A field research on generation Z youth's perception of ethical values in public administration

The concept of ethics is defined as the criteria that individuals use to distinguish right from wrong. Public administration ethics examines the principles and rules that public officials must follow while providing public services. In recent years, as a result of the increase in corruption and unethical behavior in the world and in Turkey, there has been a serious decrease in the level of trust that citizens have in the state and its institutions. The sustainability of distrust in the state is not possible for modern democratic states. Therefore, building trust in the state, in other words, increasing the level of trust in the state is very important for the legitimacy of current administrations. In order to rebuild and ensure trust in the state and public administrations, ethics and public administration ethics have come to the fore. Keywords: Generation Z, ethics, unethical behavior, governance, corruption There are not many studies on how different generations perceive the understanding of ethics in public administration. In particular, how Generation Z, which will be the dominant generation in todays and the near future, views ethics in public administration is an important issue that needs to be studied. Individuals born between 1995-2010 are defined as Generation Z in the scientific literature. The aim of this study is to examine Generation Z's perspective on ethical principles and values. For this purpose, a quantitative method was adopted in the study to analyze the perspective of Generation Z on ethical values and principles. The data subject to the study was obtained through a survey. According to the results of the survey, it was determined that Generation Z individuals are very sensitive about ethical values and principles and their awareness levels are high.