadership brought the country some significant socio-economic 
prowess and his official performance in office, one worthy of praise. These successes far 
outweigh his alleged “social misconduct” and should have at least spared him of all the media 
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noise and worldwide disappointment of his amoral behaviour. It is therefore imperative that 
behavioural concepts such as integrity are put into the right perspective in the examination of the 
concept of leadership as purported in this study. This is because morality sits at the core of the 
social behavioural of leadership. 
Furthermore, the concept of leader integrity appears to be misrepresented in meaning especially 
in earlier researches where the focus has been on behavioural integrity (Simons, Palanski & 
Trevino, 2013; Bauman, 2013; Palanski & Yammarino, 2007; 2009; Trevino & Nelson, 1999). 
Palanski and Yammarino (2007) put forward a definition of integrity as the consistency between 
an acting entity’s words and action. Trevino and Nelson (1999) also define integrity as 
wholeness and complete. According to Simons et al. (2013), however, the definition of 
behavioural integrity as the consistency between one’s words and actions is misplaced and 
condones morality as a fundamental construct in the assessment of integrity.  Bauman (2013) 
also in his study puts forward strongly that there is the need to marry the concepts of morality 
with integrity in both its common usage and research. It was in this light that the Leadership 
Quarterly published a Special Issue in 2013 solely on leader integrity in order to broaden and add 
more rigor to the definition of leader integrity. This work seeks to establish the meaning of 
leader integrity within Ghana’s civil service and thereby add to extant literature in that regard. 
Recent studies on the concept of leader integrity aimed at establishing a more robust definition of 
the concept have used either the quantitative or qualitative approach. Qualitative studies have 
been conducted to obtain subjective views of what leaders perceive as integrity (Martin et al., 
2013). Moorman, Darnold and Priesemuth (2013) also used quantitative methods to measure the 
construct validity of the perceived leader integrity measurement scale. Beyond this, it appears no 
study have combined the strengths of the two approaches of methodology to provide a synthesis 
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of findings. In their qualitative study, Martin et al. (2013) found that the meaning and emphasis 
of leader integrity varied across six different cultures they investigated.    It therefore desirable 
that subsequent studies that seek to add to the knowledge of leader integrity adopt an integrated 
methodology that provides meaningful contributions on the subject of leader integrity and its 
impact on organizational outcomes such as citizenship behaviour. This study thus adopts a mixed 
methodology approach to the work. 
It appears a number of studies have sought to examine the relationship between leadership and 
organizational citizenship behaviour (Euwema, Wendi & Van Emmerik, 2007; Vondey, 2010; 
Rubin, Bommer & Bachrach, 2010; Cho & Dansereau, 2010). Most of these studies usually 
focus on the effect of the various styles of leadership on employee citizenship behaviour. 
However, very few studies have particularly focused on measuring the integrity of leaders and its 
impact on OCB. An example of such studies is a very recent one by Zhang, Bai, Gaza and Wang 
(2014), who investigated how leader integrity influences the OCB of workers in China. 
Considering the paucity of research that have sought to establish the relationship between the 
normative ideal in leadership, integrity, and employee outcomes such as OCB and CWB, there is 
a unique opportunity presented for studies like this to add to literature the nexus between these 
concepts that have dominated management literature as distinct concepts for years.   
Furthermore, despite the fact that recent studies of OCB and CWB have argued that there is not 
only a negative relationship between the two but also a positive relationship (Klotz & Bolino, 
2013), it appears the study of the positive relationship between the two concepts are yet to 
dominate the OCB-CWB discourse. It is therefore imperative for current researches into the 
concept of OCB and CWB to examine the relationship, especially positive, between the two 
concepts in order to add to the ongoing debate.  
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Contextually, as much as the study of the relationship between OCB and CWB are in the early 
stages, a key concern for the few studies that have sought to explain the relationship between the 
two is prevalent in developed countries in the western world (Dalal et al., 2009; O’Brien & 
Allen, 2008; Sackett, Berry, Wiemann, & Laczo, 2006; Spector, Bauer, & Fox, 2010; Kelloway, 
Loughlin, Barling & Nault, 2002). Apparently, of all the existing literature testing the 
relationship between OCB and CWB, no research investigating these concepts has yet been 
found to be based in Africa and Ghana thereof. Again, despite the call for a kind of leadership 
that can address the African problem of wide-spread management ineptitude among many 
organizations coupled with the numerous failed policies on the continent (Afegbua & Adejuwon, 
2012; Kuada, 2010; Ochola, 2007; Okpara, 2006), it appears that the concept of leader integrity 
and its influence of propelling organizations to achieve higher performance is yet to gain 
prominence in the leadership discourse in Africa. This study is therefore timely in contributing to 
the limited and apparently non-existent literature of leader integrity and its impact on OCB and 
CWB particularly in the public sector in Ghana. 
1.3 Purpose of Study 
The gaps stated above informs the purpose of this study which is to examine how leader integrity 
predicts OCB and CWB among Civil Servants in Ghana. This study aims at providing a 
contextual meaning of leader integrity by exploring the concept in the Ghanaian context and also 
provides understanding about the relationship that exists between leader integrity, OCB and 
CWB.  
 
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1.4 Research Objectives 
The objectives of this study are to: 
1. Explore the understanding of leader integrity among leaders in Ghana’s civil service 
2. Examine the relationship that exists between leader integrity and the citizenship 
behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants 
3. Examine the relationship that exists between leader integrity and counterproductive work 
behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants 
4. Investigate the relationship between the citizenship behaviour and counterproductive 
work behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants 
1.5 Research Questions 
1. How do leaders in Ghana’s Civil Service understand leader integrity? 
2. What is the relationship between leader integrity and the citizenship behaviour of 
Ghanaian civil servants? 
3. What is the relationship between leader integrity and counterproductive work behaviour 
of Ghanaian civil servants? 
4. What is the relationship between the citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work 
behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants? 
 
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1.6 Hypotheses 
H1: There will be a significant positive relationship between leader integrity and the OCB of 
civil servants in Ghana.  
H1b: Leader integrity will predict the OCB of civil servants in Ghana.  
H2: There will be a significant negative relationship between leader integrity and the CWB of 
civil servants in Ghana. 
H2b: Leader integrity will predict the CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
H3: There will be a positive relationship between OCB and CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
1.7 Context of the Study  
The context of this study is the Civil Service in Ghana. The Civil Service is among the 
recognizable group of Public Services according to the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of 
Ghana. Article 190 of the said constitution states that “(1) The Public Services of Ghana shall 
include - (a) the Civil Service, the Judicial Service, the Audit Service, the Education Service… 
(b) public corporations other than those set up as commercial ventures; (c) public services 
established by this Constitution; and (d) such other public services as Parliament may by law 
prescribe” (Republic of Ghana, 1992). The Constitution goes further to define the composition of 
the Civil Service in clause (2) of Article 190 stating that, “(2) The Civil Service shall, until 
provision is otherwise made by Parliament, comprise service in both central and local 
government” (Republic of Ghana, 1992). This makes the Civil Service a very noticeable and 
relevant institution in the public service of this country. 
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1.7.1 Justification for the Context of the Study 
The Civil Service in Ghana is among the institutions that has experienced the typical human 
attitude of initial praise and subsequent criticisms from the populace due to its shift from 
relevance in supporting government into a hub of corruption and ineptitude (Aryee, 2001; Asare, 
2012). Aryee (2001) describes a periodic occurrence of the good and bad days of the Civil 
Service as from the post-independence period to the mid-1970s and from the mid-1970s to early 
1980s respectively.  
Accounts from Aryee (2001) suggests that the Civil Service was initially considered as the 
anchor of government and the institution that drove the developmental policies and agenda of 
government particularly after Ghana’s independence in 1957. During this period, the service was 
well resourced and workers in this sector were highly trained and well remunerated. The 
economic indicators in the country at that time were favourable for economic development and 
that created a positive climate in government that was reflected in the performance of civil 
servants (Aryee, 2001). The wage bill of the service was manageable and there was an 
appreciable level of comfort that was felt by civil servants because of the security of their job. 
The economy of Ghana then was basically strong, promising and one that easily caught world 
attention because of the economic opportunities that existed in the country ranging from cocoa 
production to the plethora of valuable mineral resources the country possessed. It was in this 
regard that Nti (1978) described Ghana’s Civil Service then as the best institution in Africa due 
to its performance and the role the service played in national development. 
Nonetheless, the Civil Service in Ghana in the periods from 1974 to early 1980 suffered some 
decline in performance due to economic downturn that strongly hit the country in those periods 
(Aryee, 2001). The economic crunch in that period was marked by decline in the industrial and 
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agricultural sectors. Ghana’s share of cocoa production to the world market fell drastically, 
export in mineral resources also fell short, the public sector was gradually becoming overstaffed, 
budgetary deficits rose astronomically as funds that were pumped into the economy only brought 
losses due to a breakdown in management of state enterprises which further resulted in budgetary 
cuts to various sectors of the economy and a total breakdown of the Ghanaian economy finally 
resulting in a coup d’etat by Flt. Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings (Aryee, 2001; Chazan, 1983; 
Herbst, 1993). The weakness in Ghana’s economy had a damaging consequence on the 
responsibility of the Civil Service in promoting and implementing the policies of government 
thereby resulting in abysmal performance by the service. The service become ineffective, 
inefficient due to overstaffing, wage compression, lack of policy guidance to governmental 
agencies, apathy, lack of logistics, mismanagement and unrestricted recruitment, excessive 
bureaucratization, lack of transparency and corruption (Aryee, 2001).  
The decline in the performance of the Civil Service called for reforms to restructure the Civil 
Service in Ghana. The Mills-Odoi and Okoh commissions were thus formed to propose reforms 
that could help in the restructuring and efficient management of the Civil Service (Aryee, 2001). 
The now Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration was among the outcomes of 
particularly the Mills-Odoi Commission.  
The recommendations of these commissions and other reform strategies that have sought to 
make the Civil Service regain its former glory are however yet to bring significant changes in the 
operations of the Civil Service (Aryee, 2001, Sakyi & Bawole, 2009).  Apart from significant 
infrastructural changes that have occurred to support the work of Civil Servants, most of the 
attitudinal behaviours that impeded upon the productivity of the service remain unchanged. 
Several factors have been attributed to the failure of such attempts directed at modelling the Civil 
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Service into a very efficient and effective institution ranging from poor reward systems to 
unhealthy organizational climate. Key among these factors are the lack of commitment by both 
political and administrative leaders as well as exemplary leadership aimed at strategically 
implementing reforms and codes of conduct governing the work of Civil Servants.  
This retarding development in the Civil Service has made the demand for integrity and positive 
employee outcomes very essential in the Civil Service of Ghana particularly in recent times. 
Sakyi and Bawole (2009) explain that “code of conduct and other institutional arrangements 
have been put in place to provide overall guidance and ensure integrity and responsible behavior 
in the respective public services (p. 68). For instance, in 1999, the Code of Conduct for Ghana 
Civil Service was published by the Head of Civil Service in Ghana. This was premised against 
constitutional provisions that demanded for high levels of responsible behaviour particularly 
from public servants. In the same vein, the President of the Republic of Ghana in 2013 launched 
a Code of Ethics for Ministers and Government Appointees to help curb the high incidence of 
corruption and bribery scandals in the public sector of Ghana (Yeboah, 2013). In his statement, 
the President stressed on the need for Ministers and appointees of government as well as civil 
servants to maintain high levels of integrity in the course of their work in the midst of the 
pressures that could come from society especially from within the acceptable norms of the 
Ghanaian culture (graphic.com.gh, accessed 10th May, 2015). 
This study therefore adds to the discussion for integrity in the Civil Service of Ghana by way of 
advancing the understanding of the concept of integrity among leaders in the Civil Service. In the 
same way, this study adds to knowledge about antecedents of positive and negative employee 
outcomes in order to provide an awareness about the behaviour of leaders that could elicit these 
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employee responses particularly in the Civil Service in Ghana. The significance of this study to 
policy making and governance in this country is explained in details in the next section. 
1.8 Significance of the Study 
1.8.1 Significance to Research 
This study seeks to make empirical and theoretical contributions to the study of leadership by 
building on the understanding of leader integrity and its effect on employee outcomes-
particularly OCB and CWB. First of all, this study expands knowledge about the use of the 
authentic leadership theory by deducing an ethical construct from the theory that makes it 
applicable to leader integrity. From this study, authentic transformational leadership is 
distinguished from pseudo-transformational leadership and referred to leaders who have some 
core moral values and thereby demonstrate their authenticity by constantly acting on these 
values. The introduction of moral values as core attributes of an authentic leader satisfactorily 
deals with the moral aspect of leader integrity. Furthermore, the consistent actions of authentic 
leaders on these moral values also captures the consistency between espoused values and actions 
definition of leader integrity by Simmons (2002). Again, the study fuses other moral leadership 
theories such as the transformational leadership theory and other ethical constructs of leadership 
into the authentic leadership theory as initially done by Bass and Steidlmeier (1999).  This 
integration of quasi-ethical theories into the authentic leadership theoretical framework adds to 
extant literature on the development of the authentic leadership framework and makes the theory 
more comprehensive in explaining leader integrity as moral virtues.  
Also, this study adds to limited empirical literature examining the relationship between leader 
integrity and employee outcomes. Though a number of studies have examined the concept of 
behavioural integrity in the past, very few studies have attempted dissecting the actual contextual 
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meaning of integrity; especially with regards to leader integrity as including morality. This study 
combines two methodologies, that is qualitative and quantitative, to provide empirical 
underpinnings to the relationship between leader integrity and positive employee outcomes 
(organizational citizenship behaviour) and negative employee outcomes (counterproductive work 
behaviour). This study therefore supplements the limited investigations into the nascent concept 
of leader integrity and its effects on employee outcomes.  
1.8.2 Significance to Practice 
This research extends organizational knowledge about leadership and help indicate to businesses 
the leadership characteristics that are able to influence productive and unproductive behaviours 
on the job. Also, this study assists leaders to have a better understanding of how their roles and 
moral conduct trigger employees to exhibit certain voluntary behaviours at work. To employees, 
this study creates more awareness of the link between productive and counterproductive 
behaviours in the performance of their responsibilities.  
The qualitative analysis of integrity and its implications on employee outcomes also presents 
managers a unique opportunity to assess their leadership behaviours and identify areas where 
they may be lacking with respect to societal expectations on morality. In many organizational 
settings, the task-orientation of managers makes it difficult for them to focus on how to inspire 
and influence their subordinates with their lifestyles. Many organizational leaders often have a 
misfit between their performance and personal behaviours. This study therefore places the 
concept of integrity at the heart of managers and makes a strong case for the reconsideration of 
leadership influence as not solely limited to expertise and leadership styles but also to moral 
behaviour that demonstrate integrity at the workplace. 
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1.8.3 Significance to Policy 
A major significance of this study is in its relevance to conduct particularly in the public sector 
and how such virtues could restore the public sector to high levels of performance. Focusing on 
the Civil Service in Ghana, this study reveals an essential leadership characteristic that seems to 
be overlooked in the bid to transform the institution. In other words, this study emphasizes on the 
role leaders play in influencing high productivity among employees in the Civil Service through 
the display of integrity. Therefore, the findings of this study makes significant contributions to 
the development of ethical standards and policies that are relevant for high performance in the 
Civil Service.  
The public sector, specifically, Civil Service, is strongly perceived as inept and corrupt. This 
perception nonetheless seem to remain since there appears to be some cultural support for actions 
that induce corruption. In order for this perception about the sector to change, government 
agencies as well as other developmental agencies are constantly seeking ways to develop policies 
that address this issue. The enactment of the Civil Service Code of Conduct and the Ethical Code 
of Conduct for Ministerial and Government Appointees have all sort to provide some regulatory 
framework within which the conduct of public servants could be moderated. However, these 
policy documents have not sufficiently dealt with the issue of how to maintain high integrity in 
the public service. The reason for this may be due to the apparent lack of knowledge and 
understanding of leader integrity and the importance of the concept in both the effectiveness of 
leaders and also propelling employees to produce more positive outcomes. This study therefore 
clears the confusion about the concept of integrity and makes a strong policy case for prioritizing 
integrity as the ideal for curbing misconducts in the public sector.  
 
