Do ethical work climates influence supplier selection decisions in public organizations? The moderating roles of party politics and personal values

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-10-2018-0227
• Date: 02 August 2019
• Published date: 02 August 2019
• Pages: 653-670
• Author: Eyo Emmanuel Essien,Ioannis Kostopoulos,Anastasia Konstantopoulou,George Lodorfos
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management

Do ethical work climates

influence supplier selection

decisions in public organizations?

The moderating roles of party

politics and personal values

Eyo Emmanuel Essien

Department of Marketing, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria

Ioannis Kostopoulos

Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

Anastasia Konstantopoulou

Learning and Teaching Centre, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK, and

George Lodorfos

Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is t o examine the relationship betwee ne thical work climates (EWCs)

and supplier selecti on decisions (SSDs), and the moderatin g roles of party politics and personal va lues on

this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach –A total of 600 senior-level personnel from 40 Nigerian public

organizations were surveyed using structured questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to test

the hypotheses developed for the study after assessing construct reliability and validity.

Findings –Results show that both high and low levels of external political pressures significantly reduce the

perception that organizational SSDs are ruled based and pro-social in nature. Furthermore, regardless of the

level of perception of instrumental personal values by employees, instrumental ethical climates significantly

determine SSDs; principled/cosmopolitan climate and benevolent/cosmopolitan climate only become

significant perceptible determinants when there is less room for the accommodation of personal goals during

SSD processes.

Research limitations/implications –This study only examined the relationship between ethical climate

perceptions and SSDs without controlling for the effects of some important possible intervening variables on

this relationship. Therefore, the study encouraged future researcher to enhance the generalizability of the

findings by incorporate relevant control variables in the model, as well as examining other decision phases in

the public buying process.

Originality/value –This study is original to the extent that only a few studies in the literature are devoted

to perceptions of EWCs in African organizations, and no previous studies have examined this phenomenon in

relation to SSDs in Nigerian public firms.

Keywords Public sector, Nigeria, Personal values, Supplier selection decisions, Ethical work climates,

Party politics

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Described as the “prevailing perceptions of typical organizational practices and procedures

that have ethicalcontent”(Victor and Cullen, 1988, p. 101),ethical work climates (EWCs) have

attracted great scholarship in recent years,mainly because of their ability to explaindecision

making and the likely response to ethical issues arising from such decisions (Newman et al.,

2017; Simha and Cullen, 2012). Indeed, EWC theories have been applied to examine a broad

range of organizational outcomes and behaviours including, but not limited to, ethical

behaviour (Wimbush et al., 1997); unethical behaviour (Peterson, 2002), turnover intention

International Journal of Public

Sector Management

Vol. 32 No. 6, 2019

pp. 653-670

© Emerald PublishingLimited

0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/IJPSM-10-2018-0227

Received 17 October 2018

Revised 5 April 2019

Accepted 28 May 2019

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3558.htm

653

Supplier

selection

decisions

(Mulki et al., 2008); accountability (Laratta, 2011); job satisfaction and commitment (Okpara

and Wynn, 2008; Shafer et al., 2013); marketing employees’job satisfaction and behaviour

(DeConinck, 2010); and managerial success(Simha and Stachowicz-Stanusch,2013). However,

no previous studyhas considered the relationship betweenthe EWC dimensions and supplier

selection decisions (SSDs) in public sector organizations.

SSD describes the later stages in the buying decision (or procurement as it is often

referred to in government/public administration literature) process where a decision to

choose one or a few suppliers from a list of pre-qualified potential suppliers is made

(Lindskog et al., 2010). Ordinarily, SSDs are not so straightforward because of the multiple

criteria and goals (both subjective and objective) that have to be taken into consideration

(Akenroye and Aju, 2013; Carter et al., 2010; Creyer, 1997; Ehrgott et al., 2011; Kisly et al.,

2016). More so, SSD “is a particularly important area of strategic decision-making when it

comes to sustainability and ethical behaviour”(Goebel et al., 2012, p. 7), and because of its

pro-social nature, governments often employ public procurement and supplier selection

exercises as vehicles for promoting a broad range of social policy programmes and

ethically responsible corporate governance agenda aimed at enhancing public welfare

(Akenroye, 2013; Malloy and Agarwal, 2010). Hence, the supplier evaluation and selection

decision stage is a very important phase in the public procurement process, not least

because the contractor choices made may significantly affect goals attainments

(Akenroye, 2013). To guide against irrational favouring, as well as to ensure that

pre-qualified or chosen suppliers meet the minimum compulsory and non-compulsory

requirements often included in published request for proposals, the public procurement

process is usually constrained by strict rules (Lindskog et al., 2010). These rules are meant

to enhance transparency, equity, fairness, accountability, value-for-money and due

process in government procurement.

Despite these rules, however, scholars and practitioners have reported that public

sector SSDs are marred by questionable ethical practices (Achua, 2011; Lindskog et al.,

2010; Nwapi, 2015). In Nigeria, for example, a minister has the discretion to waive a

contractor’s obligation to meet some of the important requirements for a public works

project (Nwapi, 2015), and about seven out of ten enterprises vying for government

contracts have reported being asked to pay some form of bribe worth between 1 and

15 per cent of the given contract value (Achua, 2011, p. 323). More so, the informal

negotiations that often precede public SSDs (Lindskog et al., 2010) and the outcry that

often follows the selection of certain suppliers makes the process and outcome suspicious

in the eyes of most stakeholders (Achua, 2011; Osisioma, 2001; World Bank, 2017).

Therefore, the theoretical utility of investigating public employees’perception of their

organizations’policies, procedures, reward/punishment systems and behaviour during

SSDs will add to our understanding of the challenges of public sector reforms, especially

in emerging markets.

Furthermore, there is a glaring paucity of theory-based studies on the antecedents of

EWCs (Newman et al., 2017). Although various studies have suggested a broad range of

possible moderators of EWCs (e.g. Newman et al., 2017; O’Fallon and Butterfield, 2005;

Simha and Cullen, 2012), researchers have largely neglected the potential moderating roles

of personal values and party politics on the relationship between EWCs and organizational

outcomes. There is ample evidence showing that the values held by individuals drive their

attitude and behaviour in organizations (Roman, 2013; Sousa et al., 2010; Suar and Khuntia,

2010). In the same vein, trait activation theory also suggests that organizational situation or

context may provide cues for the activation of certain kinds of personality trait or values

during decision making (Tett and Guterman, 2000). On the other hand, institutional theory

(DiMaggio and Powell, 2000; Scott, 2008) and resource dependence theory (Davis and Adam

Cobb, 2010; Hillman et al., 2009) both suggest that organizations and their actors will always

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