Trust, good governance and unethical actions in Finnish public administration
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 5 October 2010
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical study and contribute to the discussion of administrative ethics and integrity by investigating three ethical issues, namely trust, good governance and unethical actions in the Finnish public administration.
Design/methodology/approach
The evidence of this research is based on empirical data from a National Citizen Survey implemented in 2008 by the University of Vaasa. The questionnaire was sent to 5,000 Finnish citizens and the response rate was 40.4 percent.
Findings
The strength of the Finnish society concerning trust is that the citizens feel confident in public sector organizations and societal institutions. Even though serious corruption cases have remained few in Finland, there is still work to do in order to keep the situation under control. Ignorant and bad treatment of citizens occurs mostly in individual service encounters, it does not reflect the whole of the ethics of administration.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is needed in order to investigate the societal background factors that can explain the different findings from the research questions. Also further research is required for comparing the results of different countries.
Practical implications
Strengths and weaknesses are identified as a tool for further research and for the work for practitioners.
Originality/value
The core contribution of the paper is a contribution to knowledge concerning citizens' perceptions of trust, good governance and unethical actions in an egalitarian society.
Keywords
Citation
Salminen, A. and Ikola‐Norrbacka, R. (2010), "Trust, good governance and unethical actions in Finnish public administration", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 23 No. 7, pp. 647-668. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513551011078905
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited