Ethical perception of employees in local governments: The example of Aksaray

In recent years, problems such as bribery, conflict of interest, corruption, extravagance, false statements, the use of duties and powers outside the public interest in public administration have forced the ethical rules to be addressed in local governments. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to determine how the ethical principles of public employees working in local governments are perceived. In this study, "municipality" was selected from local government units to measure the ethical perceptions of public employees. The main problem of the research is; Is the high level of unethical behavior of citizens in municipalities and low confidence in municipalities linked to a low ethical perception of public employees in municipalities? Research is quantitative research. In this context, the data collection technique is "Survey". The research universe consists of Aksaray Municipality and Eskil, Ortaköy, Gülağaç, Sarıyahşi, Ağaçören, Güzelyurt and Sultanhanı District Municipalities. Because it covers a specific region, "sampling by area" was performed. 253 employees participated in the survey study. In the case of Aksaray province, it was determined that the level of knowledge of the ethical principles of the municipal employees was inadequate and that they had different opinions than ethical principles, especially in matters related to conflicts of interest and the ban on receiving gifts. In order to raise ethical awareness in public officials, it will be necessary to raise awareness and focus on ethical training in this context.