Ethical leadership and program to reduce unethical behaviour among public employees

Ethical leadership has been considered the central source of ethical guidance for employees in the workplace. Our study tested the effects of ethical leadership on unethical behaviour of public employees through ethics programsbased on social learning theory and reinforcement theory. Using survey data obtained from U.S. federal agencies, we found that ethical leadership reduced unethical behaviour among public employees. Furthermore, the use of ethics programs mediated the positive relationship between ethical leadership and the ethical behaviour of public employees. These results indicated the importance of ethical leadership and effective ethics programs in reducing unethical behaviour by public employees.