Exploring the Relationship between Ethical Climate and Behavioral Outcomes in the Chinese Public Sector: The Mediating Roles of Affective and Cognitive Responses

This study analyzed ethical and unethical behaviors in the Chinese public sector, and tested hypotheses concerning the main predictors of such behaviors, as well as other contingent factors related to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). We investigated three specific issues. First, we examined whether ethical leadership and ethical environments exert a significant influence on OCB and UPB. Second, using a Sobel test, we explored the mediating effects among the antecedent and outcome variables. In particular, we suggest that three critical factors—organizational trust, managerial accountability, moral attentiveness—mediate the relationship between ethical leadership, ethical environments, OCB, and UPB. Third, we confirmed how and to what extent organizational trust and managerial accountability affect outcome variables (i.e., OCB and UPB) directly and indirectly. Finally, we suggest implications for research and practice regarding ethics in the Chinese public sector.