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1.9 Chapter Disposition 
This study is divided into six chapters. Chapter one introduces the study and provides a 
background of the concepts of the study. It also answers the “so what” question by summarizing 
the research problems that accounted for this study. It then goes further to state the objectives, 
research questions and hypotheses that were investigated. This is to make the reader understand 
the purpose of this study. This chapter also discusses the context within which the study took 
place and provides justification for the choice of study area. It ends by making strong arguments 
for the contribution of the study to the field of research, practice and policy.  
Chapter two which embodies a critical review of current and past literature on the concepts of 
this study is titled, “conceptualizing leader integrity, citizenship behaviour and counterproductive 
work behaviour”. This chapter first presents a thorough review of literature on leader integrity, 
OCB and CWB and critically deduces definitions from extant literature to reflect the meaning of 
the concepts as used in this study. This sections also presents a theoretical underpinning for the 
concepts. Empirical studies conducted on the three concepts and the relationship between them 
are also reviewed to arrive at the hypotheses of this study. Finally, the conceptual relationship 
between leader integrity, OCB and CWB is presented in a comprehensive framework that is 
supported by the empirical review previously conducted.  
The third chapter presents a framework of the research methodology adopted for this type of 
study. The research paradigms, design, sampling technique and method of data collection and 
analysis are presented in this chapter. 
Chapter four is purely a presentation and interpretation of the results of the quantitative and 
qualitative data collected and analyzed in this study.   
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Chapter five is a discussion of the findings of this study in relation to the objectives that were 
stated earlier. The discussion is supported with theoretical and empirical evidence that were 
reviewed in the study and also personal judgements of some of the findings are made especially 
where there is the need for speculative assessments of the findings.  
The final chapter is chapter six. Here, the entire research is summarized into a succinct report 
and conclusions drawn from the investigations that were made in the study. The study also 
makes recommendations based on the findings of the study for practice and research. There is 
also a presentation of recommendations for areas of limitations in this study that could be 
addressed in future studies.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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CHAPTER TWO 
CONCEPTUALIZING LEADER INTEGRITY, CITIZENSHIP 
BEHAVIOUR AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR 
2.0 Introduction 
This section seeks to provide an empirical and theoretical underpinning to the concepts leader 
integrity, OCB and CWB which are being investigated in this study. 
2.1 What is Integrity? 
Integrity is highly demanded in all facets of both social and organizational life due to its 
consideration as a normative ideal (Palanski & Yammarino, 2007) but there exist some confusion 
in literature with regards to the actual meaning of integrity (Becker, 1998; Palanski & 
Yammarino, 2007; Parry & Proctor-Thomson, 2002). For instance, as much as integrity is 
considered as critical aspect of work behaviour, Becker (1998) explains that the concept of 
integrity is usually confused with other virtues such as honesty and conscientiousness which 
causes the moral anchor of the concept of integrity to be lost.  Parry & Proctor-Thomson (2002) 
further illustrates the prevailing confusion about the concept of integrity as a moral relativist 
concept whose meaning varies across cultures and generations. Using the example of Adolf 
Hitler, Parry & Proctor-Thomson (2002) contend that there would be a difference in the 
perception of the integrity of Adolf Hitler by populist view and the Nazis of his time. These 
variations in the meaning of integrity has left the concept of integrity to be highly contested to 
date. What remains constant about the concept however is the value placed on the concept at 
both the individual and organizational level. 
As much as there is no common agreement about the concept of integrity, the diverse definitions 
given to the concept in literature aids in its conceptualization. Palanski and Yammarino (2007) 
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capitalizes on the diverse interpretations of integrity in management literature to categorizes the 
various meanings given to the concept into wholeness, consistency of words and actions, 
consistency in adversity, being true to oneself and moral or ethical behaviour. These categories 
of integrity drawn from several management literature attempt to dissect the meaning of integrity 
and help to provide a better understanding and meaning to the concept. 
Integrity is argued as referring to wholeness because of its derivation from the root word 
“integer” which is a Latin word that means wholeness or completeness (Trevino, Hartman & 
Brown, 2000, Worden, 2003). Trevino et al. (2000) describe integrity as a “holistic attribute that 
encompasses the other traits of honesty and trustworthiness” (p. 130). They define the total 
morality of an individual as integrity. According to Koehn (2005), integrity is integral in our 
very being as humans. These overarching connotation given to the concept of integrity as 
wholeness provides an indication that integrity in its essence encapsulates several characteristics 
that constitute an individual’s summed behaviour. Integrity in this sense is therefore used 
synonymously with character (Palanski & Yammarino, 2007). In other words, integrity as 
wholeness seeks to give a description of the overall behaviour of an individual in all situations.  
The description of integrity as consistency between words and actions is widely used in the 
integrity discourse (Simons, 2002, Palanski & Yammarino, 2007; Worden, 2003; Paine, 2005; 
Posner, 2001). Simons (2002) is among the scholars that strongly posits that integrity particularly 
at the organizational level is an alignment between the words and actions of individuals. Simons 
(2002) further explains that integrity of management in an organizational setting, for instance, is 
perceived by subordinates as the extent to which management is able to keep to promises and 
how consistent the values, morals and policies advocated by management are upheld and 
followed in the actions of management. This operational definition of integrity as consistency 
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between an actor’s words and action constitutes a central theme in many other management 
literatures that seek to define integrity. Palanski and Yammarino (2007) after the categorization 
of various meanings of integrity falls on the word-action consistency definition of integrity to 
advance their conceptualization of the concept. Posner (2001) from a behavioural perspective 
revealed that the meaning of integrity usually had to deal with how an individual perceived 
themselves with respect to how they maintained their self-esteem by being consistent with the 
values and principles they stood for. Worden (2003) also views integrity as a way by which 
strategic leaders can win credibility by how they align their strategic plans and vision to achieve 
competitive advantage for their firms. The deduction that can be made from these definitions of 
integrity is that integrity connotes a stable character of an individual that is exhibited regardless 
of the circumstance.  
Further to the word-action consistency definition of integrity, scholars such as Paine (2005) and 
Worden (2003) introduce the adversity as a necessary condition where the consistency between 
the word and action of an individual must be tested in order to be qualified to be described as the 
display of integrity. According to Paine (2005), an individual that remains resolute in the midst 
of adverse situations is one that can be described as possessing integrity. According to Worden 
(2003), “the hallmark of integrity is acted out commitment to principled behaviour in the face of 
adversity or temptation at great cost to oneself” (p. 34). Emphasis is placed on adverse situations 
and temptations in this definition of integrity due to the explicit challenge of an individual when 
one is confronted with such situations. Integrity as consistency in adversity is explained by the 
scenario that adverse situations usually presents an individual with choices of actions as remedy 
and the course of action that conforms with one’s espoused words and values is that which can 
be described as the demonstration of integrity.  
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Palanski and Yammarino (2007) also categorize other dimensions of the concept of integrity akin 
to the concept of authenticity to define integrity as being true to oneself. Scholars, such as Koehn 
(2005) deviate from the consistency import of the concept of integrity which seeks to suggest 
that integrity is universal to argue that, variations in the response of an individual in a particular 
situation does not necessary defeat the demonstration of integrity. Rather, it is the application of 
one’s prejudices and unique experiences in a particular situation that depicts integrity. This 
makes the concept of integrity more personalized but pure and representative of one’s true 
behaviour. Integrity as being true to oneself eschews hypocritical behaviours and places much 
premium on how a person would act in a situation as far as practicable to that individual’s 
internalized values.  
The definition of integrity as a moral or ethical behaviour is one that has a lot of popularity in 
management literature. Palanski and Yammarino (2007) outlines a number of moral and ethical 
behaviours that have been related to integrity in management literature. In their categorization, 
Palanski and Yammarino (2007) found synonymy between integrity and concepts such as 
honesty, trustworthiness, justice, openness, empathy and respect (Newman, 2003; Paine, 2005; 
Bews & Rossouw, 2002; Koehn, 2005; Lowe, Cordery & Morrison, 2004; Peterson & Seligman, 
2004). For instance, Newman (2003) assessing the approval of four previous presidents of the 
United States from 1980 to 2000 on the basis of integrity finds that many base their assessment 
of the integrity of Bill Clinton, former President of the United States of America, on his morality 
particularly with reference to the Lewinsky scandal. Also, Bews and Rossouw (2002), for 
example, make reference to integrity as including other factors such as openness and 
benevolence as antecedents that facilitate trustworthiness.  These moral or ethical behaviours 
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used to define integrity are not only popular in literature but usually constitute the fundamental 
perception of integrity in practice and therefore has little contestation when related to integrity. 
The various meanings provided above clearly shows the prevailing disagreement about the 
definition of integrity. This disagreement is predominant in how integrity could operationalized 
in several ways. However, in their definition of integrity, Palanski and Yammarino (2007) 
attempt to address this confusion about the concept of integrity through the lenses of moral 
philosophy and thereby consider integrity as a virtue. By so doing, they provide a distinctive 
conceptualization of integrity that seeks to eliminate the overlapping concepts that further 
diffuses the meaning of integrity. As such, Palanski and Yammarino (2007) define integrity as an 
adjunctive virtue which in itself does not connote good moral behaviour but rather a necessary 
virtue for achieving good moral behaviour. In this sense, Palanski and Yammarino (2007) define 
integrity as “consistency of an acting entity’s words and actions” (p. 178). The other definitions 
of integrity explained above were thus related to virtues that in their view better describes those 
concepts. That is, wholeness was related to character, consistency in adversity was related to 
courage, being true to oneself was related to authenticity whiles moral or ethical behaviour was 
considered as best explained by virtues including honesty, trustworthiness, fairness and 
compassion (Palanski & Yammarino, 2007). 
But there appears to be a problem with Palanski and Yammarino’s (2007) operationalization of 
integrity particularly as an adjunctive virtue. Defining integrity as solely consistency between 
words and actions eliminates the inherent morality in the concept of integrity and makes it only a 
facilitator of good moral behaviour. In other words, Palanski and Yammarino’s (2007) definition 
of integrity skews the meaning of integrity from being both a substantive (virtues that are 
morally good in themselves) and adjunctive (virtues that are not morally good in themselves but 
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are imperative for moral uprightness) virtue (Audi & Murphy, 2006) to connote only a virtue 
whose moral content is not as important as how it facilitates good moral behaviours. The 
problem here is that, this definition of integrity as much as it has much credence in management 
literature (Simmons, 2002) further deepens the practical and literary gap that exist in the 
meaning of integrity. In fact, the definition espoused by Palanski and Yammarino (2007) 
unfortunately makes the concept of integrity more porous in the sense that, whiles their 
definition places the concept in an empirical context that makes it easily measurable, it opens the 
flood gate for amoral behaviours which pass the word-action consistency test to be regarded as 
acts of integrity; a situation where management literature would be defying the social meaning of 
integrity. For example, a situation where the manager of a company easily considers himself as 
promiscuous and therefore engages in indiscriminate sex with his workers could escape the 
morality check and be described as an act of integrity since it passes the word-action consistency 
test. 
The problem with the definition of integrity by Palanski and Yammarino (2007) is quickly 
admitted in a subtle way when they assert that, “…according to this definition, even a person 
who promises to do great harm and follows through with this promise would be considered to 
have integrity” (p. 178). In a defense of the further limitation of their definition of integrity, 
Palanski and Yammarino (2007) assert that it will be logically and morally inaccurate to 
disassociate the integrity from other virtues such as authenticity, honesty, courage and fairness. 
This brings the study of the concept of integrity in organizational settings and its impact on 
employee outcomes to a state where the statistical measure of the concept will be necessary but 
not sufficient to explain the meaning of integrity. 
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Again, it appears the limitation of the definition of integrity to the consistency between words 
and actions is given substance in another study by Palanski and Yammarino (2009) that refers to 
the action of not only an individual so as to limit the definition of integrity to the perception of 
that individual’s behaviour where moral or ethical virtues cannot be exempted but rather to the 
actions of a group and organization. In other words, the definition of integrity as the consistency 
of an acting entity’s words and actions is emphasized to refer to the actions of individuals as well 
as groups and organizations. This is comprehensive and exonerates the word-action consistency 
definition of integrity.  
This implies that the definition of integrity does not only rest on the consideration of integrity as 
a virtue but also a specific recognition of the entity to which the concept is being referred. In 
other words, a suitable definition of integrity does not only depend on its conceptualization as a 
virtue but also on its contextualization with respect to its application. For instance, as much as 
the integrity of an organization could be limited to its pursuit of alignment between words and 
actions, the integrity of a leader cannot be defined void of the morality and ethical behaviour of 
the leader in question as demonstrated in the study of Newman (2003) about the integrity and 
performance of former President Bill Clinton. The concept of integrity is therefore 
contextualized in the subsequent sections with respect to a leader in order to provide a more 
succinct meaning of concept in relation to the behaviour of a leader. 
2.2 Leader Integrity Defined 
The concept of integrity has been central in a number of leadership discussions. Scholars such as 
Palanski and Yammarino (2009) have described integrity as an axiomatic feature in leadership 
discourse by stressing the importance of integrity as a characteristic in effective leadership 
(Moorman, Darnold & Priesemuth, 2013; Simmons, 2008; Grojean, Resick, Dickson & Smith, 
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2004; Kouzes & Posner, 2007). Grojean et al. (2004) explains that the relevance and 
inseparability of integrity from leadership could be attributed to the superiority in authority 
demanded from leaders. As such, there is usually a greater expectation of followers about the 
conduct and behaviour of leaders. However it appears the definition of leader integrity is baffled 
with the confusion that characterizes the concept of integrity as explained above.  
There is the school of thought that ascribes to the fact that leader integrity could be said to exist 
only when there is a demonstration of consistency between the words and actions of an 
individual and in this case, the leader in question (Palanski & Yammarino, 2007; Simons, 2002). 
This school of thought involves those who conceptualize of the concept of leader integrity as 
behavioural integrity (Simons, 1999; Palanski & Yammarino, 2007). Simons (2002) defines 
behavioural integrity as “the perceived alignment between an actor’s words and deeds” (p. 19). 
But this definition of leader integrity as behavioural integrity is shallow and defeats the common 
understanding of the conditions under which a leader can be described as having integrity. 
First of all, the behavioural integrity conceptualization of leader integrity eliminates any grounds 
for morality to be considered as critical to the integrity description of a leader. Consistency 
between words and actions means that the only considerate measure of the integrity of a leader is 
on the basis of his or her commitment to his or her words or conformity to the values the leader 
espouses (Furrow, 2005). This definition of leader integrity leaves the concept very porous and 
susceptible to accommodating immoral and unethical conducts that are generally eschewed.  
Secondly, it appears Simon’s (2002) definition of behavioural integrity was basically to make it a 
statistically measurable concept that allowed researchers to investigate into the perceptions of 
integrity of leaders at the neglect of subjective virtues such as morality. This limitation in the 
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definition of behavioural integrity is later acknowledged by Simmons, Tomlinson, and Leroy 
who describe behavioural integrity as a secondary definition of leader integrity because of 
distinctions that exists between the concept of behavioural integrity and other connotations of 
integrity such as authenticity, morality and courage (Palanski & Yammarino, 2007).  
Brown, Treviño and Harrison (2005) attempt to clear the conceptual confusion that exists in the 
isolation of some moral virtues from the definition of the concept by introducing moral values 
and behaviour into the integrity conceptualization. They place less emphasis on the word-action 
consistency definition of integrity and hold that the perceived integrity of a leader should be in 
alignment with his or her moral values (Brown et al. 2005). From their perspective, the 
assessment of a leader as having integrity is when that leader could be said to be morally upright. 
The position of Brown, et al. (2005) on the concept of integrity however does not solve the 
disagreement about the concept of leader integrity. Rather it seeks to solely make a moral 
argument about the concept which does not make it suitably applicable to leadership in the 
organizational setting.  
There are arguments that support the fact that leader integrity should be defined in a manner that 
characterizes both the morality of the leader as well as the consistency that exist between what 
the leader says or stands for and what he or she actually does (Mayer, Davis & Schoorman, 
1995). In order to find a more suitable definition of leader integrity that provides a composite 
meaning of leader integrity, that is, leader integrity referring to the character of the leader, the 
authenticity of the leader, the courage of the leader, the morality of the leader and of course the 
consistency between the leaders’ words and actions, there is the need for a conceptual definition 
of leadership that has relevance in moral philosophy whiles maintaining its measurability at 
either the individual or organizational level.  
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For the purposes of this study, Mayer et al.’s (1995) comprehensive conceptualization of 
integrity provides an inspiration for defining leader integrity. Leader integrity is therefore 
defined in this study as the show of consistency between the espoused values and actions of a 
leader that depicts the leaders’ true self and trustworthiness. According to Mayer et al. (1995), a 
more comprehensive definition of leader integrity would be one that considers integrity as both a 
moral behaviour and consistency between words and actions. They explain that the assessment of 
the integrity of the leader is based on a follower’s subjective perception of the leader behaving 
morally. On the other hand, Mayer and his colleagues argue that “the party’s past actions, 
credible communications about the trustee from other parties, belief that the trustee has a strong 
sense of justice, and the extent to which the party’s actions are congruent with his or her words 
all affect the degree to which the party is judged to have integrity” (Mayer et al., 1995, p. 719). 
These arguments therefore provide a strong case for considering leader integrity as an interplay 
between a leader’s moral behaviour and consistency between his or her words and actions as 
spelt out in the definition propounded in this study. 
2.3 Leader Integrity and Employee Outcomes 
The essence of leader integrity in any organization rests on how such leadership attribute 
influences employees at the workplace. The relationship between leaders and their followers is 
one that requires trust (Kaiser & Hogan, 2010). Followers usually commit themselves to their 
leaders because of the trust they have in such a leader. The perceived integrity of the leader 
therefore plays a critical role in enhancing this trust. In other words, followers tend to show 
much commitment and maintain a positive relationship with leaders who usually demonstrate 
high levels of integrity (Kaiser & Hogan, 2010). The absence of integrity on the side of the 
leader therefore compromises the leader-follower relationship. This contingent relationship is 
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better explained by the leader-member exchange theory which will be later discussed in detail in 
this chapter.  
The deduction that can be made from the leader-follower relationship that has been discussed 
above is that, the demonstration of integrity by a leader has influence on follower outcomes. 
There is common understanding and literature that shows that positive leadership attitudes such 
as integrity results in a number of positive employee outcome such as organisational citizenship 
behaviour (Dineen, Lewicki & Tomlinson, 2006; Palanaski & Yammarino, 2007; Gentry, Cullen, 
Sosik & Chun, 2013). Gentry et al. (2013) considers integrity as among the character strengths of 
managers and thus make a strong argument about the importance of integrity in propelling 
positive outcomes in the organization. The cause-effect relationship between the integrity of a 
leader and its consequential impact on employee outcomes is often premised on the high level of 
influence leaders have on followers (Palanski & Yammarino, 2007). In the same vein, there are 
arguments that suggest that the lack of integrity in the behaviour of a leader has negative effects 
on employee outcomes (Dineen et al., 2006; Gentry et al., 2013; Kaiser & Hogan, 2010). This 
study therefore seeks to examine the relationship that exists between the integrity of a leader and 
divergent employee outcomes including organizational citizenship behaviour and 
counterproductive work behaviour among employees. The concepts of organizational citizenship 
behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour are explained in detail in the subsequent 
section. 
2.4 Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) 
The commonest definition of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is that propounded by 
Organ (1988). According to Organ (1988), OCB is an “individual behaviour that is discretionary, 
not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate 
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promotes the effective functioning of the organization. By discretionary, we mean that the 
behaviour is not an enforceable requirement of the role or the job description, that is, the clearly 
specifiable terms of the person’s employment contract with the organization; the behaviour is 
rather a matter of personal choice, such that its omission is not generally understood as 
punishable” (p. 4). This traditional definition of OCB has suffered criticisms because it places 
the concept in the category of extra-role behaviours, that is, behaviours that are beyond the job 
requirements of an individual (Connell, 2005).  
Ever since, a number of literature have related the concept of OCB to other concepts such as pro-
social organizational behaviours (George & Bettehhausen, 1990) and contextual performance 
(Borman & Motowidlo, 1997; Connell, 2005). Organ himself admits in the work of Borman and 
Motowildo, (1997) that the confusion that surrounds the description of extra-role behaviours 
because of the lack of boundary between what could be described as one’s formal job 
requirements and citizenship behaviours requires that the concept of OCB should be redefined 
and isolated from extra-role behaviours and referred to contextual performance.  
OCB as contextual performance is more suitable because it deviates from the arguments of the 
core requirements of a job and peripheral job activities which usually are difficult to differentiate 
particularly when it comes to supervisors expectations for which rewards are sometimes given. 
Rather, OCB as contextual performance places the emphasis of OCB on the difference between 
employee behaviours that are related to a task and those that are not (Connell, 2005). Hoffman, 
Blair, Meriac and Woehr (2007) therefore define OCB as “behaviours that facilitate 
organizational functioning without directly contributing to the technical core and are not 
necessarily rewarded by formal reward systems” (cited in Campbell, Hoffman, Campbell & 
Marchisio, 2011). 
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Again, Organ (1988) made significant contributions to the concept of OCB by developing an 
OCB scale that has five dimensions namely altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy 
and civic virtue. Other studies also confirm that two of the dimensions, altruism and 
conscientiousness were the first dimensions used to conceptualize OCB (Organ & Konovsky, 
1989) and the other three dimensions, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue were later 
identified as a result of further studies that were conducted in the field to expand knowledge 
about the concept OCB (Organ & Ryan, 1995). A number of dimensions have been also 
propounded for the conceptualization of OCB as part of the increasing interest that has 
characterized the concept in management literature. A four dimensional model of OCB including 
personal industry, individual initiative, loyal boosterish and interpersonal helping was also 
proposed by Graham (1989) and has since gained popularity in a number of management 
literature on OCB (Moorman & Blakely, 1995; Paille, 2009). Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Paine and 
Bachrach (2000) in a review of previous theoretical and empirical studies on OCB revealed that 
there were over thirty different forms of OCB which they organized into seven basic themes 
namely helping behaviour, sportsmanship, organizational loyalty, organizational compliance, 
individual initiative, civic virtue and self-development. These themes actually captures the 
various forms of OCB that has dominated OCB literature in the past. Rioux and Penner (2001) 
provided a functional conceptualization of OCB and thus proposed three OCB dimensions 
namely prosocial values, organizational concern and impression management. He describes these 
dimensions as concepts that explain the motive with which employees engage in OCB activities 
(Rioux & Penner, 2001). The disagreement about the dimensions that satisfactorily explain OCB 
appears common from the above. Meanwhile, the arguments of these scholars do not in any way 
despise the multidimensionality of the concept OCB. Williams and Anderson (1991) in a bid to 
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deviate from this disagreement about the concept of OCB proposes a bi-dimensional structure of 
OCB that is premised on the direction of the voluntary behaviour, that is, either to the benefit of 
other individuals (OCBI) or the organization (OCBO).   
The above shows the extent to which previous research has examined the dimensions of OCB. 
However, this study will focus on the original five dimensions of OCB proposed by Organ 
(1988). They include altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue. The 
use of these dimensions is premised against the background that there appears to be no study 
conducted in Ghana aimed at examining OCB in the civil service particularly. Authors such as 
Paine and Organ (2000) have indicated that the cultural context of a particular country is likely to 
influence the citizenship behaviours of employees in that country. In the same vein, there is 
enough evidence that supports the fact that national cultures usually have an influence on 
organizational culture as extensively explained by Dartey-Baah (2011) and Hofstede (1980). As 
such there appears to be a unique opportunity for this study to contribute empirically to the 
limited literature on the study of OCB in the Ghanaian culture should the original dimensions of 
OCB be employed in this study. Again, the civil service is a unique sector where the behaviours 
and attitudes of workers are quite distinct from the private sector especially in developing 
countries such as Ghana. Somech and Drach-Zahavy (2000) makes strong arguments for sector 
specific categorizations of OCBs and thus proposes three forms of OCB for educational settings. 
The civil service constitutes a very identifiable category of typical public servants where there is 
overcrowding and the demand of work appears less than the number of workers performing the 
job. It is therefore anticipated that the job characteristics of the civil service will provide nascent 
findings of OCB in the public sector.  
 
