Proud to Belong: The Impact of Ethics Training on Police Officers in Ghana

Donna Harris, Oana Borcan (), Danila Serra, Henry Telli (), Bruno Schettini and Stefan Dercon
Additional contact information
Donna Harris: University of Oxford
Oana Borcan: University of East Anglia
Henry Telli: International Growth Centre (IGC)
Bruno Schettini: Federal Revenue of Brazil

No 17006, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine the impact of ethics and integrity training on police officers in Ghana through a randomized field experiment. The program, informed by theoretical work on the role of identity and motivation in organizations, aimed to re-activate intrinsic motivations to serve the public, and to create a new shared identity of "Agent of Change." Data generated by an endline survey conducted 20 months post training, show that the program positively affected officers' values and beliefs regarding on-the-job unethical behavior and improved their attitudes toward citizens. The training also lowered officers' propensity to behave unethically, as measured by an incentivized cheating game conducted at endline. District-level administrative data for a subsample of districts are consistent with a significant impact of the program on officers' field behavior in the short-run.

Keywords: ethics training; traffic police; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 H76 K42 M53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 76 pages
Date: 2024-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-law and nep-ure
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Working Paper: Proud to Belong: The Impact of Ethics Training on Police Officers in Ghana (2024)
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