EXPECTANCY AND DIALECTICS OF WANING PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS IN KOKONA LOCAL GOVERNMENT,NIGERIA

Abstract

Public organizations and members are required to be guided by established ethics in the discharge of their official responsibilities, to ensure credible service delivery to the citizens. The objective of this study is to examine the extent of observance of established public service ethics by employees of Kokona Local Government Council, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The study adopts mixed method with asample of 282 employees drawn from the total staff strength of 352. The study used purposive technique, because of the homogeneity and relatively small size of the target population; while a questionnaire was employed in data collection, in the primary survey research design. Oral interviews were also conducted with respondents, to clarify ambiguities. Vroom (1964)’s Expectancy Theory was adopted in the theoretical framework, in view of the Theory’s potency in providing insight into the relationship between employees’ effort and the outcome of the effort, in the form of reward. Data were analyzed with simple percentage tools, as is widely applicable in Management and Social Science researches. Salient among the findings were that Kokona Council employees were aware of the service ethical codes; but they were however largely deficient in fully observing the code, due to the deplorable service conditions, including poor remunerations and incentives. Consequently, it was recommended, among others, that Council should improve the service conditions of employees; diversity the revenue base, to support the anticipated higher expenditure profile; and embark on ethical re-orientation of the staff, to regularize the psyche.