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2.4 1 Dimensions of OCB 
Altruism 
Organ (1988) uses the dimension of altruism to refer to OCB behaviours demonstrated towards 
colleagues at the workplace. It refers to a show of selfless concern for the welfare of other people 
in the organization. The dimension of altruism is also referred to as helping behaviour in other 
studies (Podsakoff et al., 2000). The difference between the use of helping behaviour and 
altruism as an OCB dimension is that helping behaviour extends beyond the helping attitude of 
an individual towards other co-workers to include other dimensions of courtesy which involves 
the helping behaviour of an individual that is demonstrated through the prevention of problems 
to co-workers (Podsakoff et al., 2000). However, the focus here is on voluntary helping 
behaviour shown towards other workers to enhance their specific job, work-life balance or other 
personal challenges they might be experiencing.  
Conscientiousness 
Also referred to as generalized compliance (Connell, 2005) refers to more “impersonal 
contributions to the organization” such as excellent attendance, and adherence to organizational 
rules and policies (Organ & Ryan, 1995, p.782). Though these behaviours are not directed to 
benefit co-workers, they have indirect significance to members of the organization by providing 
a healthy organizational climate that ensures peace and coordination of activities on the job. It 
involves the exercise of prudence on the job. According to Smith, Organ & Near (1983), the 
dimension of generalized compliance such as punctuality usually comprise a set of internalized 
norms that provide indirect aid to other workers.  
 
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Courtesy 
Courtesy as a dimension of OCB refers to those behaviours that are aimed at preventing other 
workers from falling into problems (Organ, 1988). The relevance of this dimension is in the fact 
that it describes behaviours that aid in promoting effectiveness at work and help foster bonds of 
cooperation among workers (Organ, 1997). For instance, informing employees about a specific 
action that has an impact on his or her work before engaging in such actions is one that can be 
considered as a demonstration of courtesy since it takes into consideration the detrimental effect 
one’s actions may have on another on the job, preventing the occurrence of such actions thereof. 
Sportsmanship 
Sportsmanship is among the commonest dimensions of OCB (Podsakoff et al., 2000; Organ, 
1988; 1997). It refers to “the inclination to absorb minor inconveniences and impositions 
accruing from the job without complaints or excessive demands for relief or redress (Konovsky 
& Organ, 1996, p. 255). Sportsmanship refers to an attitude of tolerance at the workplace. This 
means that an individual who demonstrates sportsmanship is one that accommodates certain 
unexpected behaviours from co-workers and is considerate in taking decisions bearing in mind 
the bond of cooperation that exists among employees.  
Civic Virtue 
The fifth and final OCB dimension for this study, civic virtue, refers to total commitment and 
involvement in the issues of the organization as well as the political process and governance of 
the organization (Organ, 1988; Organ & Ryan, 1995). Just as in the show of national civic 
responsibility, this dimension involves keeping abreast with organizational issues through the 
reading of company mails, stating your opinions on organizational issues through appropriate 
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channels as and when it is appropriate and making oneself relevant in the overall governance of 
the organization (Konovosky & Organ, 1996). 
Besides, numerous studies have describe a number of factors as antecedents of OCB. Podsakoff 
and his friends (2000) categorize these factors into four namely individual characteristics such as 
morale, role perceptions and personality traits, task characteristics such as routine jobs, feedback 
on performance and tasks that bring intrinsic satisfaction, organizational characteristics including 
formalization and organizational support and leadership behaviours which have been further 
categorized into transformational and transactional styles of leadership.  
2.5 Counterproductive Work Behaviour 
Counterproductive Work Behaviour (CWB) is generally defined as behaviours that are harmful 
to the legitimate interests of an organization (Marcus & Schuler, 2004; Campbell et al., 2011). 
According Fox, Spector and Miles (2001), these behaviours are “harmful to the organization by 
directly affecting its functioning or property, or by hurting employees in a way that will reduce 
their effectiveness” (p. 292). They include behaviours such as theft, taking long breaks during 
working hours, absenteeism, overbilling an organization through presenteeism, showing 
aggressive behaviours towards employees and destruction of company property (behaving 
aggressively toward other employees (Penney & Spector, 2002; Rahim, Shabudin & Nasurdin, 
2012; Campbell et al., 2011).  
The term CWB in other researches have been used to connote noncompliance (Puffer, 1987), 
workplace deviance (Robinson & Bennett, 1995), organizational misbehaviour (Vardi & Wiener, 
1996), workplace aggression (Baron & Neuman, 1996), antisocial behaviour (Giacalone & Green 
berg, 1997) and retaliatory behaviours (Skarlicki & Folger, 1997). The link between these 
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behaviours and general CWB is that they violate both organizational and societal values and 
norms, causes harm to organizations and its workers and have detrimental effects on the 
productivity and general performance of the organization (Rahim et al., 2012). In other words, 
CWB encompasses all those behaviours that are not expected and acceptable in an organization. 
They are sometimes voluntary or intentional (Rahim et al., 2012) but whenever employees 
engage in such behaviours, it defeats the fundamental principles that bring about organizational 
success. Among the consequences of CWB to organizations are reduced productivity, increased 
cost of production, high maintenance cost of organizational property and damage to the image of 
the organization (Robinson & Bennet, 2000; Rahim et al., 2012). Such behaviours are also 
sometimes societally unacceptable since it has detrimental effects not only on the organization or 
on those directly involved in the organization but also on other secondary stakeholders of the 
firm. 
Rahim and his colleagues (2012) further describe CWB with respect to the direction of such 
behaviours. They therefore categorize CWB as organizational CWB (CWBO) and individual 
CWB (CWBI). Organizational CWB is described as comprising property CWB and production 
CWB, referring to unproductive behaviours directed at the organization through the destruction 
of organizational assets and deviant behaviours that have detrimental effects on the organization 
by way of compromising the quantity and quality of work that the organization could produce 
respectively. Individual CWBs are also categorized into political CWB and personal aggression 
by Rahim and his friends (2012). They define political CWB as those behaviours that politically 
disadvantages another person in the organization. Personal aggression is also used to describe 
hostile behaviours that are shown towards other individuals at the workplace.  
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A number of factors have been described as the antecedents of CWB. Among these are the 
personality traits of individuals (Salgado, 2002), demands of job and job insecurity (Lim, 1996), 
organizational justice (Skarlicki & Folger, 1997), work-life balance (Anderson, Coffey & 
Byerly, 2002) and the behaviour of customers (Harris & Reynolds, 2003) among others. Job 
related factors such as job demands have however been described as the most pertinent factors 
that influence CWB at the workplace (Rahim et al., 2012). This is because employees are 
considered to spend more time on the job and thus the extended effect that translates from the 
requirements of a job to individuals performing the job has the highest potential in determining 
the kind of behaviour the employees will exhibit.  
The concepts of CWB and OCB are usually considered as opposite in meaning due to the effects 
these behaviours have on the performance of the organization. This assertion has generated a lot 
of interest in the investigation of the relationship between these two concepts. The relationship 
between CWB and OCB is therefore described in detail below with support from some empirical 
studies.  
2.6 Theoretical Framework 
Several theories have been used to explain the variables in this study, that is, leader integrity, 
OCB and CWB. According to Zikmund (2003), a theory comprise a coherent set of general 
propositions that are adopted in management literature to provide comprehensive and conceptual 
explanations and proposed predictions of the relationship between some observed variables. 
Management theories usually provide an understanding of how organizations operate and how 
the various elements of the organization interact with each other. A number of theories have been 
used to explain the concepts of leader integrity and its relationship with employee outcomes 
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however for this study is predicated on two main theories, namely, authentic leadership theory 
and leader-member exchange theory. 
2.6.1 Authentic Leadership Theory 
According to Luthans & Avolio (2003), authentic leadership is leadership characteristic that 
“draws from both positive psychological capacities and a highly developed organizational 
context, which results in both greater self-awareness and self-regulated positive behaviours on 
the part of leaders and associates, fostering positive self-development” (p. 243). This definition 
was later developed by Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, and Peterson (2008) in a more 
specific manner with respect to context within which the leader-follower influence occurs. 
Walumbwa and his colleagues therefore described developed organizational contexts in this 
definition as organizations having positive ethical climates and went further to operationalized 
four components of authentic leadership (self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, 
balanced processing, and relational transparency) from the definition. Self-awareness basically 
refers to how well a leader knows his strengths and weaknesses and thus perceives him or herself 
in the real world (Avolio, Walumbwa & Weber, 2009). It also implies the demonstration of 
understanding of one’s emotions as well as the other attributes that conflict internally (Ilies, 
Morgeson, & Nahrgang, 2005). Internalized moral perspective refers to internal moral standards 
that guides and regulates the behaviour of an individual. Balanced processing refers to the way in 
which information is objectively analyzed and the relevant aspect of the information extracted 
for making decisions in order to avoid bias. Relational transparency is that component of 
authentic leadership that describes the leader who is transparent in the sharing of information and 
avoids distorting information or emotions in order present a fair and true view of both positive 
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and negative effects. It involves a display of sincerity and transparency in the communication of 
information and emotions. 
Authentic transformation is adopted to explain the concept of leader integrity in the sense that 
authentic leaders usually have core moral values and beliefs unto which they strongly ascribe 
themselves (Brown & Trevino, 2006). Such leaders therefore act consistently on these moral 
values in order to remain authentic. Gardener and his colleagues define authentic leadership 
behaviours as “actions that are guided by the leader's true self as reflected by core values, beliefs, 
thoughts and feelings, as opposed to environmental contingencies or pressures from others” 
(Gardner et al., 2005, p. 347). If integrity is to be defined as consistently acting on moral 
principles, then authentic leadership behaviours satisfactorily provide a theoretical basis for the 
conceptualization of the concept of integrity.  Once again integrity is defined as a person having 
moral principles and consistently acting upon them. The authentic leadership theory adds to this 
the idea that a leader's self-concept or identity is the origin of moral action. 
Again, authentic leadership theory is sufficient in theorizing leader integrity due its composition 
of other leadership theories such as the transformational leadership theory and ethical leadership 
constructs that have been used to explain the concept of leader integrity in some past literature 
(Bauman, 2013, Kaiser & Hogan, 2010; Avolio et al., 2009). Bauman (2013) explains that 
transformational leaders have been described as having strong moral values upon which they 
dwell to influence their followers as argued out by Burns (1978). This aspect of transformational 
leadership is therefore developed further to depict a more ethical dimension of this theory known 
as authentic transformational leadership as distinct from other aspects of transformational 
leadership that constitute the display of amoral behaviours known as pseudo-transformational 
leadership (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999). The distinction between these two forms of 
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transformational leadership is in the display of quasi-integrity virtues such as authenticity, 
truthfulness and credibility (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999). Brown and Trevino (2006) further 
deepens the relationship between transformational leaders and leader integrity by indicating the 
positive relationship between the two concepts. 
Furthermore, Kaiser and Hogan (2010) also explains the relationship between transformational 
leadership and leader integrity. They explain that transformational leaders usually influence their 
followers by aligning their followers to their highly held vision and values in such a way that the 
follower’s perception of a leader as a transformational leader becomes akin to their perceptions 
of the leader’s integrity (Parry & proctor-Thomson, 2002).  
2.6.2 Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) 
This study is also predicated on the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory to explain the 
relationship that exists between the integrity of a leader and how such leadership attribute 
influences employee outcomes including OCB and CWB. LMX focuses on the dyadic 
relationship between a leader and the follower (Gernster & Day, 1997; Cogliser & Schriesheim, 
2000). The theory is unique from other leadership theories in the sense that, it deviates from 
leadership theories that explain the behaviour or styles of leaders that tends to be most effective 
to emphasizing how the quality of relationship between leaders and followers influence various 
outcomes from these parties (Gerstner & Day 1997). The relationship is usually based on mutual 
trust and respect (Dansereau, Graen, & Hagan, 1975).  
The dyadic relationship in the LMX theory is as a result of a sequence of exchanges that occurs 
between the leader and follower. That is, the exchange is mutual and may be in the form of the 
leader being honest and fair with followers who in return provide more positive outcomes as a 
result. Each party in the relationship show individual commitment to the relationship through the 
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expectations and demands of the relationship. However, the quality of their relationship is 
determined by the resources available to each party (Bauer & Green, 1996).  
In attempts to define the elements that constitutes a high quality or low quality relationship, a 
number of scholars have in the past proposed some dimensions of LMX. Graen (1976) proposed 
three dimensions of LMX with respect to the exchange relationship comprising trust, 
interpersonal skill and competence. Also, Dienesch and Liden (1986) proposed three different 
dimensions of this exchange relationship namely perceived contribution, loyalty, and affect. 
Other authors also proposed respect, trust, and mutual obligation as the dimensions that explain 
the exchange relationship of the LMX theory. Considering the disagreement about what actually 
constitute a high or low quality relationship in the LMX relationship, Schriesheim et al. (1999) 
proposed six dimensions that define high and low quality relationships based on higher levels 
and lower levels of these dimensions in the relationship respectively. The dimensions include 
mutual support, trust, liking, latitude, attention, and loyalty.  
There is evidence that suggest that there is a positive relationship between the leader-follower 
relationship and follower outcomes such as motivation, commitment, and performance (Gerstner 
& Day, 1997; Ilies, Nahrgang & Morgeson, 2007). Iles et al. (2007) finds that the quality of the 
LMX relationship predicted OCB. Drawing from the social exchange theory and concept of 
reciprocity the LMX theory could be understood in the sense that the retention of the relationship 
between the leader and follower is contingent on the perception of each other that their output 
from the relationship is proportionate to their input (Blau, 1964). In other words, we can deduce 
from the LMX theory that the outcome of followers in the leader-member exchange relationship 
will be dependent on their perceptions of the leader treating them with honesty, fairness, 
transparency and also the followers having the ability to trust in the leader. Greenberg (1990) 
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explains that the absence of quality relationships such as fair treatments, abuse and lack of trust 
will result in employee withdrawal behaviours such as theft, passive commitment to the 
organization or even high turnovers.  
Defining integrity as honesty, trustworthiness and authenticity therefore makes leader integrity 
the prerequisite for high-quality leader-follower relationships. In other words, the integrity of a 
leader could be said to have an influence on employee outcomes such as OCB and CWB.  
2.7 Empirical Review 
2.7.1 Meaning of Leader Integrity 
The issue of leader integrity is quite recent and was previously addressed in literatures as 
behavioural integrity. Over the last decade, behavioural integrity began to emerge as a relatively 
simple and “clean” construct that had significant explanatory power. However, behavioural 
integrity is strictly speaking an amoral construct; in other words, it focuses on consistency 
between words and actions without regard to the content of the words and actions. In recent 
times, however, there is a common understanding of integrity as including the idea of moral or 
ethical behaviour.  
This review is therefore aimed at addressing the issue of the contextual meaning of leader 
integrity by examining current studies that have made attempts to provide a “broader and more 
rigorous” definition of leader integrity. The review comprise an investigation of the various 
research methodologies,  theories and findings that set the tone for further research into the 
subject of leader integrity. 
Gentry, Cullen, Sosik, Chun, Lepoid and Tonidandel (2013) examined the concept of integrity 
and other related character strengths to determine the role of integrity role in the performance of 
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middle-level and top level managers. In their study, they used a total sample of 246 United States 
managers from at least 150 organizations (58.5% from the private sector) with an average tenure 
of 14.34 years (SD=8.91) in their organization. In order to compare these middle-level managers 
to top-level executives, they also used a sample of 191 top-level executives. Their study 
employed a five-item scale (α=.85) similar to performance measure used in the study of Sosik, 
Gentry and Chun (2012). Using the stratified systems theory, Gentry and his friends found that 
as compared to top-level managers, integrity was of little relevance to middle-level managers. 
However, other character strengths such as social intelligence was found to be of higher 
importance to middle-level managers. On the contrary, their study found that there was high 
premium placed on integrity among the roles of to-level executives. However, the study of 
Gentry and his friends did not assess the likeness of the respondents of their manager which 
could moderate the relationship between the integrity of managers and the performance of their 
subordinates. Also, their study was premised in the United States which has a unique national 
culture and therefore limits the generalizability of their study. There is therefore the need for 
further studies that examines the meaning of leader integrity in different cultures such as those 
dominant in West African countries like Ghana.  
Martin, Keating, Resick, Szabo, Kwan and Peng (2013) in their attempt to understand the 
underlying meaning of leader integrity conducted a cross-cultural qualitative study of  in six 
different cultural societies including the United States of America, Ireland, Germany, Austria, 
China and Hong Kong. Their study sought to explore the meaning and understanding of leader 
integrity among managers in these societies and also to compare and contrast the meaning of 
leader integrity across these cultural boundaries. Using a sample of 189 full-time managers in at 
least one of the six societies, they found that leader integrity differed in meaning and emphasis 
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across different cultures. They also found nine different themes that explained leader integrity 
across these cultures. These included guided by strong personal moral code/values, value–
behaviour consistency, word–action consistency, honest, fair and just, openness and 
transparency, consideration and respect for others. Their study however lack the contextual 
power of generalizability particularly in relation to the meaning of leader integrity in Africa as 
their study was biased in western and developed countries and did not include any typical 
African society. There is therefore the need for this study to provide an understanding about the 
meaning of the concept of leader integrity in the African setting, particularly, Ghana.  
The study therefore purports to provide a nuanced supplement to the ongoing discussion about 
the contextual meaning of leader integrity. As such this study will focus on exploring the 
understanding of leaders in Ghana’s civil service about the concept of leader integrity. 
Leader Integrity and Employee Outcomes 
The relationship between leader integrity and employee outcomes is catching up in management 
literature as the concept of leader integrity is gaining much prominence among scholars. Several 
studies examining integrity either as a character strength of managers or as a virtue are now 
exploring how this concepts relates to positive employee outcomes and how the absence of such 
normative ideal in leadership would have an influence on the withdrawal behaviours of 
employees (Gentry, et al., 2013; Palanski & Yammarino, 2007; Dinen, Lewicki & Tomlinson, 
2006).  
Vogelgesang, Leroy and Avolio (2013) conducted a study that sought to settle the conceptual 
confusion about leader integrity as being true to oneself and consistency between words and 
actions. Using the authentic leadership theory as its theoretical basis, their study went further to 
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explore how leader integrity relates to employee outcomes such as engagement and performance. 
The study was conducted as a longitudinal study using 5 companies and 20 cadet platoons from 
the United States. The study was analysed using structural equation modelling and the found a 
positive relationship between the transparent communication of behavioural integrity by a leader 
and follower work engagement and performance. Their study however did not consider the 
impact of the integrity and transparency in communication on voluntary behaviours of followers 
such as OCB. The study only examined in-role activities of employees including the engagement 
of the employee and performance. There is therefore the need for studies like this to examine the 
effect of the integrity of a leader on contextual performance such as employee citizenship 
behaviours. 
As explained earlier by the LMX theory, a leader that demonstrates trust is easily perceived as 
trustworthy. This increases the commitment and quality of relationship that exists between the 
leader and follower which in turn leads to positive outcomes from the employees (Dineen, et al., 
2006; Simons, 2002).  
Dineen and his colleagues (2006) engaged in a study to examine the effects of supervisory 
guidance and behavioural integrity on OCB and CWB in a number of bank branches. In their 
study, it was discovered that a relationships between supervisory guidance and outcome 
variables were dependent on the level of behavioural integrity exhibited by supervisors. They 
discovered that high behavioural integrity of managers was positively related to employee 
organizational citizenship behaviours while low behavioural integrity of managers was positively 
related to unproductive employee behaviours.  They therefore conclude that, leaders who 
demonstrate high levels of behavioural integrity are able to foster trust among followers, build 
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high quality relationships and therefore encourage their followers to engage in positive voluntary 
behaviours such as OCB.  
From the empirical evidence above, it is hypothesized in this study that: 
H1: Leader integrity will be positively related to OCB of civil servants in Ghana.  
Again, Ilies et al. (2007) conducted a quantitative evaluation of the relationship between LMX 
and OCB. In a review of previous studies that sought to examine this relationship, Ilies and his 
friends found conflicting results on the strength of this relationshp. In one of such studies by 
Wayne, Shore, Bommer and Tetrick (2002), it was found that there was a relatively weak 
relationship between LMX and OCB (r=.20). However, another study by Tekleab and Taylor 
(2003) showed that the relationship between LMX and OCB was relatively stronger (r=.50). 
However, Ilies et al. (2007) in their study addressed the inconsistencies and limitations in the 
previous studies that examined the LMX-OCB relationship. Using a 50 independent samples and 
a total sample size of 9,324, they found a moderately strong, positive relationship between LMX 
and OCB. Their study also showed that LMX predicted OCB and particularly individually 
targeted OCB more strongly than organizational targeted OCB. The reason for this presumably is 
the emphasis on a high-quality mutual relationship that exists between employees and their 
managers rather than the organization. Such high level of quality relationships is based on trust 
as explained earlier in the LMX theory.  
Defining integrity as trustworthiness places the concept of leader integrity in the exact context as 
the LMX relationship. George (2003) commenting on how integrity refers to one being trusted 
explains that “while the development of fundamental values is crucial, integrity is the one value 
that is required in every authentic leader. Integrity is not just the absence of lying, but telling the 
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whole truth, as painful as it may be. If you don't exercise complete integrity in your interactions, 
no one will trust you” (p. 20). In his explanation, George emphasizes on how an individual needs 
to be honest and tell the truth in order to be trusted as a person of integrity. Substituting leader 
integrity (defined as trustworthiness) with the LMX, this is an indication that leader integrity will 
predict the OCB of employees. 
More specifically, a study conducted by Zhang, Bai, Caza and Wang (2014) in China to explore 
the effects of leader integrity on the OCB of followers finds a strong positive relationship 
between the two concepts mediated by leader effectiveness. Using a total sample of 211 
manager-subordinate dyads from three entertainment and service industries in North West China, 
they found that leader integrity had a significant positive relationship with OCB. They therefore 
concluded that leaders with integrity were more effective leaders and that in turn encouraged 
their followers to engage in more OCB. 
It is therefore hypothesized in this study that: 
H1b: The integrity of a leader will predict the OCB of civil servants of Ghana. 
There are not many studies that directly supports the leader integrity and CWB relationship. 
However, there is enough literature that supports the limited empirical evidence about the 
relationship between leader integrity and CWB. 
In a related study, Moorman, Darnold, and Priesemuth (2013) developed and tested a multi-
dimensional measure of perceived leader integrity. Moorman et al. (2013) predicated their study 
on the social learning theory and implicit leadership theories. They collected data through the 
longitudinal approach with a sample of 146 students and 205 respondents from three universities 
and the Chamber of Commerce respectively. Their study found that behavioural integrity and 
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moral behaviour related to leader effectiveness, job satisfaction, work engagement, and intent to 
quit as mediated by trust in the leader. As much as their study considered employee outcomes 
such as the intention to quit, it was not explicit in examining other unproductive behaviours that 
employees could manifest as a result of the absence of moral behaviour and leader integrity. This 
study therefore provides the opportunity for counterproductive behaviours that impede 
organizational performance to be examined in specific relation to the integrity of leaders.  
As previously indicated in the study of Dineen et al. (2006), it was discovered that low 
behavioural integrity of managers was positively related to unproductive employee behaviours. 
This relationship is explained by Greenberg (1990) who asserts that the absence of quality 
relationships fostered by the demonstration of fairness and trust (low leader integrity) will result 
in employee withdrawal behaviours (CWB) such as theft, passive commitment to the 
organization or even high turnovers.  
It is therefore hypothesized in this study that: 
H2: Leader integrity will have an indirect relationship with CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
Furthermore, the LMX theory and social exchange theory will be used to explain the relationship 
between leader integrity and CWB. When leaders demonstrate high levels of integrity, they tend 
to create and ethical climate that encourages their followers to reciprocate by voluntarily 
engaging in beneficial activities to the organization. This is the premise of the LMX theory. 
Nonetheless, it has been extensively explained that organizational factors such as organizational 
justice serves as a critical antecedent of CWB (Skarlicki & Folger, 1997). What this means is 
that, the perception of fairness in the climate of an organization by leaders has an impact in 
determining the behaviour of employees. According to the social exchange theory, the 
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maintenance of a healthy relationship is usually dependent on the perception of proportionality 
between an individual’s output and input into a particular (Blau, 1964). This means that the 
absence of fairness (demonstration of integrity by leaders) is therefore a cause of employee 
deviant behaviours.  
In a related study Rahim, et al. (2012) examined the relationship between job characteristics and 
CWB. Using a sample of 355 employees, the study employed factor analysis to redefine the 
relationship between job significance, job feedback, job identity and job autonomy. It was found 
that job identity and job significance had significant negative relationship with production CWB 
and organizational CWB respectively. As much as job characteristics do not necessarily include 
leadership behaviours, inferences could be drawn from this study based on the level of influence 
leaders have in determining the characteristics of a job. 
From the literature and empirical review above, it can be observed that low leader integrity will 
give rise to employee CWB. It is therefore hypothesized in this study that: 
H2a: The integrity of a leader will predict the CWB of civil servants of Ghana. 
2.7.2 OCB – CWB Nexus 
The relationship between OCB and CWB is well established in literature though there are 
conflicting results about the direction of the relationship. The growing interest in the relationship 
between OCB and CWB has been attributed to three main reasons by Dalal, Lam, Weiss, Welch 
and Hulin (2009). First of all, Dalal and his friends discuss the effects of OCB and CWB and 
refer to them as semantically opposite. Dwelling on the OCB definition by Organ and Paine 
(1999), OCB is defined by Dalal et al. (2009) as a quasi-deliberate behaviour that helps in the 
improving organizational functions. They further define CWB as deliberately harmful employee 
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behaviours that impedes or is purported to impede the legitimate interest of an organization 
(Spector, Fox, Penney, Bruursema, Goh & Kessler, 2006). The benefit and harm impact of OCB 
and CWB respectively on the organization constitutes the first relationship deduced by Dalal and 
his friends. They secondly make reference to behaviours directed at individuals and those 
directed at the organizations which has been used in explaining the forms of OCB and CWB as 
the dimensional link between the two concepts. Finally, Dalal and his colleagues make reference 
to how OCB and CWB have been related in some studies in an opposite direction to similar 
constructs such as commitment, organizational justice and conscientiousness (Dalal, 2005). 
These reasons are put forward strongly by Dalal et al. (2009) as constituting the basis for the 
relationship between OCB and CWB.  
Earlier research on the relationship between OCB and CWB confirms this unidimensional-
opposite relationship between OCB and CWB (Sackett, 2002; Lepine, Erez & Johnson, 2002). 
Also, other studies such as that of Bechtoldt, Welk, Hartig and Zapf (2007) give credence to 
these contentions about the opposite relationship between OCB and CWB by revealing parallel 
relationships with antecedents such as organizational justice. Evidence for positive 
organizational and individual outcomes for OCB (Podsakoff, et al., 2000) and negative outcomes 
for CWB (Dineen, et al., 2006; Rogers & Kelloway, 1997) still remain prevalent. 
Nonetheless, there are some studies particularly in recent times that have challenged the 
empirically established unidimensional-opposite relationship between OCB and CWB. First of 
all, some studies have sought to provide negative antecedents to OCB. Bolino, Turnley and 
Niehoff (2004) provides a contrary view to the OCB-positive outcomes and CWB-negative 
outcomes emphasis in previous research and states that citizenship behaviours may have negative 
outcomes for employees. In a related study, Bolino, Turnley, Gilstrap and Suazo (2010) found 
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that OCB sometimes may have negative implications for individuals. Also, researchers such as 
Galperin and Burke (2006) have argued that CWB is not always an inherent negative concept as 
portrayed but sometimes can be used constructively to improve the functions of the organization. 
Klotz and Bolino (2013) are among researchers who have made a strong case for the fact that, 
there could be positive relationships between OCB and CWB. Using the moral licensing theory, 
Klotz and Bolino conceptually explain that when people engage in morally praiseworthy 
behaviours they often grant themselves a moral license to behave immorally. Dalal et al. (2009) 
examining the within-person structure of job performance with an emphasis on the relationship 
between OCB and CWB provides an empirical support to the assertion of Klotz and Bolino 
(2013). Demonstrating through two set of samples, Dalal and his friends (2009) found a positive 
relation between the concepts of OCB and CWB when the concepts were directed to the 
organization, to each other and to job performance. This study has since brought about increasing 
interest in the examination of the relationship between OCB and CWB. However, evidence for 
the positive relationship between the two concepts still remains in its budding stage and therefore 
there is the need for more studies to examine this relationship. 
It is therefore hypothesized in this study that: 
H3: There will be a positive relationship between OCB and CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
 
