« Taiwan Journal of Political Science No.16Publish: 2002/06

Ethics in Government: A Survey of Public Administrators in the Local Governments of Taiwan

Author: Chaomeng J. Huang, Kun-fa Chen

Abstract / Chinese PDF Download

This  Study  examines  the  attitudes  about  ethics  in  the  local  governments  of Taiwan.  Ethical  considerations  cannot  be  overlooked  in  this  time  of  popular reforms that attempt to replace the traditional administrative values with efficiency.   They  are  of  fundamental  importance  to  the  realization  of  democratic  institutions and public interests.     While making ethical decisions has long become essential elements of modern public administration, little is known about the attitudes of public administrators in Taiwan.    To remedy the lack of evaluation research on governmental ethics, we conducted a national study on the public administrators of the local government in Taiwan.    More specifically, The findings of this national survey explore attitudes toward  ethics  in  society  and  integrity  in  public  agencies,  based  on  the  ethics indicators provided by Bowman and Williams (1997).     The results indicate that the local public administrators are increasingly aware of  the  importance  of  ethical  issues  in  conducting  public  services.    However, several  problems  that  hinder  the  establishment  of  an  ethical  administrative environment  are  also  identified.    The  implications  of  these  data  for  future governmental ethics activities in Taiwan are then explored.

Keywords:attitudinal survey、Ethics、Local Government、public manager