Social norms, workplace spirituality and ethical behavior or public procurement officers in Central Government.

Abstract

Little is known about how social norms are formed which influence ethical behavior and workplace spirituality of individuals. This study explores the connection between social norms, workplace spirituality and ethical behavior of public procurement officers. The study was based on a survey of public procurement officers in the central government. Selfadministered questionnaires were used to collect responses and measurements were done, subjected to rigorous data processing and analysis using statistical package for social scientists (SPSS). A cross-sectional research design was used and a response rate of (93.4%) attained. Self report items were used to study all constructs. The results revealed that ethical behavior is positively related to all variables in the study. That is social norms (r = .289, p< .01) and workplace spirituality (r = .435, p< .01) The findings also revealed that 20.6% of ethical behavior of public procurement officers in Uganda was explained by the relationship between social norms and workplace spirituality. This might suggest the need for concerted policy intervention for dealing with unethical conduct and behavior of public procurement professionals by enhancement of social norms and workplace spirituality. It was concluded that social norms and workplace spirituality are some of the prerequisites for better performance of procurement officers in Uganda and that workplace spirituality was a better predictor of ethical behavior. It was also recommended that Procuring and Disposing Entities in Uganda can improve ethical behavior of public procurement officers by respecting the inner life of their employees, carrying out appropriate job designs and allocating meaningful tasks, enabling employee to express their “whole persons” creating a sense of joy, being fair and trustful, and building a sense of community.