 
 
 
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2.8 Statement of Hypotheses 
From the empirical evidence above, the hypotheses for this study are stated as follows: 
H1:  Leader integrity will be positively related to OCB of civil servants in Ghana.  
H1b:  The integrity of a leader will predict the OCB of civil servants of Ghana. 
H2:  Leader integrity will have an indirect relationship with CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
H2a:  The integrity of a leader will predict the CWB of civil servants of Ghana. 
H3:  There will be a positive relationship between OCB and CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
2.9 Conceptual Framework 
According to Zikmund (2003), a research framework presents the way of studying the variables 
or concepts concerning of a particular phenomenon in order to investigate for an appropriate 
solution for the research problem. It outlines the relationships between the variables/concepts in 
manner which explains or predicts a social phenomenon within a specific research problem. 
Fisher (2010) further explains conceptual frameworks as analytical schemes that simplify reality 
to make it easier to discuss, analyze or research. A conceptual framework simplifies reality by 
selecting the variables in a particular study and suggesting relationships between them.  
The conceptual framework for this study as shown in figure 2.1 below illustrates the relationship 
between leader integrity, OCB and CWB as discussed earlier. The framework dwells basically 
on the empirical relationships that have been explained between the concept of leader integrity 
and OCB, leader integrity and CWB and the relationship that exists between OCB and CWB as 
hypothesized in the study. 
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The conceptual framework depicts a positive relationship between leader integrity and OCB. On 
the other hand, there is a negative (indirect) relationship between leader integrity and CWB as 
made evident from the theoretical and empirical review of literature. Then between OCB and 
CWB, there is a proposed reverse relationship which is positive based on emerging findings 
about the relationship between the two concepts. Figure 2.1 provides the conceptual framework 
of the three concepts of this study; that is, leader integrity (LI), OCB and CWB. 
Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework of LI, OCB and CWB 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Source: (Author, 2015) 
The conceptual framework above describes the outcome behaviours that employees are likely to 
exhibit depending on the presence or lack of integrity displayed by their leader in Ghana’s civil 
service. It is assumed in this study that, high levels of leader integrity will cause employees to be 
good citizens at the workplace because that leadership behaviour will be desirable to them. On 
the other hand, it is proposed that when leaders are found to lack integrity employees might 
engage in unproductive and deviant behaviours at the workplace. Another proposal that is made 
Leader Integrity 
CWB 
OCB 
+ 
 
 
 
- 
+ 
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in the study through the conceptual framework is the relationship between organizational 
citizenship behaviour (OCB) and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). The relationship 
between the two is assumed in this study to be direct. That is, when employees demonstrate 
citizenship behaviours, they are also likely to gain a moral justification to behave in deviant 
behaviours. 
 
 
 
 
 
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CHAPTER THREE 
METHODOLOGY 
3.0 Introduction 
This chapter presents a framework of the research methodology adopted for this study. This 
study explains the philosophical assumptions that is adopted for this study, the research design, 
the target population, sampling technique, instruments for data collection and method for data 
analysis. This chapter also discusses the ethical concerns that were considered in this study.  
3.1 Research Paradigm 
Kuhn (1970) defines a research paradigm as “a set of beliefs, values and techniques which is 
shared by members of a scientific community, and which acts as a guide or map, dictating the 
kinds of problems scientists should address and the types of explanations that are acceptable to 
them” (Kuhn, 1970, p. 175). Research paradigms constitute philosophical assumptions that 
underpin the strategy and scientific methodology used in validating a research. Creswell (2009) 
identify four main research paradigms that explain the philosophical worldview of researchers. 
These are post positivism, constructivism, advocacy or participatory and pragmatism.  
Post positivist worldview as called by Creswell (2009) is based on the philosophical assumption 
that cause determines effects or outcomes. As such, this research paradigm is based on the 
assumption that there is the need to identify the causes that result in a predetermined outcome. It 
is a paradigm that is usually employed in quantitative than qualitative studies according to 
Creswell (2009).  
The constructivist worldview also referred to as interpretivism by other researchers such as 
Fisher (2010), holds the assumption that in order to understand the world we live in, there is the 
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need to adopt subjective meanings of our experiences and look out for multiple interpretations of 
views rather than limiting the meaning of our experiences to some few categories and ideas 
(Creswell, 2009). This goal of this paradigm is usually to dwell on the general meaning provided 
by respondents in order to make interpretations of a phenomenon. The constructivist paradigm is 
basically used in qualitative studies. 
Advocacy or participatory worldview is a philosophical assumption that was deduced out of 
criticisms of the post positivist and constructivist approaches. According to this paradigm, the 
post positivist worldview imposes structural laws and theories that does not promote the views of 
the marginalized in the society in areas such as the pursuit of social justice whiles the 
constructivist approach is also limited in addressing issues of the marginalized (Creswell, 2009). 
The advocacy or participatory worldview therefore focuses on addressing the issue of the 
marginalized in society. It therefore presents philosophical assumptions that represents the issue 
under investigation, the participants involved and the remedies needed for the situation. It is 
usually employed in qualitative studies though it could constitute a basis for some quantitative 
studies as well. 
Pragmatic worldview is a philosophical assumption that is focused on making investigations 
based on research problems and thus adopting a number of approaches that seeks to provide 
solutions to the problem (Creswell, 2009; Morgan, 2007; Patton, 1990). This means that the 
focus of pragmatics is usually not on the method of research but rather on the need to identify 
plausible solutions to a research problem thereby using all methods available to arrive at the 
solution. Pragmatics freely choose the methods and techniques that provides the most 
appropriate solution to an identified problem. They usually make judgement of reality based on 
what is in the mind as well as external circumstances independent of the mind. Pragmatics 
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therefore have research questions that ask the “what” and “how” of a particular phenomenon 
(Creswell, 2009). The pragmatics worldview thus employs mixed methods and use both 
quantitative and qualitative techniques to provide a deeper understanding of a research problem 
and provides justification for the use of such methods. 
The philosophical assumptions that underlie this study is the pragmatic worldview. The research 
problem of exploring the meaning of leader integrity and investigating the relationship between 
leader integrity and employee outcomes informed the methodology employed in this study. The 
qualitative methods and quantitative methods are therefore mixed in this study to provide 
subjective and contextual meaning to the concept of leader integrity while statistically examining 
its relationship with organizational citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour. 
It is believed that the used of this method provides a better understanding of the concept of 
leader integrity which Martin et al. (2013) have explained differ in meaning and emphasis across 
cultures and also how it influences employee outcomes.    
3.2 Research design 
Creswell (2009) describes three types of research designs; quantitative, qualitative and mixed 
methods. He explains that these methods are plans and procedures that reduces general 
assumptions to specific methods employed in data collection and analysis. The design of a 
research constitutes the strategies or procedures of inquiry, methods of data collection as well as 
the method of analysis and interpretation of results.  
Quantitative research methods provide a means for testing theory through the use of hypothesis. 
This is done by the collection of data that are statistically measurable and testing them o either 
support or refute the hypothesis (Creswell, 2009). Quantitative studies usually focus on making 
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generalizations from the analysis of data that guard against bias. Qualitative research methods on 
the other hand provide a means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals give to 
a social problem (Creswell, 2009). This method relies heavily on subjective opinions of 
participants in the study and is usually framed in the use of words rather than numbers. Mixed 
methods also combine the strengths in both the qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a 
more comprehensive analysis of a phenomenon. A mixed method basically involves collecting 
and analyzing data qualitatively and quantitatively in order to provide a solution to a research 
problem. The mixed method is usually used because of the belief that it provides a study that is 
more robust and addresses a research problem comprehensively that either using the qualitative 
or quantitative methods alone (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2007).  
Bryman (2004) also describes a research design as a framework for data collection and analysis. 
The three main types of research design earlier stated are adopted by researchers to frame their 
data collection and data analysis procedures. The qualitative, quantitative or a combination of 
both methods into the mixed method can be adopted as the design for a study.  
This study adopted the mixed methods approach in order to measure the relationship between the 
independent variable (leadership integrity) and the two dependent variables (OCB and CWB) 
and also to broaden the understanding of what is perceived as integrity by leaders in the Civil 
Service of Ghana. The mixed method approach combined both qualitative and quantitative forms 
of research so that the overall strength of this study was greater than either the quantitative and 
qualitative approaches (Creswell, 2009). 
3.2.1 Justification of Research Design 
The use of the mixed methods was necessitated by the concepts that were investigated in this 
study. Despite the fact that there have been a number of empirical studies that have sought to 
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measure leader integrity using scales such as the Perceived Leader Integrity Scale used by Craig 
and Gustafon (1998), Leader Integrity Assessment Scale (Morgan, 1989) and Simons, Friedman, 
Liu and McLean Parks’ (2007) Behavioural Integrity Scale, Becker (1998) asserts that the 
synonymy between integrity and other values such as fairness and honesty makes the concept of 
integrity difficult to measure. Becker’s assertion appears to have gained grounds in the work of 
Martin et al. (2013) who after investigating the meaning of leader integrity across six different 
countries, found that there are differences in the meaning and emphasis of the concept of 
integrity across the different cultures they studied. These evidences confirm the budding state of 
the understanding of the concept of leader integrity which therefore requires some content 
analysis to extract the contextual meaning of integrity among leaders in Ghana’s Civil Service. 
The study therefore adopted a Concurrent Embedded Strategy of Mixed Methodology where 
both quantitative and qualitative data was collected simultaneously (Creswell, Plano Clark, 
Gutmann & Hanson, 2003). This was because the aim of the use of the mixed method basically 
was not to compare data from one source with another. This study in its quest to contribute as a 
nuanced supplement to the leader integrity discourse aimed at using the mixed method to analyze 
both quantitative and qualitative data side by side to provide a comprehensive and subjective 
assessment of the concept of leader integrity. The proposed methodology design for this study is 
shown in figure 3.1 below. 
Figure 3.1: Concurrent Embedded Mixed Method Design 
 
 
Source: Creswell et al. (2003) 
Quantitative Qualitative 
Analysis of Data Analysis of Data 
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Moorman et al. (2013) in attempt to support the construct validity of perceived leader integrity 
argue that the range of perspectives from more general judgments of moral behaviour to more 
specific perceptions of consistency leads to a logical conclusion that how we have measured 
integrity may also be limiting our research on integrity. Established measures of leader integrity 
that are based on various definitions may not reflect the way followers come to define integrity 
and judge its presence in leaders. The adoption of the mixed methodology in this study was 
therefore imperative in addressing the methodological gaps that have characterized the study of 
leader integrity and its relationship with other organizational constructs.  
3.3 Sources of Data 
The sources of data for this study were purely primary. Respondents were interviewed to provide 
subjective responses on the meaning of leader integrity. Also well-structured questionnaires were 
self-administered to collect statistically measurable responses from participants for quantitative 
analysis. 
3.4 Target Population 
The target population for this study comprised civil servants in Ghana who were in active service 
during the periods of investigation. Civil servants according to the 1992 Constitution of the 
Republic of Ghana comprise public servants in both central and local government service 
(Republic of Ghana, 1992). The central government is made up of the ministries, departments 
and agencies. The local government on the other hand comprise the district, municipal and 
metropolitan assemblies and decentralized departments and agencies of government such as the 
Information Services Department, Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service. 
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For proximity purposes, the twenty two Ministries of the Government of Ghana constituted the 
units from which the target population for this study was drawn. The local government units 
constituting the other segment of civil service were not used because they were decentralized all 
over the country in various regions, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies. However, 
considering the delimitation of proximity in this study and for the objectives of this study, the 
researcher was not interested in assessing Civil Servants decentralized in the other regions of the 
country since their functions were a duplicate of the activities at the various Ministries of the 
central government. Furthermore, these workers are usually rotated across the various 
decentralized agencies and therefore it was expected that the responses of Civil Servants in the 
Ministries of the central government would be representative of the views of other Civil Servants 
spread across the country. This is because the researcher anticipated that rotation and transfer of 
Civil Servants from across the country to the central government Ministries gave the Ministries a 
more comprehensive and representative culture of work in the Civil Service.  
 
