Postconventional ethics and institutions in the public service

Abstract

At a time when reforms designed to improve the integrity of public institutions have become fashionable, this article defends the viewpoint that administrative ethics cannot be founded exclusively on instrumental values. Principles that express a framework of what is correct in order to guide values such as efficiency or effectiveness are essential. The role of lists of values intended to be used as ethical guidelines is also analysed and the conclusion reached, based on empirical evidence, is that they are plainly lacking. Lastly, the institutional variable is introduced into the study of ethical conduct as practised by civil servants. This demonstrates the importance of the logic of what is proper and the generation of good sense in order to understand the choices made by civil servants when faced with moral dilemmas. The article concludes by using an official survey for analysing underlying culture in the Spanish public service and its effects on the perception of moral problems.