Abstract—The increasing concern of public sector reforms brings new challenges to public service ethics in developing countries not only at central level but also at local level. This paper aims to identify perceptions on public service ethics of public officials and examines more generally the understanding of public servants in Pakistan towards public service ethics in local public organizations. The study uses an independently administered structured questionnaire to collect data to know the extent of the recognition of public service ethics in local organizations. A total of 150 completed questionnaires are analyzed received from public servants working at the local level in Pakistan. The analysis explores how traditional, social patterns and cultural ethics can provide us with a rounded picture of the main antecedents, moderators of public service ethics in Pakistan. Moreover, the findings of this study contribute in association of public service ethics which are crucial in ongoing political and administrative culture of Pakistan, the most crucial core for public organizational ethical climate. This study also has numerous implications for local public administration and it highlights the importance of expanding research agenda on public service ethics in developing settings with challenging institutional contexts with imperfect training and operating environments. This study may well be particularly important for practice of public service ethics in developing countries in public administration. To the best of author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to provide an initial step in practical implications to emphasize relevant public service ethics in public administration in developing transparent and accountable organization. Keywords—Public service ethics, accountability and transparency, public service reforms, public administration, organizational ethical climate. I. INTRODUCTION ECENT years have promoted the increasing attention in public service ethics which influence and develop effective public administration [1]-[5]. However, there is not only ambiguity in specific role that ethics play in public sector but it is also mixed up with sociology, philosophy and political science [6]-[10]. Consequently, academicians and practitioners directed research towards identifying a set of public service ethics and developed tools in which ethical values maybe inspected in public administration in building organization integrity [1], [2], [4], [11]-[13]. Reference [14] also has talked about administrative ethics at the organizational level that includes ethical decision making and moral development. During 1980s and 1990s, the significant shift in public service reforms in many developed countries was extended through a set of ideas known as new public management, Kalsoom Sumra is with the COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan (e- mail: kalsoomsumra@gmail.com). coined by [16] & [17], which have transformed public service ethics in organizations. These reforms cover different themes such as more efficient public managers, customer services focus, and application of private sector competition to the public sector and transformation of administrative doctrines [15]-[20]. Recent years have increased the demand of public service ethics in reaction to New Public Management Reforms, values and ethics as essential component of organizations have also been linked to broader changes in society [21]-[23] and public service ethics are most important in public administration [24]. For that reason, many public organizations have undergone public service reforms around the world with paradigms of ethics management [4] and not only ethics has become important for central public servants but also provide crucial parameters of local public administration [25]. Public service ethics and pubic administration are closely entangled with political change and political will to provide new directions in public administration [26]. A. Scope and Objectives of This Study Since the upsurge of the public trust in government, public service ethics have been at intense prominence in consort with accountability and transparency in developing countries [27]. Different societies and nations have different elements of ethical values embedded in socio cultural norms. Much attention is paid in literature to public service ethics in connection with organizational integrity [28]. However, there is little research on public service ethics in public administration in developing countries [29]. Transparency and accountability are elusive in concept and having discipline specific meanings within contexts of public sector; these are important factors in determining organization integrity and in public ethics management system. In this regard, the key objective of this paper is to contribute into three main ways. 1. The first objective of this study is to identify perceptions on the importance of public service ethics from local officials of ethical values. 2. Second objective of this study is to create a greater understanding of the drivers of ethical orientation and to evaluate how transparency and accountability moderate the public service ethics. 3. Third, given the importance of public service ethical conduct and behavior, this study intends to test model in local public sector context and thus supplies insights into the recognition of ethical behavior in local public administration. 4. Given these assumptions, this study explores the relationship between public service ethics in public Public Service Ethics in Public Administration: An Empirical Investigation Kalsoom Sumra R World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Law and Political Sciences Vol:13, No:10, 2019 1338 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 13(10) 2019 ISNI:0000000091950263 Open Science Index, Law and Political Sciences Vol:13, No:10, 2019 waset.org/Publication/10010803