Statistics from the Ghana Living Standard Survey Round 6 shows that 2.4% of the total 
estimated population of persons employed in Ghana work in the Civil Service (Ghana Statistical 
Service, 2014). An estimated population of 12,039,700 persons 15 years and older constitute the 
employed in Ghana (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014). Calculating the proportion of persons 
employed in the Civil Service in Ghana, it was found that the total estimated population of Civil 
Servants stood at 240,794 workers in the entire country. The calculation of Civil Servants as per 
the total number of persons employed at the age of 15years and older is represented below. 
2.4% * 12,039,700 = 240,794 
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3.5 Sampling Technique  
The study adopted the use of purposive sampling technique to select subjects for this study. 
Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling method used in situations where expert 
judgment is needed in selecting cases with a specific purpose in mind (Neuman, 2007). The 
purposive sampling has relevance in three situations. First is when a researcher uses it to select 
unique cases that are especially informative. Second is when there is the need to select members 
who are difficult to reach or in a specialized population and the third is when particular types of 
cases have to be identified for in-depth investigation. The first and third situations characterized 
this study and therefore required the use of the purposive sampling technique to select subjects 
for this study.  
The study specifically wanted responses from Civil Servants from the Ministries of the central 
government of Ghana. Considering the peculiarity of these samples, the purposive sampling was 
used to select both the units, that is, central government Ministries and Civil Servants from these 
outfits. However, there was a limitation of access to clearance for the study to be conducted in 
some Ministries for issues of security and high protocol. Example of such Ministries were the 
Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. As such the 
Ministries from which Civil Servants were selected as samples for this study included those 
listed in table 3.1 below. 
3.6 Sample Size 
Krejie and Morgan’s (1970) table for determining sample size was used to compute the sample 
size of this study. A total of approximately 200 samples were thus computed as the sample size 
for the quantitative aspect of this study. As a result, 200 questionnaires were administered to the 
respondents and 158 questionnaires were retrieved. 23 out of the retrieved questionnaires were 
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however discarded because they were not properly filled. The response rate was therefore 67.5% 
for this study which according to Babbie (1989) represents an almost very good response rate for 
analysis. The responses from the samples are presented in table 3.1 below according to the 
various Ministries. 
Table 3.1: Ministries and Number of Respondents  
Name of Ministry Number of 
Respondents 
1 Ministry of Education 21 
2 Ministry of Gender and Social Protection 14 
3 Ministry of Trade and Industry 15 
4 Ministry of Employment and Labour 
Relations 
14 
5 Ministry of Energy 11 
6 Ministry of Environment, Science and 
Technology 
10 
7 Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning 12 
8 Ministry of Food and Agriculture 13 
9 Ministry of Roads and Highways 9 
10 Ministry of Youth and Sports 16 
Total 135 
 
Source: Author (2015) 
Besides, 8 Chief Directors of 8 different Ministries from which the quantitative data was 
collected were also selected for interviews for the qualitative analysis. They constituted the 
leaders to whom most of the responses from the participants in the quantitative study were 
directed. The Chief Directors of two of the Ministries (these were the Ministry of Finance and 
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Economic Planning and Ministry of Youth and Sports) from which quantitative data was 
collected could not be interviewed due to their tight schedules and unavailability. In all, a total 
sample of 143 participants were used for this study.  
3.7 Instruments for Data Collection  
3.7.1 Data Collection Procedure for Quantitative Analysis 
The study adopted the use of both structured questionnaires and interviews in order to collect 
quantitative data and qualitative data respectively. For the quantitative data collection, well-
structured questionnaires that have been developed by researchers in the past were adopted to 
measure the various variables in this study.  
The questionnaire for collecting quantitative data was divided into four sections. The first part 
covered the demographic data of the respondents and inquired the following from the 
respondents; age of respondents, gender of respondents, name of ministry, department, highest 
educational qualification, tenure of service and gender of respondent’s immediate supervisor. 
The second part of the questionnaire was a perceived leader integrity (PLI) scale adopted from 
the work of Craig and Gustafson (1998) to measure leader integrity from the perspective of 
subordinates. The PLI scale is a 4-Point Likert Scale with responses ranging from “not at all” to 
“well” (1 = Not at all 2 = Barely 3 = Somewhat 4 = Well). It has items which refer to the 
immediate supervisor of a respondent and includes items such as; can be trusted with 
confidential information, would lie to me, is evil.  
Justification for the use of PLI Scale 
The PLI scale is purported to measure the integrity of leaders from an ethical point of view. The 
scale consists of specific items that measure how unethical leaders behave from the perspective 
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of their followers. However, the PLI scale has been criticized of not sufficiently measuring both 
morality and consistency simultaneously. This is regarded as the major limitation in the use of 
the PLI scale (Moorman et al., 2012). This is because the PLI scale is described as not measuring 
the consistency between words and deeds definition of integrity; a secondary definition of leader 
integrity that this study seeks to assess concurrently with other definitions of leader integrity.  
Nonetheless, considering the cultural context within which the study was conducted, leader 
integrity was perceived more to be a moral construct than an amoral construct of consistency 
between one’s words and actions. As such, the PLIS scale was deemed appropriate to be used to 
measure leader integrity in the Ghanaian context. 
The third part of the study were items that measured the organizational citizenship behaviour of 
the respondents. Despite the avalanche of measures of OCB, the OCB measure developed by 
Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Moorman and Fetter (1990) was adopted for this study. This was because 
of its correlation to other dimensions of leader integrity such as trust. The scale describes five 
dimensions including altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue using 
24 items on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = Not at all, 2 = Barely, 3 = somewhat, 4 = Well.  
In the fourth part of the questionnaire, Aquino, Lewis and Bradfield’s (1999) Deviant Behaviour 
scale which uses 14 items to describes two dimensions (interpersonal deviance and 
organizational deviance) of deviant employee behaviours was used to measure CWB. The scale 
also uses a 5-point Likert-type scale (1=never, 2= Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree, 5= Always) to 
obtain responses. 
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3.7.2 Data Collection Instruments for Qualitative Analysis 
For the qualitative data collection, interviews were conducted. Martin et al.’s (2013) 
questionnaire for assessing the view of managers about the meaning they place on integrity was 
adopted in this study. The interview basically had three main questions which were: 
(1) How would you define integrity?  
(2) Which behaviors and personal characteristics do you associate most closely with leader 
integrity?  
(3) Please describe a situation where you consider a leader to have acted with integrity. 
The researcher also used a digital recorder to record the responses of the directors individually in 
the interviews. A notepad was also used to take responses of the directors to complement the 
voice recordings and give a much accurate account of the responses.  
3.8 Procedure for Data Collection 
An introductory letter was taken from the researcher’s supervisor at the Department of 
Organization and Human Resource Management, University of Ghana Business School, for data 
collection from the Ministries. This letter was submitted to the Chief Directors of the Ministries 
from which participants were selected for this study and the purpose of the research was 
explained to the directors who were notified of the need for a personal interview to take their 
views on leader integrity. But for a couple of these directors that could not make time for the 
interview, 10 of the directors gave authorization for data to be collected from the staff and the 
rest of the directors also availed themselves to be interviewed on different days and time. 
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3.8.1 Quantitative Data Collection 
The questionnaires were self-administered to the respondents in various units at the Ministries 
and retrieved at different times. This was because a number of the respondents indicated that 
there were quite busy and could not respond to the questionnaires instantly.  
3.8.2 Qualitative Data Collection 
The interviews were conducted at dates scheduled by the directors. Aside some strict protocols 
that were observed at the reception to the offices of the directors, the scheduled appointment 
times were delayed in most cases with the reason that the directors were in other meetings. In 
some cases, the appointment had to be rescheduled due to the unavailability of the director. This 
showed the busy schedules of the directors who kept on insisting that the interview had to be 
brief upon receiving the researcher.  
In the course of the interview, the purpose and objectives of the study were first of all explained 
to the directors. Also, the researcher assured the respondents of confidentiality and anonymity. 
This was to engender confidence in the directors to respond to the questions honestly. The 
interviews were conducted in the offices of the directors which usually appeared quite spacious 
and secluded from an overcrowded staff that were observed in other units of the Ministry. The 
interviews lasted for an average of 20 minutes since the questions were only three. In cases 
where the response of the director was not clear to the researcher, there were kind requests for a 
repeat of such responses. However, the interviews were successful and largely void of external 
interruptions due to the high level of privacy the directors enjoyed in their offices.  
After a month, the researcher presented the raw narration of the responses recorded during the 
interview to the directors for them to cross check. The directors responded that the narration 
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accurately represented their views and added some more explanations to the various responses 
which were also recorded with the audiotape and notepad. 
3.9 Reliability and Validity for Pilot Study 
3.9.1 Reliability for Quantitative Study 
In order to check for the reliability and validity of the items in the scale that was to be used for 
the study, the researcher conducted a pilot study with twenty Civil Servants from five different 
Ministries. This was to ensure that the items in the scale would be reliable for the study and also 
give the researcher the opportunity to alter the scale should there be the need. Researchers 
suggest that scales that are used for research must have internal consistency and must be valid 
and reliable. As such Nunally (1978) recommend the use of the Cronbach alpha to check for the 
reliability and validity of scales. This test was therefore adopted to test the consistency of the 
scales used in this study and the results are provided in table 3.2 below. 
Table 3.2: Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficients of Pilot Study 
Variable Element Correlation Cronbach alpha No. of Respondents 
Leader Integrity  
0.602 0.631 
20 
Organizational Citizenship 
Behaviour (OCB) 0.194 0.623 20 
Counterproductive Work 
Behaviour (CWB) 0.15 0.634 20 
Source: Field Data (2015) 
 
From the pilot study, the Cronbach’s alpha co-efficient was 0.631, 0.623 and 0.634 for the scales 
measuring leader integrity, organizational citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work 
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behaviour respectively. Panayides (2013) argues that the uni-dimensionality of a scale may not 
be necessarily determined by high values of alpha. Other researchers also contend that alpha 
should not be too high as it may unnecessarily depict the duplication of content across items and 
point more to redundancy than to homogeneity (Nunally, 1978; Streiner, 2003). As such 
Cronbach’s alpha of 0.6 is considered acceptable by researchers such as Nunally (1978). This 
meant that that the scales used in the pilot study were reliable.  
3.9.2 Reliability and Validity for Qualitative Study 
The meaning of reliability and validity varies in qualitative studies. According to Neuman 
(2007), qualitative researchers demonstrate reliability in their study by ensuring consistency in 
their observations over time. Validity in qualitative research also means being truthful and 
ensuring authenticity in the accounts given to a social phenomenon (Neuman, 2007).  
To ensure validity in this study, the researcher adopted Martin et al.’s (2013) questions that were 
used in assessing the meaning of leader integrity across six regions. This was to ensure that the 
questions would bring about a candid response of the meaning of leader integrity among Civil 
Servants in Ghana. Also, the researcher followed up on the interview that was conducted with 
the directors to allow them crosscheck if the narration represented a true and fair view of their 
responses which they confirmed in the affirmative.  
Also, Miles and Huberman (1994) suggests that to demonstrate reliability in qualitative data 
analysis, there is the need to allow for third party reviews of generated themes to assess whether 
similar meanings would be given to the themes. In light of this, the researcher gave the generated 
themes to three other colleagues as well as the transcript of the interview responses for them to 
be reviewed. These colleagues after their review agreed on over 85% of the themes that were 
generated by the researcher by ascribing similar meanings to these themes. This showed that 
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there was a strong inter-rater reliability and thus there was reliability in the questions used for the 
interview.  
3.10 Method of Data Analysis 
3.10.1 Quantitative Data Analysis 
Descriptive and inferential statistics was used analyze to statistically analyze data that was 
collected from respondents through the use of well-structured questionnaires. The data on the 
questionnaire collected from the respondents were coded and inputted into the Statistical 
Package for Social Sciences software for statistical analysis to be conducted.  
First of all, descriptive analysis was used to analyze the biodata of the respondents. Opoku 
(2006) explains that, descriptive statistics are generally used for summarizing and describing 
quantitative data. The descriptive statistics for this study gathered all the data about the 
respondents who were involved in this study and the mean, median and frequencies were 
computed.  
Hypothesis one and two were tested using simple linear regression to establish a linear 
relationship between the outcome variables, organizational citizenship behaviour and 
counterproductive work behaviour and the explanatory variable, leader integrity. This was 
because the researcher wanted to analyze the relationship between the outcome variables and the 
predictor and also identify how much variance of each of the outcome variable could be 
accounted for by leader integrity. A simple linear regression is an analysis that predicts an 
outcome variable from a predictor variable (Field, 2009). Regression goes a step further than 
correlation analysis because correlation analysis do not give any indication of the direction of 
causality (Field, 2009). This means that as much as a relationship may be established between 
leader integrity and OCB and CWB, there will be no indication as to whether the integrity of a 
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leader causes employees to demonstrate citizenship behaviours or unproductive behaviours. As 
shown earlier in the work of Zhang et al. (2014), other factors such as leader effectiveness 
account for citizenship behaviours among employees aside leader integrity. This work therefore 
employed a simple regression analysis to determine how much of the variation in OCB and 
CWB are accounted for by the integrity of a leader. 
Hypothesis three was analyzed using the Pearson Product- Moment Correlation Coefficient. 
According to Opoku (2006), the Pearson Product- Moment Correlation Coefficient is a 
parametric statistical test that is used to compute the correlation between two variables that are 
measured on at least an interval scale. A coefficient of +1 indicated that the two variables were 
perfectly positively correlated, such that, an increase in one of the variables will lead to a 
proportionate increase in the other variable. On the other hand, a coefficient of −1 indicated a 
perfect negative relationship such that if an increase in one variable will result in a proportionate 
decrease in the other variable which meant that the variables were inversely related (Field, 2009). 
A zero coefficient meant that there was no linear relationship between the two variables.  
3.10.2 Qualitative Data Analysis 
According to Miles and Huberman (1994), there are three approaches to qualitative data analysis. 
These include interpretivism, social anthropology and collaborative social research. In 
interpretivism, there is interpretation of meanings by both the social actor who is the subject of 
the study and the researcher with an emphasis on the understanding of meaning and actions 
(Miles & Huberman, 1994). Social anthropology is a qualitative analysis focused on contact 
between the researcher and the subjects of the study usually over an extended period of time in 
order to describe particular events about the subjects (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Collaborative 
social research involves a collection action in a social setting where for instance the main 
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researcher together with other researchers will follow the occurrence of a phenomenon in real 
time (Miles & Huberman, 1994). 
This study adopts the interpretive approach to analyzing qualitative data in order to conduct a 
thematic content analysis of the responses that were recorded from the interview. The sequential 
process of qualitative data analysis outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994) were employed in 
the analysis of the responses. Again, Miles and Huberman (1994) describe three stages in the 
analysis of qualitative data which are data reduction, data display and drawing conclusions. 
These processes were followed throughout the qualitative data analysis which began 
concurrently with the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data for this study.  
First of all, the responses on the audio recordings from the directors were transcribed into raw 
narrations. These were supported by notes that were taken during the interview. The raw 
narration was presented to the directors to check for true and fair representation of their views. 
Additional information gotten from the respondents was also transcribed to provide clarity in 
their responses. The data on the transcripts were then assigned codes to help in the reduction of 
the data. The transcript was read several times to identify similar phrases and patterns of 
responses to aid in coding the data.  
Identified patterns and similar phrases were then categorized and isolated into sub-themes which 
were presented in a tabular form. These sub-themes constituted summaries of responses of the 
directors and were presented to the directors to verify the trustworthiness of the findings of the 
study. The sub-themes were thereafter categorized to generate more generalized themes based on 
the consistency and relatedness in the summarized data. These constituted the major themes of 
this study upon which inferences and discussions were made. Specific quotations were also cited 
to support the themes that were generated from the raw data.  
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Conclusions were therefore drawn from these major themes in an analytical discussion that 
followed the presentation and interpretation of the raw data. In the discussion, references were 
made to various perspectives by other researchers which in the review of literature, coincided 
with the major themes and issues being discussed. The personal judgements and interpretations 
of the researcher on the data were also presented particularly on the meaning of the data.  
3.11 Challenges and Delimitations of this Study  
The major challenge the researcher encountered in this study was with respect to the collection 
of both the qualitative and quantitative data. In the administration of questionnaires to 
respondents at the various governmental ministries, there were some reluctance by authorities of 
these institutions to grant permission for their staff to be interviewed. This speculated to be 
perceptions the said authorities had about undercover investigative works that had been carried 
out in some governmental agencies in recent times. One of the authorities resisted granting 
permission for the interview to be carried stating the reason that: 
“Here, the people are very busy and always do the work that is required of them. We don’t 
entertain some of these things because I can’t tell where you are actually coming from”. 
In some cases, particularly during the interview with the directors, the researcher was thoroughly 
searched and asked to leave any phone or recorder which the researcher explained that the latter 
was the main instrument to be used for the interview. 
This issue was however resolved when clearance was given by some of the directors for the 
questionnaires to be administered upon giving them an official introduction letter from the 
Department of Organization and Human Resource Management of the University of Ghana 
Business School indicating that the research was purely for academic purposes. Scheduled times 
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for the interviews were also given by the directors since they gave permission for the study to be 
conducted in their ministries. Nonetheless, two of the directors who gave such permission could 
not avail themselves for the interview but the questionnaires were administered to the staff and 
retrieved appropriately. 
Also, there were several instances where the researcher could not meet the directors or the 
interview at the scheduled times with the explanation that they were in other meetings. The 
appointment thus had to be rescheduled in most cases and the researcher had to sometimes visit 
the directors during appointment days at times earlier than what was given in order to catch up 
with them for the interview. There were instances where the researcher had to wait for long 
hours before meeting the director. The researcher also at some points had to assure the directors 
that the interview was going to be very brief and gave examples of the interview questions to the 
directors for them to grant the interview. At the end, the researcher was able to interview all the 
directors who gave permission but for two. The researcher also exchanged personal contacts with 
theses directors which made the subsequent confirmation of the interview responses by the 
directors easier. 
With respect to the delimitations of this study, the researcher first of all was not interested in 
qualitatively analyzing the relationship between leader integrity and the outcome variables; 
organizational citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour. This was because 
there were several studies that had empirically established the antecedents of these outcome 
variables (Podsakoff et al., 2000; Salgado, 2002; Lim, 1996; Skarlicki & Folger, 1997; 
Anderson, Coffey & Byerly, 2002; Harris & Reynolds, 2003). However, very few studies have 
sought to explain the contextual meaning of leader integrity and the few that have done so have 
concluded that the meaning and understanding of leader integrity differs across cultures (Martin, 
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et al., 2013). The qualitative aspect of this study therefore focused solely on exploring the 
meaning of leader integrity in the Ghanaian context. 
Also, there were some delimitations in the target population for this study. Though the 1992 
Constitution of the Republic of Ghana explains that civil service refers to public service at both 
the central and local government levels, the researcher was not interested in civil servants at the 
local level since their functions were a duplicate of the activities at the various ministries of the 
central government. Furthermore, the researcher expected that the responses of civil servants in 
the Ministries of the central government would be representative of the views of other civil 
servants spread across the country. This is because the researcher anticipated that rotation and 
transfer of civil servants from across the country to the central government ministries gave the 
ministries a more comprehensive and representative culture of work in the civil service.  As 
such, the study only focused on civil servants at the central government ministries in Ghana.  
3.12 Ethical Consideration 
The ethical issues that were considered in this study were confidentiality and anonymity of 
respondents as well as prior information to the respondents as to the purpose of this study. These 
ethical standards were highly upheld due to the sensitive nature of the questions both qualitative 
and quantitative that were demanded from the respondents. The researcher therefore asked for 
the consent of the respondents before considering them as participants of this study. Respondents 
freely had the opportunity to opt out of the study if they so wished. The respondents were 
however constantly reminded about their anonymity and confidentiality of their responses which 
encouraged most of them to partake in this study. 
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The researcher therefore ensured anonymity of the respondents by withholding their names from 
the report of the findings. Instead, letters such as A, B, C, D were used to represent the various 
directors of the Ministries. Also, due to the ease of identifying the chief directors of the various 
Ministries, their responses were not related to the Ministry from which they preside in order to 
maintain the anonymity of their responses. Also, the questionnaires used in collecting the 
quantitative data did not include request for the names of the respondents. 
Also, the researcher engaged in informal conversations with the directors to create ease in their 
response to the questions during the interview. Such informal conversations which were not 
directly related to the study were not included in the transcription of the data. Their permission 
was however sought when the audio recorder had to be turned on to capture their responses. This 
was to ensure confidentiality in the interviews the respondents granted.   
These measures that were taken increased the confidence of the respondents in this study and 
help to encourage their co-operation. 
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CHAPTER FOUR 
PRESENTATION OF RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 
4.0 Introduction  
This chapter discusses and presents the findings for each specific objective of the study. The 
chapter begins with a description of the socioeconomic characteristics of leaders, sample of 
directors in Ministries. It then discusses the results of the extent to which leader integrity predicts 
OCB and CWB among Civil Servants in Ghana.  
4.1 Socioeconomic Characteristics of Respondents  
The study intended to sample 200 respondents from the civil servants in Ghana, particularly from 
Ministries, but the researcher was able to collect 135 data out of the intended sample size. This 
section presents a discussion on the demographic profile and organizational characteristics of 
respondents in the study area. The characteristics of leaders of civil servants whose leadership 
integrity predicts certain organizational behavior include; age, educational level, gender, job 
position, tenure of service and type of work. Quantitative variables discussed are Organizational 
Citizenship Behaviour (OCB), Counterproductive Work Behaviour (CWB) and Leader Integrity.  
4.1.1 Age and Sex Distribution of Respondents 
From table 4.1, survey report on sex distribution of respondents indicated that out of the 135 
respondents, 92 (68%) were males whiles females accounted for 43 (32%). This implies that 
majority of the directors interviewed were males. The results in Table 4.1 shows that 3 (2%) of 
the respondents were between 21 and 30 years; 22 (16%) were between the age 31 and 40 whiles 
80 (60%) of the respondents were between 41 and 50; and 30 (22%) of the respondents were 
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above 50 years. Most of the directors in the civil servants are aged above 40 years although there 
were very few aged between 21 and 30 years.   
4.1.2 Educational Qualification  
The researcher investigates educational qualification of the respondents since educational 
qualification has a strong impact on OCB and CWB. As evident in Table 4.1, out of the 135 
respondents, 123 (92%) of the respondents had a diploma or bachelors qualification whiles 12 
(8%) of the respondents had post graduate qualification. This suggest that the respondents had a 
high level of knowledge on the issue under investigation. This in the researcher’s view 
influenced the responses since they are more prone to OCB or CWB. 
4.1.3 Job position and Tenure of Service  
During the data collection, the researcher identified some of the job positions and roles 
discharged by the respondents. From the interview, some of the job positions occupied by 
individual respondent included; Account Officer, Budget Analyst, Administrator, Accountant, 
Chief Auditor, Financial Analyst, Head of (Operations, IT, Research, Technical, Audit, Finance, 
Risk, HR) and many others. The results indicate that 6 (4%) respondents have spent between 1 
and 3 working years in their respective companies, 94 (70%) respondents have spent between 4 
and 10 years whiles 35 (26%) of respondents have spent at least 11 years in the organization. 
This suggests that majority of the respondents have spent about 5 years in the current position. 
This indicates that they are more experienced in leadership and could suggest high level of 
integrity.  
 
 
 
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Table 4.1 Socio-economic Characteristics of Civil Servants 
Variables Options Frequency Percentage (%) 
Sex Male 92 68% 
 
Female 43 32% 
    
Age 21-30yrs 3 2% 
 
31-40yrs 22 16% 
 
41-50yrs 80 60% 
 
Above 50 30 22% 
    
Tenure of service 1-3 years 6 4% 
 
4-10 years 94 70% 
 
More than 10 years 35 26% 
 
   
Educational Qualification Diploma/Bachelors 123 92% 
 
Post graduate 12 8% 
    Source: Field Data (2015) 
 
4.2 Validity and Reliability of Variables 
The study used three variables and tested the validity and reliability of the relationship among 
these variables, that is, leader integrity, organizational citizenship behaviour and 
counterproductive behaviour. Validity measures the degree of accuracy. The validity of the 
scales used in this measured the extent to which the scale provides adequate coverage of the 
investigative questions guiding the study. The correlation among the components of the study 
variables provided sufficient evidence of the construct validity. The reliability of a questionnaire 
refers to the consistency of responses that it elicits as perfectly reliable measure gives the same 
result every time it is applied (Panayides, 2013). This was measured by computing the Cronbach 
alpha which is a function of the mean correlation of all the study items with one another and is 
synonymous with correlation coefficient. There were 30-items in PLI, 24-items in OCB and 19 
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items in CWB. Nunally (1978), recommends a Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient between 
0.70 and 0.80 for basic research. Other researchers such as Panayides (2013) also hold the view 
that Cronbach’s alpha should not be too high in order to enhance the accuracy of measurement 
since higher values of Cronbach’s alpha may represent a higher item reliability but lower person 
reliability. From Table 4.2 below, the Cronbach’s alpha that showed reliability reliability 
estimates for each of the constituent elements (OCB, CWB and PLI) corresponded to 0.559, 
0.648 and 0.751 Cronbach alpha respectively.  
Table 4.2: Reliability of PLI, OCB and CWB 
Variable Element Correlation Cronbach alpha Number of Items 
Leader Integrity  0.658 0.751 30 
Organizational Citizenship 
Behaviour (OCB) 0.181 0.559 24 
Counterproductive Work 
Behaviour (CWB) 0.17 0.648 19 
Mean scores for variables (PLI, 
OCB, CWB) -0.076 0.015 3 
Source: Field Data (2015) 
4.3 Assessing Leader Integrity, OCB and CWB among Civil Servants 
The researcher ascertained respondents’ perceptions of the behavior of their head in their 
organization. They were asked to indicate their responses relative to the items under PLI, OCB 
and CWB (as shown in the questionnaire in appendices A and B). Table 4.3 reveals the mean 
scores as well as the mean response category for each of the variables. From the table, the overall 
mean (standard deviation) for Organizational Citizenship Behaviour is 4.09 (0.584) with 
minimum and maximum value of 2.88.and 5.00 respectively. This suggests that majority of the 
respondents agreed to all items listed under OCB. Thus, citizenship behavior towards their 
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colleagues and organization is considered to be good. However, the overall mean (standard 
deviation) for Counterproductive Work Behaviour (CWB) is 1.283 (0.398) with minimum and 
maximum value of 1.32 and 5.00 respectively. This means that majority of the respondents did 
not agree to all the items listed under CWB. In relation to CWB, it can be said that citizenship 
behavior towards their colleagues and organization was generally not good. Leader Integrity 
recorded a mean (standard deviation) value of 1.27 (0.3304). This implies that majority of the 
respondents were not in agreement to the questions or items listed under PLI. This shows the 
overall perception of the respondents about the behavior of their heads, as observed was well.   
 
Table 4.3 Descriptive statistics for PLI, OCB and CWB 
 Mean Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum 
Mean score of Organizational Citizenship 
Behaviour (OCB) 
4.09 0.584 2.88 5.00 
Mean score of Counterproductive Work 
Behaviour (CWB) 
1.2828 0.398 1.32 5.0 
Mean score of Leader Integrity (PLI)  1.2687 0.3304 1.27 4.0 
Note: mean score category (OCB and CWB): 1-1.4 = Never, 1.5-2.4 = Disagree, 2.5-3.4 
Neutral, 3.5-4.4 = Agree, 4.4-5= Always  
Mean score category (PLI): 1-1.4 = Not at all, 1.5-2.4 = Barely, 2.5-3.4 = Somewhat, 3.5-4 = 
Well 
Source: Field Data (2015) 
4.4 Correlation among Leader Integrity, OCB and CWB 
The results in table 4.4 shows the Pearson’s correlation matrix for PLI, OCB and CWB. It also 
shows the 2-tailed level of significance between the variables. From the table there is a negative 
significant (r= - 0.324, p<0.05) correlation between CWB and OCB. There is a positive 
significant (r=0.260, p<0.05) correlation between PLI and OCB whereas PLI shows an 
insignificant relationship with CWB (r=0.079, p<0.05). 
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4.4.1 Test statistics 
The 3-variable hypotheses are tested using the parametric Pearson Product Moment Correlation, 
in order to measure the relationship between the variables of the study, that is, PLI, OCB and 
CWB. The correlation analysis later serves as a basis for conducting a further regression of the 
variables to determine whether the predictive hypotheses of this study should be accepted or 
rejected.  
Hypothesis 
H1: Leader integrity will be positively related to OCB of civil servants in Ghana.  
The test result is as shown in table 4.4. From the results there is a significant positive relationship 
between Leader integrity and OCB with r and p-values as follows (r= 0.260, p<0.05). The results 
support H1 that leader integrity is positively related to OCB; thus there is significant relationship 
between PLI and OCB. 
 
H2: Leader integrity will have an indirect relationship with CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
Table 4.4 contains the test results and shows that there is a negligible positive relationship 
between leader integrity and CWB with r and p-values as follows (r=0.079, p<0.05). The result 
does not support H2 that there is an indirect relationship between leader integrity and CWB. 
Thus, leader integrity does not significantly influence CWB. 
 
H3: There will be a positive relationship between OCB and CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
The test result is also presented in table 4.4. From the table, the r value and p-values are as 
follows (r=-0.324, p<0.05). This does not offer support to H3 that there is a positive significant 
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relationship between OCB and CWB. Thus, OCB and CWB have a significant negative 
relationship.  
Table 4.4 Pearson’s Correlation Matrix 
  average OCB 
score 
average CWB 
score PLI 
average OCB score Pearson 
Correlation 
1 -0.324** 0.260** 
Sig. (2-tailed)  0.000 0.002 
average CWB score Pearson 
Correlation 
-0.324** 1 0.079 
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000  0.364 
PLI Pearson 
Correlation 
0.260** 0.079 1 
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.002 0.364  
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 
 
 
  
4.5 Regression results 
The system of hypotheses previously presented postulates relationships between the dependent 
variables (OCB and CWB) and the independent variable (PLI). Table 4.5 shows the regression 
results of whether leader integrity will predict OCB and CWB. The results show a positive 
significant relationship between leader integrity and OCB. The positive coefficient (0.460) 
associated with leader integrity and significant at 1% level (p-value=0.000) suggests that leaders 
with integrity in organizations, will influence employees to be good citizens towards their 
colleagues and organization. On the other hand, there exist a positive (0.095) but insignificant (p-
value = 0.911) relationship between leader and CWB.  This means that the integrity of a leader 
will in no way influence deviant behaviours exhibited by employees. The negative significant 
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relationship between OCB and CWB suggests that employees who are good citizens at the 
workplace will not be interested in exhibiting deviant behaviours and vice versa. 
Test Hypotheses 
H1a: The integrity of a leader will predict the OCB of civil servants of Ghana. 
H2a: The integrity of a leader will predict the CWB of civil servants of Ghana. 
 
The parameter estimates of weighted least squares (WLS) from the linear regression conducted 
analyze the effect of leader integrity on OCB. Only the first hypothesis, that is, that leader will 
predict OCB of civil servants of Ghana was tested. This is because the correlation analysis 
revealed that there was no significant relationship between leader integrity and CWB of civil 
servants of Ghana. Controlling for all confounding variables (gender, age and tenure of 
respondents), it was revealed that there was a positive significant relationship between Leader 
integrity and OCB. We reject the null hypothesis and conclude that leader will predict OCB.  
 
However, with an insignificant relation between leader integrity and CWB, we fail to reject the 
null hypothesis and conclude that leader integrity will not predict CWB. The F-test also helps to 
reject the hypothesis that, except the intercept, the coefficient associated with the explanatory 
variable (leader integrity) is equal between them and zero and hence it indicates the overall 
significance of the model. The change in R2 for PLI and OCB after the confounding variables 
were controlled is 0.057 which means that the explanatory variables explained 5.7% of the 
variation in dependent variable OCB. The R2 value tends to be inflated (high) when the number 
of independent is more or when the number of cases is large. The adjusted R2 takes into account 
these things and gives more accurate information about the fitness of the model. The F statistic is 
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8.004 for the model and is significant at 5% and shows the extent of the overall significance of 
the regression. The summary of the regression model is provided in table 4.5 below. 
 
 
 
Table 4.5 Regression Results between Leader Integrity and OCB 
 
 
Model 
R 
R 
Square 
Adjusted 
R Square 
Std. Error 
of Estimate Change Statistics 
Durbin-
Watson 
    
R Square 
Change 
F 
Change df1 df2 
Sig. F 
Change  
1 .239a .057 .027 13.93538 .057 1.902 4 126 .114  
2 .337b .114 .078 13.56349 .057 8.004 1 125 .005 1.556 
a. Predictors: (Constant), age of respondents, highest educational qualification of respondents, gender of 
respondents, work tenure of respondents 
b. Predictors: (Constant), age of respondents, highest educational qualification of respondents, gender of 
respondents, work tenure of respondents, Perceived Leader Integrity 
c. Dependent Variable: Organizational Citizenship Behaviour 
4.6 Summary of Quantitative Analysis 
The chapter presents the descriptive statistics, correlation matrix and regression results of the 
variables used in the analysis. A thorough analysis of the socio-economic characteristics data 
revealed that respondents’ age has been observed to play its role in the study, as it has been 
experienced that elderly are more prone to display OCB. It has been found that the respondents 
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who were well educated showed an inclination towards exhibiting OCB. Also it has been 
observed that the results from the male and female respondents are quiet alike, which suggests 
that gender has no effect, whatsoever, on the chosen constructs; that is, OCB and CWB.  
 
As mentioned earlier, the constructs chosen for this study revealed a significant positive 
relationship between OCB and leader integrity but an insignificant positive relationship between 
CWB and leader integrity. This study also yielded an inverse yet strong relationship between the 
chosen constructs, OCB and CWB contrary to the hypothesis of this study. In other words, 
employees rating high on OCB scale are found to rate low on CWB scale. 
4.7 Qualitative Data Analysis 
This section presents the themes that were generated from the interview responses of eight 
directors who constituted respondents for the qualitative data analysis for this study. This section 
shows the sub-themes that were categorized into the major themes for discussion in this study. 
Three main questions adopted from Martin et al.’s (2013) questions were used as the questions 
for the interview process. These were (1) how would you define integrity?  (2) Which behaviours 
and personal characteristics do you associate most closely with leader integrity? (3) Please 
describe a situation where you consider a leader to have acted with integrity? 
The specific sub-theme deduced from the coded responses of the directors who for the purposes 
of anonymity have been described as “Director A”, “Director B”, “Director C”….. “Director H” 
are presented in table 4 below. These sub-themes are based on memo of the relationship between 
established concepts and the coded responses from the directors.  
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Table 4:6 Coded Responses from Directors 
Respondents Sub-themes 
Director A Always doing the right thing, loyalty, transparency, 
accountability, boldness to speak the truth, sexually 
moral, unwavering with personal values, consideration 
of social values, incorruptible, respect for superiors 
Director B Respect for societal values, incorruptible, humility, 
keeps to time, strict compliance to regulations, 
religious, truthful, discourage nepotism, transparent, 
commitment to work  
Director C Incorruptible, unchangeable in all situations, 
responsible work behaviour, law abiding, truthful, no 
conflict of interest, respect for superiors, consistently 
doing right, modesty 
Director D Truthful, incorruptible, trustworthy, responsible work 
attitude, religious, sincere, fair, punctual, not 
promiscuous, respect for superiors, uncompromising, 
dependable,   
Director E Honest, transparent, respect for superiors, religious, 
trustworthy, loyalty, honest, responsible, respect for 
societal values, considers public interest, fair in all 
dealings, sexually moral  
Director F Keeps to word, trustworthy, law-abiding, fair, punctual, 
religious, high moral standards, incorruptible, sincere, 
no conflict of interest, public interest, dependable 
Director G Unchanging in all situations, incorruptible, disciplined, 
fair, God-fearing, can be trusted, honest, avoids illegal 
contracts, keeps to time, always does the right thing, 
compliance to laid down procedures 
Director H Religious, high moral standards, disciplined, truthful, 
unchanging in difficulties, transparent, incorruptible, 
regard for societal values, consistently doing the right 
thing, loyalty 
Source: Field Data (2015) 
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4.8 Major Themes of the Study  
These sub-themes were categorized to generate the major themes of this study. Four major 
themes were generated from the sub-themes above. These major themes included: fair, honest 
and trustworthy, behaviour consistency in all situations, societal value – behaviour consistency 
and strict compliance to rules and regulations. The sub-themes and specific responses that 
constituted the various major themes are presented in detail in the following sections. 
4.8.1 Major Theme 1: Fair, Honest and Trustworthy 
Being fair, honest and trustworthy refers to being truthful, dependable and showing no bias in the 
course of one’s duty. These were the interpretations that were deduced from the response of the 
participants when they were interviewed about their understanding of integrity. It was found that 
the directors highly regarded the avoidance of nepotism and favouritism at work as an important 
attribute of leader integrity. One of the directors narrated his ordeal as follows: 
“There was an occasion that someone wanted a permit to establish a business in one of the 
communities in the outskirts of Accra but was refused because the people in the community were 
not in favour of the structure and he came to me to assist him because I was related to him by 
family ties to acquire the permit but I declined. Simply because I told him that as much as I have 
the power to enable him secure the permit I wouldn’t do that because the people who were 
directly going to benefit or otherwise from his business were against the building for reasons 
best known to their security or welfare so why should I be the one to change the will of the 
people. He went back disappointed but I knew I did the right thing” (Director E) 
Also, the demonstration of integrity was about the fact that responsibility could be entrusted into 
one’s hands and such people highly regarded as integrity by the directors. To them, a trustworthy 
person demonstrates integrity through dependability and the consistent execution of assigned 
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responsibilities appropriately and completely. Trust was therefore considered as a central tenet of 
honesty. One the directors commented saying: 
“As a director, you will find yourself doing several things at the same time and therefore 
sometimes you have to delegate responsibilities. Several times I have to delegate one of my 
subordinates to represent me at very important occasions or meetings because of my tight 
schedules but who can I trust to truthfully communicate my views? Such a person must have 
demonstrated some level of integrity in the course of his or her work. I usually send some of the 
deputies who are honest in discussions I engage them in and they are people I always trust as 
capable of communicating my views”. (Director D) 
Another director spoke about trustworthiness as being fair in the service especially in the 
management of information and in one’s dealings with colleagues and other staff. This was 
explained in light of the organizational politics that existed in the organization. According to one 
of the directors: 
“In this institution there is always power struggle and everyone has an eye for one higher 
position or another. People therefore engage in all sorts of actions to gain what they want and 
therefore cannot be trusted with information. Those who have integrity are those whom you can 
trust as capable of keeping confidential information and duly giving you what you are due. Such 
people are fair to everyone and will always accord you what you are due and will not struggle 
with you. That is what I deem as integrity” (Director G) 
Director B commenting on truthfulness as a show of integrity professed that: 
“Your yes must be yes and your no must be no….. You must be able to explain situations as it is 
no matter how hard or how much of a bad news it is” 
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The directors also ascribed strong meanings to the demonstration of integrity by describing an 
individual that was transparent in all dealings at the workplace as one that exhibited honesty and 
integrity. In one of such statements, Director C commented that: 
“In the public service, transparency is key since every action or decision for the public interest 
so the decisions of a civil servant must be that transparent through proper and accurate 
disclosure of all activities that were done in one’s official capacity”  
The conclusion from the above indicates that virtues of fairness, honesty and trustworthiness 
were considered by respondents as pivotal in the personal attributes of a leader that demonstrated 
integrity. The responses shown above means that to the directors, leader integrity meant a leader 
who is does not show favouritism, speaks the truth and can be trusted.  
4.8.2 Major Theme 2: Behaviour Consistency in all Situations 
Consistency of behaviour in all situations refers to descriptions given by respondents about 
demonstration of uncompromising behaviour particularly when a leader finds him or herself in 
very tempting and difficult situations. This means that the directors perceived the ability of a 
leader to demonstrate an unchanging behaviour regardless of the threats or lucrative nature of a 
particular deal or situation. A leader’s integrity is thus demonstrated in the ability of the leader to 
maintain a value standard that is not reduced basically because of the opportunities or threats of a 
particular situation.  Director H confirmed this by narrating an experience: 
“I have been transferred three times over the past four years just because I will not succumb to 
shady deals and will not just allow the politicians to have their way. I believe that I have come 
this far just because I have been able to confront issues with some level of integrity especially 
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when there was opportunity for me to just use my position for the benefit of others and yet stood 
my grounds”.  
Another director confirmed that the demonstration of integrity required confidence in the civil 
service. The director made these remarks 
“It has not been easy being an authority in the civil service because the back usually stops with 
you when it comes to several administrative decisions such as offering contracts but you need to 
be strong. When power is in your hand you rather become pliable because the many people and 
situations call for the use of this power but you the head must be bold and decide that the best 
and right course of action will be taken at all times”. (Director A) 
This responses from the directors demonstrate that the need for integrity at the workplace comes 
with authority and responsibility. An individual’s authority within the service made him or her 
susceptible to a number of compromising situations because of the level of authority, influence 
and the power that an individual wields. The demonstration of a consistent behaviour in the 
midst of all the tempting and challenging situations was the meaning of integrity to Ghanaian 
leaders in the civil service.  
Other import of the demonstration of integrity at work was directed at the maintenance of a 
consistent lifestyle regardless of the change in one’s income or status. According to one of the 
respondents, the integrity of a leader could only be demonstrated when there is no significant 
upward change in the livelihood or properties possessed by an individual especially after that 
individual has been given authority. Director C passionately described the demonstration of 
integrity as following: 
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“This position comes with a lot of benefits but as a leader, you must portray some level of 
modesty in what you wear, the car you drive and even where you eat just when you come into 
this position. The position must not change you otherwise you begin to lose focus. Instead you 
must maintain your way of life, the way you speak to people, the way you approach issues and 
especially your values. The position must not change you no matter how beneficial or 
challenging it appears. You must rather use the power you have to affect your work and the 
people who look up to you in a way that improves their lives” 
The above demonstrates that for a leader to demonstrate integrity, the leader had to demonstrate 
a confidence by being consistent in behaviour and attitude regardless of circumstances that 
surround the individual’s work or position.  
 4.8.3 Major Theme 3: Societal value – behaviour consistency 
The consistency of the behaviour of the respondents and values that were upheld in the society 
constituted this theme. It indicated the way the respondents made reference to societal values and 
how these social norms serves as a basis for judging the integrity they exhibited in the cause of 
their work. Respondents revealed that certain societal values and morals constituted the basis of 
the principles and values that guided the actions of leaders. From the interview, it was found that 
the directors had strong religious and traditional backgrounds that influenced their choice of 
actions. This was marked by responses that showed that the director had to apply some 
internalized moral standards that were either founded on their religious beliefs or on their social 
upbringing. Director G described her religious background as the basis for several decisions that 
require the use of her authority.  With respect to the basis for demonstrating integrity as in the 
course of her work, Director G narrated that: 
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“Though it is government work we are doing, sometimes the things we face here demands that 
you apply your Christian values and principles other than that you will always find yourself in 
trouble. It is not easy though because every day there are a thousand and one situation that 
requires you to make subjective judgements which have divergent benefits and consequences 
especially when it comes to awarding contracts and procurement processes but knowing where 
you come from and especially your religious background, you must not take decisions that have 
adverse consequences” 
Another director gave a background of his family experience to stress the basis of his work. He 
claimed that: 
“I come from a very humble home with strong values. Do not take what is not yours, you must 
always tell what is good and what is not good and so on. These are the things I have lived with 
all these years and identify strongly with them. In fact I apply them to my work and belief it is 
what sustain me at such a high level where one’s integrity can be easily compromised.” 
(Director E) 
Also, respect for superiors at the workplace was also considered as a very vital attribute of a 
leader who had integrity. This was premised on the response that the Ghanaian culture valued 
respect for the elderly and for one to be perceived as having integrity, that individual must be 
able to demonstrate some appreciable level of respect for superiors, colleagues and even 
subordinates. Director E confirmed this in his remarks: 
“The demonstration of respect for people in the organization is very important if you are to be 
regarded as having integrity. In the Ghanaian culture, you must greet people whenever you meet 
them, you must add statements such as “please” when you are requesting for something from a 
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superior or colleague and must not take things or receive documents with the left hand. All these 
are signs of respect that are highly valued in the Ghanaian society so a person cannot be said to 
be have integrity unless you can show that you respect people by observing these simple societal 
norms” 
Again, some respondents described leaders who had integrity as those who are not faulted with 
issues of sexual immorality. To the directors, sexual morality constituted a very vital aspect of 
assessing the integrity of leaders mainly because the Ghanaian society frowned upon such acts 
since such acts brought disrespect to the position held by the leader. Director D commented on 
sexual morality as a basis for determining whether a leader had integrity or not by saying: 
“Even the kind of ladies a leader rolls with whether officially or unofficially can raise a lot of 
questions about the integrity of a leader. Especially when the leader is married and starts seeing 
other ladies in the office and at obscure places, it brings disrespect not just to the marital life of 
the leader but also to the office being held because the sanctity of the office will not be kept. It is 
not acceptable in the Ghanaian society and I think it is the same elsewhere because it is textbook 
knowledge about morality” 
He goes further to explain that societal values are paramount in the sense that integrity is 
measured in the Ghanaian context not by one’s personal values but by societal norms. So until 
people find some consistency between the behaviour of the individual and the expected and 
acceptable norms of society, the basis for judging one’s level of integrity cannot be established. 
Director D therefore adds that: 
“This is because people are watching and they will judge whether you have integrity or not. In 
this part of the world, it is not only about what pleases you as an individual but also what is 
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acceptable by the larger society. What do people say about you, what do people see about you, 
what do people hear about you. It all adds up to defining your integrity” 
These responses gave the indication that there was a strong influence of the religious faith and 
societal norms on the work of the directors. The underlying principles they applied to their work 
were thus deduced from these sources and gave the directors a strong moral standard. 
4.8.4 Major Theme 4: Strict Compliance to Rules and Regulations 
This theme referred to how the directors related obedience to rules and regulations as a basis for 
determining one’s integrity. According to them, work in the civil service is guided by laws and 
regulations and the extent to which an individual complies with such rules and regulations shows 
the integrity of the leader. One of the directors narrated a time when he had to demonstrate such 
uncompromising compliance to the organizational rules and said: 
“There have been times the political figureheads have constantly called on me to alter a 
particular document to allow them undertake some dealings but I find that outrageous and 
unfortunate for the development of this country. I always stick to the rules because this is a 
public office” (Director F) 
Other respondents revealed that integrity was embedded in the work of the civil servants and that 
compliance with the rules of the service purely portrayed integrity. This was because work in the 
civil service is a trust of responsibility into the care of some individuals on behalf of the general 
public. Complying with the responsibilities and regulations that surround the work meant that the 
individual had integrity and could be considered as having integrity. Commitment to work, 
punctuality and compliance with laid down procedures and regulations were thus considered as 
acts of integrity. This was revealed in the response of Director B who said that: 
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“The civil service is public trust and requires high level of competence and due diligence to 
demonstrate to the public that you are capable of doing the work entrusted into your hands. This 
means that you must not bend rules to favour anyone and must be law abiding since the work 
demands that. You must always be at post and deliver on the job. Without this you cannot be 
described as having integrity” 
Other respondents also commented on avoiding bribery and corruption, conflicts of interest and 
exhibiting high levels of discipline as a character that demonstrates integrity at the workplace. 
Among some of the comments were: 
“There is a public perception of corruption in the civil service but as to whether that is true or 
not, those who have those perceptions cannot be faulted. This is because we are the ones that 
must manage their taxes and we are paid by their taxes so if we show even a bit of corrupt 
attitudes, we lose our integrity in their sight. That is why I consider avoiding bribes and petty 
unwarranted favours as a demonstration of integrity especially in this kind of work” (Director A) 
“Many opportunities come your way as a civil servant and sometimes you find out that some of 
these opportunities are attractive but you cannot sacrifice your office for such opportunities 
simply because it is against the code of conduct of civil servants. For example my wife has a 
restaurant but when it comes to ordering food for meetings, workshops and other occasions I ask 
the procurement unit to take charge of these things though I can easily give the contract to my 
wife. I see it as unethical since I am a civil servant and the only reason why my wife will get this 
contract is because I have been given a mandate to act on behalf of many Ghanaians. I must not 
use my office for personal gain. That is what we call integrity” (Director G) 
 
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Director H also commented on the ethical demands of their work and added that: 
“Nowadays there is a high demand for civil servants to demonstrate high levels of discipline and 
ethical behaviour in their work. This is because of the erroneous generalized perception out 
there in the public that public servants like us are corrupt. So we work with some level of 
integrity by showing respect to rules and regulations that govern our work and also demand 
same from other stakeholders we deal with”. 
Only one of the respondents however saw keeping to time as a demonstration of integrity. Most 
of the directors did not consider that as a demonstration of integrity. This was observed in the 
explanations that were given when a number of the directors were not available to grant 
interviews to the researcher though appropriate times were scheduled for such interviews. One of 
the directors who could not meet the scheduled time for the interview gave the explanation that: 
“I am sorry for the delay, I know I have overly delayed you but you know the nature of our work. 
We have to move from one meeting into another. But don’t get us wrong. We are committed to 
our work and always ensure we do the right thing. Our work has a lot of demands and we have 
to do our best to meet them all”. 
These responses bring to fore the fact that the directors considered the execution of their 
responsibility as a demonstration of integrity. This was because of the high demand of ethical 
behaviour that is required of them and the trust of the public in them. 
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CHAPTER FIVE 
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 
5.1 Introduction 
This chapter presents a discussion of the data that was presented and analysed in the previous 
chapter. This chapter presents a comprehensive discussion of the findings from the mixed data, 
that is, the quantitative and qualitative data. The findings of this study are also compared with 
existing literature that support or do not support the findings.  
5.2 Reliability of Findings 
The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients for leader integrity was 0.751. This means that the 
PLI scale used for this study was reliable according to Nunally (1978). According to Nunally 
(1978), a Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of 0.70 and 0.80 are commendable for basic 
research. The authors of the PLI scale Craig and Gustafson (1998) were also contacted and 
permission was given for the use of the scale. In their study they found greater internal 
consistency with the use of the PLI scale with Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.97.  
The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient for were 0.559 and 0.648 for organizational 
citizenship behaviour and counterproductive behaviour respectively. According to Nunally 
(1978) the OCB and CWB scales used to measure the citizenship behaviour and the 
counterproductive behaviour of the respondents were reliable.  
For the qualitative data analysis, the themes that were generated were given to three other 
colleagues as well as the interview questions that were used to check for inter-rater reliability as 
recommended by Miles and Huberman (1994). The raters confirmed over 85% of the themes 
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generated by the researcher ascribing similar meanings to the themes. This confirmed a high 
inter-rater reliability for the interviews conducted.  
5.3 Research Objective One 
The first objective of this study was to explore the understanding of leader integrity among 
leaders in Ghana’s civil service. In order to provide subjective responses to this objective, a 
qualitative study was conducted to assess the meaning and understanding leaders in the civil 
service ascribed to leader integrity. 
Three main questions were used in an interview of eight directors from eight different ministries 
of the central government of Ghana adopted from Martin et al.’s (2013) study across six regions 
to understand the meaning of the leader integrity across these regions. These questions were (1) 
how would you define integrity?  (2) Which behaviours and personal characteristics do you 
associate most closely with leader integrity? (3) Please describe a situation where you consider a 
leader to have acted with integrity? 
From the responses of the directors, four major themes were generated which underpinned how 
the directors understand leader integrity, behaviours they associate with the demonstration of 
leader integrity and situations where they considered that a leader acted with integrity. The four 
themes were fair, honest and trustworthy, behaviour consistency in all situations, societal value – 
behaviour consistency and strict compliance to rules and regulations. 
It was observed that Ghanaian leaders in the civil service regarded a leader who has integrity as 
one who is fair, honest and trustworthy. These virtues were highly regarded to characterize the 
behaviour of leaders who were considered as having integrity. Such leaders were described as 
showing objectivity in their dealings and was trustworthy in the sense that, responsibility could 
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be entrusted into the hands of a person who they regarded as dependable. Trust therefore 
constituted a major attribute of leaders with integrity. These findings are in sync first with 
Palanski and Yammarino’s initial conceptualization of integrity as a virtue that connotes justice, 
trustworthiness and honesty. According to Palanski and Yammarino (2007), integrity could be 
related to moral concepts such as honesty, trustworthiness, justice, openness, empathy and 
respect and this assertion is also supported by a number of researchers (Newman, 2003; Paine, 
2005; Bews & Rossouw, 2002; Koehn, 2005; Lowe, Cordery & Morrison, 2004; Peterson & 
Seligman, 2004). It is therefore established in this study that the meaning of integrity to 
Ghanaian civil servants is synonymous to the demonstration of morality and high ethical 
standards 
Also, it was found that the directors considered the demonstration of consistent behaviour in 
multiple situations, whether favourable or not was what showed the integrity of a leader. 
Uncompromising behaviours even when one had the opportunity or was faced with threats was 
very instrumental in characterizing the integrity of leaders. Also, it was found that the 
demonstration of confidence by leaders was a key attribute of their integrity. This theme is 
attributable to Planaski and Yammarino’s (2007) description of integrity as courage. According 
to Palanski and Yammarino (2007) demonstration of consistency in the face of adversity could 
be described as courage. Paine (2005) also posits that a person with integrity is an individual that 
remains resolute in the midst of adverse. Also, Worden (2003) states that “the hallmark of 
integrity is acted out commitment to principled behaviour in the face of adversity or temptation 
at great cost to oneself” (p. 34). This shows that the demonstration of that consistent behaviour 
by the directors was an epitomic demonstration of integrity. In such situations, the directors 
emphasized the choice of actions that they had whether to compromise on their values or uphold 
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such values. As much as their behaviours of courage could be regarded as integrity, it also 
connotes Simmon’s (2002) behavioural integrity which describes alignment between an 
individual’s espoused values and actions. This means that to the directors, consistency between 
their espoused values and actions was regarded as a demonstration of integrity. This also 
establishes the consistency between words and actions definition of integrity as prevailing among 
Ghanaian directors in the civil service. 
Another major finding with respect to the meaning and understanding of the concept of leader 
integrity held by directors in Ghana’s civil service was consistency between the behaviour of a 
leader and norms and values of the society such as respect, morality, religious beliefs and 
cultural traditions. The meaning of integrity to the Ghanaian leader differed in the direction of 
where values emanated; that is, societal rather than personal values. In the study of Martin and 
his friends (2013), they found that the possession of strong personal moral codes and values was 
among the common references by leaders in all the six regions sufficient for an individual to be 
perceived as having integrity. However, their study did not indicate the basis of these moral 
values or codes. In other words, the study of Martin and his colleagues (2013) did not show any 
indication of the origin or background of these moral codes or values. This study makes a 
nuanced contribution to the morality description of leader integrity by revealing that, leaders 
premised their moral behaviour in the context of what is acceptable and expected in the society. 
This means that in the Ghanaian context, the cultural connotations of integrity permeated all 
walks of life including the workplace. There is evidence that supports this from the work of 
Dartey-Baah (2011) which shows that the national culture of a particular country has effect on 
organizational culture and is this sense, leaders’ behaviour. The import that can be drawn from 
this is that, integrity lies in the bosom of society and thus cannot be ignored in any social setting. 
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If leaders act in the society, emanate from the society and lead people from the society, then 
indeed integrity cannot be separated from the attributes of the leader. This confirms previous 
descriptions of the concept of integrity in leadership practice and discourse as a normative ideal 
(Palanski & Yammarino, 2007) and an axiom in leadership (Palanski & Yammarino, 2009). 
Finally, leader integrity was described as a central ethical requirement embedded in the codes of 
conduct that govern the actions of organizational leaders possibly due to the ownership and 
purpose of the organization. From the study, it was found that organizations are guided by some 
rules and regulations and compliance to such rules and regulations was a demonstration of 
integrity. As such, the commitment of leaders to maintaining high standards of work through 
both legal and ethical means depicted their integrity. Compliance to rules and regulations is akin 
to behavioural integrity which holds that there should be consistency between the words or 
espoused values of an individual and the actions of such an individual (Simmons, 2002). The act 
of compliance refers to the actions of the leader and the set rules and regulations refers to the 
espoused values or words. The understanding of leader integrity here therefore is demonstrating 
behavioural integrity. This constitutes the legal mandate required of leaders at the workplace. On 
the other hand, the respondents revealed that the exercise of trust by the public into their hands 
meant that they had to act with integrity or else face unfavourable sanctions through negative 
perceptions and institutionalized punishments. This relationship between the public and the civil 
servants is theoretically conceptualized by the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory. 
According to the LMX theory, the quality of relationship between leaders and followers 
influence various outcomes from these parties (Gerstner & Day 1997). The theory further 
explains that the relationship is dependent on mutual trust and respect (Dansereau, Graen, & 
Hagan, 1975). This means that the more leaders in civil service demonstrate that they can be 
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trusted, they are likely to gain more public support for their actions. However, a break of the 
virtue of trust between the civil service and the public compromises on the perception of the 
integrity of the outfit. This makes the theme of strict compliance to rules and regulations an 
ethical construct as well. The deduction that can therefore be made is that, leader integrity as 
strict compliance to rules and regulations connotes both a legal and ethical requirement of 
leadership behaviour. 
The conclusion that can be drawn from these four thematic areas is that leader integrity in the 
Ghanaian context is understood as both a moral concept and as consistency between words and 
actions. As a moral concept, leader integrity is embedded in the values and norms of the society 
and therefore is a sine qua non for every social behaviour including leadership behaviour. Again, 
placing integrity in the organizational context, it refers to the demonstration of consistency 
between words or espoused values and actions. A fusion of this meaning of integrity is what 
Mayer et al. (1995) advocate should be the necessary and sufficient meaning of leader integrity. 
5.4 Research Objective Two 
The second objective of this study was to examine the relationship that exists between leader 
integrity and the citizenship behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants. In order to meet this objective, 
it was hypothesized that: H1: There will be a significant positive relationship between leader 
integrity and the OCB of civil servants in Ghana.  
The findings of this study indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between leader 
integrity and the citizenship behaviour of civil servants in Ghana. This means that civil servants 
are likely to exhibit more contextual performance related behaviours that have positive outcomes 
for the organizations once they perceive that their immediate supervisors have integrity.   
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This finding is supported by earlier studies that have examined the relationship between leader 
integrity and OCB (Dineen et al., 2006; Zhang, et al., 2014). In the study of Dineen, et al. 
(2006), it was found that high behavioural integrity of managers was positively related to 
employee organizational citizenship behaviours. In the study by Zhang and his colleagues 
(2014), it was found that there was a strong positive relationship between leader integrity and 
OCB of followers when leader effectiveness mediate the relationship between the two concepts.  
Also, to determine the extent of employee OCB that is accounted for by leader integrity, the 
researcher hypothesized that: H1b: The integrity of a leader will predict the OCB of civil 
servants of Ghana. 
The findings of this showed that leader integrity predicted the OCB of civil servants but 
accounted for only a minute percentage of the variation in the OCB of the civil servants. This 
means that there are several other factors that predict the OCB of the civil servants aside leader 
integrity which constitute only a fraction of these factors.  
The low level of prediction of the OCB of workers by leader integrity was addressed in the study 
of Zhang et al. (2014) where they mediated the relationship between leader integrity and OCB 
with leader effectiveness. Their study found that leader effectiveness fully mediated the 
relationship between leader integrity and follower OCB. 
5.5 Research Objective Three 
The third objective of this study was to examine the relationship that exists between leader 
integrity and counterproductive work behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants. In order to meet this 
objective, the researcher hypothesized that H2: There will be a significant positive relationship 
between leader integrity and the CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
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The findings of this study showed that there was no significant relationship between leader 
integrity and the counterproductive work behaviour of civil servants in Ghana. This means that 
presence or lack of demonstration of integrity by a leader has no influence on the desire of 
employees to engage in unproductive and deviant behaviours at the workplace. In other words, 
employees’ decision to be unproductive particularly in the civil service in Ghana is not 
necessarily due to the moral behaviour of a leader or the extent to which the leader shows 
consistency between his or her espoused values and actions.  
This finding contrast the study of Dineen et al. (2006) which discovered that low behavioural 
integrity of managers was positively related to unproductive employee behaviours. There are not 
much studies that seek to support this finding or contest it but inferences could be drawn from 
the antecedents of counterproductive work behaviour which have been earlier discussed. Among 
the antecedents of CWB are personality traits of individuals, demands of job and job insecurity, 
organizational justice, work-life balance and behaviour of customers among others. (Salgado, 
2002; Lim, 1996; Skarlicki & Folger, 1997; Anderson, Coffey & Byerly, 2002; Harris & 
Reynolds, 2003). Leadership behaviours appear not be considered as among the antecedents as 
shown by past researchers. Furthermore, Rahim and his friends (2012) conclude that job related 
factors such as job demands are the most pertinent factors that influence CWB at the workplace. 
This is because employees are considered to spend more time on the job and thus will be much 
affected by factors emanating from the job.  
Considering the above, the findings of the second hypothesis for this study - H2a: The integrity 
of a leader will predict the CWB of civil servants of Ghana – showed that leader integrity does 
not predict the counterproductive behaviours of employees. The researcher can therefore 
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speculate that other factors such as pay, work conditions and job roles are among those that will 
influence most the behaviour of civil servants in Ghana. 
5.6 Research Objective Four 
The fourth and final objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the 
citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants. This 
was premised on the ongoing disagreement that existed in literature about the direction of the 
relationship. In order to achieve this objective, the researcher hypothesized that: H3: There will 
be a positive relationship between OCB and CWB of civil servants in Ghana. 
Findings from this study showed that there was a positive significant relationship between OCB 
and CWB. This means that the more employees engage in praiseworthy and positive behaviours, 
the less their desire to engage in unproductive and deviant behaviours. In other words, employees 
who engage in citizenship behaviours will have very little interest and turning around their good 
name and positive accolades into destructive behaviours in the organization. 
The findings of this study are consistent with a number of past studies that have sought to 
examine the relationship between OCB and CWB (Sackett, 2002; Lepine, Erez & Johnson, 
2002). However, this finding is contrary to the study of Dalal and his friends (2009) in which 
they found a positive relation between the concepts of OCB and CWB when the concepts were 
directed to the organization, to each other and to job performance.  
Again, the significant inverse relationship between OCB and CWB may have some cultural 
underpinnings. In the Ghanaian context, it is more desirable to engage in praiseworthy 
behaviours such as OCB which are considered as socially ideal. The strong socio-cultural 
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background of many Ghanaians will therefore be motivated to engage in OCB than to engage in 
CWB. 
The conclusions that could be drawn from the discussions above are that the leaders with high 
levels of integrity will influence employees to engage in more citizenship behaviours but the 
integrity of a leader will not necessarily be the cause for deviant behaviours among employees.  
Also, employees who engage in morally praiseworthy behaviours will not be motivated to 
engage in unproductive behaviours at work. 
The findings of this study therefore provides an opportunity to develop a new conceptual 
framework that illustrates the relationship between the variables as found in this study. The 
modified conceptual framework for this study is therefore presented in figure 5.1 below 
Figure 5.1: Modified Conceptual Framework 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Source: Author (2015) 
+ 
 
OCB 
 
Leader Integrity 
 
CWB 
- 
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The modified conceptual framework explains the unique relationship that exist between the 
integrity of leaders, the citizenship behaviour of employees and the unproductive behaviour of 
employees in Ghana’s civil service. From the findings of this study, it is revealed that the more 
employees in Ghana’s civil service perceive their leaders to have integrity, the more likely they 
are to be good citizens of the service. This is largely explained by the fact that leader integrity in 
understood in the Ghana’s civil service as a socially desirable attribute and that individuals who 
exhibit high integrity are easily accepted by the society. In this case, when the leaders in the civil 
service are perceived as having integrity, the employees naturally accept them as their leader and 
comply in praiseworthy ways to the authority of these leaders.  
Furthermore, the new conceptual framework brings to fore the fact that the integrity of leaders in 
Ghana’s civil service has little or no relationship with unproductive and deviant behaviours of 
employees. Other factors such as the characteristics of the job and lack of motivation are likely 
to be among the influencers of unproductive behaviours of civil servants in Ghana. 
Also, employees who are good citizens in Ghana’s civil service are less likely to engage in 
unproductive behaviours at the workplace as depicted by the modified conceptual framework. 
This is in contrast with the relationship that was initially proposed and shows that the social 
acceptance of praiseworthy behaviours makes it difficult for employees to become deviants in 
organizations. Rather, good citizens of Ghana’s civil service are encouraged usually find the 
need to continue showing commendable and productive behaviours at the workplace. 
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CHAPTER SIX 
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
6.0 Introduction 
This is the final chapter of the study and provides a summary of the entire study. It also presents 
conclusions drawn by the researcher from the findings of this study as well as recommendations 
for practice, policy and future research. 
6.1 Summary of Findings 
The objectives of this study were to: 
1. Explore the understanding of leader integrity among leaders in Ghana’s civil service 
2. Examine the relationship that exists between leader integrity and the citizenship 
behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants 
3. Examine the relationship that exists between leader integrity and counterproductive work 
behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants 
4. Investigate the relationship between the citizenship behaviour and counterproductive 
work behaviour of Ghanaian civil servants 
This study adopted the mixed methods approach in order to measure the relationship between the 
independent variable (leadership integrity) and the two dependent variables (OCB and CWB) 
and also to broaden the understanding of what is perceived as integrity by leaders in the Civil 
Service of Ghana. As a result both the quantitative and qualitative methods of research designs 
were adopted for this study. A total sample of 143 respondents comprising 135 civil servants and 
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8 directors from the various ministries of central government were used as the respondents for 
this study.  
The major challenge the researcher encountered in this study was with respect to the collection 
of both the qualitative and quantitative data. In the administration of questionnaires to 
respondents at the various governmental ministries, there were some reluctance by authorities of 
these institutions to grant permission for their staff to be interviewed. This was however resolved 
when clearance was given by some of the directors for the questionnaires to be administered 
upon giving them an official introduction letter from the Department of Organization and Human 
Resource Management of the University of Ghana Business School indicating that the research 
was purely for academic purposes. 
The research was able to make significant empirical and conceptual contributions to research 
with the findings of the study and the development of a conceptual framework that showed the 
relationship between leader integrity, OCB and CWB.  
6.2 Conclusions 
The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of leader integrity and examine how leader 
integrity predicts the citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour of civil 
servants in Ghana. The study employed a mixed method approach leading to findings that 
supplement the limited literature about the relationship between the three concepts. By so doing, 
this study was able to provide a more refined definition of the concept of leader integrity and 
provide a more comprehensive description and illustration of the relationship that existed 
between leader integrity, OCB and CWB.  
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From the study, it was found that majority of the respondents were males (92%), majority were 
also middle aged workers between the ages of 41 and 50 and 92% of the respondents had at least 
a Diploma or Bachelor’s Degree. This showed that the respondents had a very high likelihood to 
understand the questionnaires that were administered to them.  
From the qualitative analysis of the study, four major themes were generated. These included 
fair, honest and trustworthy, behaviour consistency in all situations, societal value – behaviour 
consistency and strict compliance to rules and regulations. The discussion of these findings 
revealed that leader integrity in the Ghanaian context is understood as both a moral concept 
embedded in societal values and norms and as consistency between words and actions. As a 
result, there was the need to fuse the meaning as morality and consistency in order to provide a 
necessary and sufficient meaning of leader integrity especially in the Ghanaian context. 
The study also found that there was a positive significant relationship between leader integrity 
and the citizenship behaviour of civil servants in Ghana. This meant that civil servants are likely 
to exhibit more contextual performance related behaviours that have positive outcomes for the 
organizations once they perceive that their immediate supervisors have integrity. Also, it was 
found that there were several other factors that predict the OCB of the civil servants aside leader 
integrity which constituted only a fraction of these factors.  
Again, the study found that the presence or lack of demonstration of integrity by a leader had no 
influence on the desire of employees to engage in unproductive and deviant behaviours at the 
workplace. Furthermore, the study found that employees who engaged in citizenship behaviours 
had very little interest and turning around their good name and positive accolades into 
destructive behaviours in the organization. 
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From the findings, a modified conceptual framework was deduced showing the relationship 
between the variables in the study. 
6.3 Recommendations 
The study upon its findings makes practical and conceptual recommendations to policy, practice 
and research.  
To policy, the findings of this research contributes to the ongoing quest by government for high 
levels of integrity and ethical conduct among public servants, particularly, civil servants. This 
study clarifies to government areas where they could focus in demanding for integrity from civil 
servants. According to the findings of this study, integrity is embedded in societal norms and 
values and thus leaders’ demonstration of integrity is assessed through the lens of the society. As 
such, it is important that societal norms are reflected in policy documents and codes of ethics of 
civil servants. Best practices of ethical standards may not suffice in the Ghanaian context due to 
the strong nature of the cultural influence on organizational members. For instance, where should 
the line be drawn between the offering of gifts as promoted by the Ghanaian culture and bribery 
as an amoral activity? This calls for contextualization of policies that guide the behaviour and 
conduct of governmental workers. 
To practice, the findings of this study can be generalized to refer to both public and private sector 
organizations. The researcher recommends that leaders in organizations should not only be 
concerned about using working conditions to motivate employees for high performance. 
Managers should equally pay attention to building their personal integrity as it has been 
discovered that this encourages employees to engage in more citizenship behaviour. This study 
brings morality and other virtues such as trustworthiness into organizations and at the doorstep of 
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111 
 
leaders. Though the focus of organizations are on productivity and achieving set targets, 
managers must also consciously engage in morally praiseworthy behaviours as the demonstration 
of such attitudes serves as an adjunctive factor in promoting organizational success. 
Besides, the researcher recommends that other factors such as organizational justice and work 
life balance must be upheld in organizations in order not to create an unhealthy climate where 
employees tend to be more destructive than constructive in the organization. This is because as 
much as the behaviour of leaders may not directly influence deviant behaviours from employees, 
managers have a lot of influence on job factors which this study has emphasized as having direct 
influence on counterproductive work behaviour. Managers who seek to reduce unproductive 
behaviours among employees should thus focus on improving job factors such as workloads 
together with improving their moral attitude and consistency in the organization. 
Furthermore, this study recommends to managers to focus more on encouraging employees to 
show more of citizenship behaviours as this lessens their engagement and desire to engage in 
unproductive behaviours. Other factors such as feedback on performance, organizational support 
systems and clearly defined jobs must be improved in the organization as these factors enhance 
employees’ willingness to show more citizenship behaviour in the organization. Also, leaders 
must also be mindful of not demonstrating behaviours of “do as I say but not as I do” since it 
demoralizes employees when they discover such inconsistencies in the values or words of their 
leaders and their actions. 
 
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6.4 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Studies  
Limitations are inherent in every research due to the use of estimations and subjective opinions 
to analyze a phenomenon. The first limitation of this study is with respect of the inability of the 
qualitative findings of this research to be generalized. Nonetheless, considering the contextual 
meanings that have been ascribed to the concept of integrity, it can be confirmed in this study 
that the findings represent a true and reliable meaning of leader integrity in the Ghanaian context. 
Also, this study was limited in the sense that it did not qualitatively examine the causes of 
citizenship behaviour and counterproductive behaviours among employees. This was because the 
findings of this study showed that leader integrity accounted for only a minute (7%) of the 
variation in citizenship behaviour and did not influence counterproductive behaviour at all. 
Conducting a qualitative study about the causes of OCB and CWB will aid provide better 
understanding into factors that largely predicts the two outcome variables. 
Besides, it is recommended that future studies examine the leader integrity of male and female 
leaders in order to see if there would be any variance in the integrity demonstrated by the 
different sexes. Female leaders are known for demonstrating soft characters that are similar to 
integrity such as care, honesty and faithfulness whiles male leaders are known to predominantly 
demonstrate macho characters. Conducting a study to establish the difference between these 
gender types will therefore provide more clarity about the concept of integrity among leaders. 
 
 
 
 
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APPENDICES 
Appendix A 
 
INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE 
DEPARTMENT OF ORGANIZATION AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 
I am a post-graduate student of the University of Ghana Business School, undertaking a research 
study on the topic, “Leader Integrity: A Predictor of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and 
Counterproductive Work Behaviour among Civil Servants in Ghana” in partial fulfilment of the 
requirement for the award of a Master of Philosophy in Human Resource Management degree. 
Information is kindly required from you to make this study a success. You are assured of 
confidentiality with the responses you provide and that the responses will solely be used for the 
purpose of this academic research. It is estimated that this questionnaire will take you not more 
than thirty minutes to complete. Your co-operation is therefore much desired in this exercise and 
you are encouraged to answer the questions honestly.  
Kindly feel free to contact the researcher by the e-mail provided below should you require any 
additional information with regards this research.  
arthureginald@gmail.com  
Thank you.  
 
 
 
Questionnaire 
 No. 
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BIODATA  
Age……………………………………………………………. 
Gender:    Male     Female   
Name of your Ministry……………………………………………………………………… 
Department………………………………………………………………………………………… 
Highest Educational Qualification………………………………………………………… 
Tenure of service………………………………………………………………………… 
Age……………………………………………………………. 
Gender of immediate supervisor:   Male    Female 
PART 1: PLI 
Instructions: The following items concern your perceptions of the behaviour of your head or 
director in this Ministry. Circle responses to indicate how well each item describes the person 
you are rating.  
1 = Not at all   2 = Barely   3 = Somewhat   4 = Well 
1 Puts his or her personal interests ahead of the organization   1 2 3 4 
2 Would risk other people to protect himself or herself in work matters  1 2 3 4 
3 Enjoys turning down requests 1 2 3 4 
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4 Deliberately fuels conflict between other people 1 2 3 4 
5 Would blackmail an employee if she or he thought she or he could get away with it  1 2 3 4 
6 Would deliberately exaggerate people’s mistakes to make them look bad to others  1 2 3 4 
7 Would treat some people better if they were of the other sex or belonged to a 
different ethnic group  
1 2 3 4 
8 Ridicules people for their mistakes 1 2 3 4 
9 Can be trusted with confidential information 1 2 3 4 
10 Would lie to me 1 2 3 4 
11 Is evil 1 2 3 4 
12 Is not interested in tasks that don’t bring personal glory or recognition  1 2 3 4 
13 Would do things that violate organizational policy and then expect others to cover 
for him or her  
1 2 3 4 
14 Would allow someone else to be blamed for his or her mistake 1 2 3 4 
15 Would deliberately avoid responding to e-mail, telephone, or other messages to 
cause problems for someone else  
1 2 3 4 
16 Would make trouble for someone who got on his or her bad side  1 2 3 4 
17 Would engage in sabotage against the organization 1 2 3 4 
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18 Would deliberately distort what other people say  1 2 3 4 
19 Is a hypocrite 1 2 3 4 
20 Is vindictive  1 2 3 4 
21 Would try to take credit for other people’s ideas  1 2 3 4 
22 Likes to bend the rules 1 2 3 4 
23 Would withhold information or constructive feedback because he or she wants 
someone to fail  
1 2 3 4 
24 Would spread rumors or gossip to try to hurt people or the organization  1 2 3 4 
25 Is rude or uncivil to coworkers 1 2 3 4 
26 Would try to hurt someone’s career because of a grudge 1 2 3 4 
27 Shows unfair favoritism toward some people 1 2 3 4 
28 Would steal from the organization 1 2 3 4 
29 Would falsify records if it would help his or her work situation  1 2 3 4 
30 Has high moral standards 1 2 3 4 
 
 
 
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PART 2: OCB 
Instructions: The following items indicate your views about your behaviour towards your 
colleagues and organization. Circle responses that indicate your work behaviour.  
1= Never          2= Disagree            3=Neutral               4=Agree                 5= Always   
1. I help others who have heavy workloads 1 2 3 4 5 
2. I am always ready to lend a helping hand to those around me 1 2 3 4 5 
3. I help other who have been absent 1 2 3 4 5 
4. I willingly help others who have work-related problems 1 2 3 4 5 
5. I help orient new people even though it is not required 1 2 3 4 5 
6. I am one of the most conscientious employees  1 2 3 4 5 
7. I believe in giving an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay 1 2 3 4 5 
8. My attendance at work is above normal 1 2 3 4 5 
9. I do not take extra break 1 2 3 4 5 
10. I obey rules and regulations even when no one is watching 1 2 3 4 5 
11. I am the classic “squeaky wheel” that always needs greasing 1 2 3 4 5 
12. I consume a lot of time complaining about trivial matters 1 2 3 4 5 
13. I tend to make “mountains out of molehills” 1 2 3 4 5 
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14. I always focus on what’s wrong, rather than the positive side  1 2 3 4 5 
15. I always find fault with what the organization is doing 1 2 3 4 5 
16. I try to avoid creating problems for co-workers 1 2 3 4 5 
17. I consider the impact of my actions on workers 1 2 3 4 5 
18. I do not abuse the rights of others 1 2 3 4 5 
19. I take steps to try to prevent problems with other employees 1 2 3 4 5 
20. I am mindful of how my behaviour affects other people’s jobs 1 2 3 4 5 
21. I keep abreast of changes in the organization 1 2 3 4 5 
22. I attend meetings that are not mandatory, but are considered 
important 
1 2 3 4 5 
23. I attend functions that are not required, but help the company image 1 2 3 4 5 
24 I read and keep up with organization announcements, memos, and 
so on 
1 2 3 4 5 
 
 
 
 
 
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PART 3: CWB 
Instructions: The following items indicate your views about your behaviour towards your 
colleagues and organization. Circle responses that indicate your work behaviour.  
1= Never          2= Disagree            3=Neutral               4=Agree                 5= Always   
1. Made fun of someone at work 1 2 3 4 5 
2. Said something hurtful to someone at work 1 2 3 4 5 
3. Made an ethnic, religious, or racial remark at work 1 2 3 4 5 
4. Cursed at someone at work 1 2 3 4 5 
5. Played a mean prank on someone at work 1 2 3 4 5 
6. Acted rudely toward someone at work 1 2 3 4 5 
7. Publicly embarrassed someone at work 1 2 3 4 5 
8. Taken property from work without permission 1 2 3 4 5 
9. Spent too much time fantasizing or daydreaming instead of 
working 
1 2 3 4 5 
10. Falsified a receipt to get reimbursed for more money than you spent 
on business expenses 
1 2 3 4 5 
11. Taken an additional or longer break than is acceptable at your 
workplace 
1 2 3 4 5 
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12. Come in late to work without permission 1 2 3 4 5 
13. Littered your work environment 1 2 3 4 5 
14. Neglected to follow your boss's instructions 1 2 3 4 5 
15. Intentionally worked slower than you could have worked 1 2 3 4 5 
16. Discussed confidential company information with an unauthorized 
person 
1 2 3 4 5 
17. Used an illegal drug or consumed alcohol on the job 1 2 3 4 5 
18. Put little effort into your work 1 2 3 4 5 
19. Dragged out work in order to get overtime 1 2 3 4 5 
 
Thank you! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Appendix B 
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 
(1) How would you define integrity?  
(2) Which behaviors and personal characteristics do you associate most closely with leader 
integrity?  
(3) Please describe a situation where you consider a leader to have acted with integrity   
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