Ethical party culture, control, and citizenship behavior: Evidence from Ghana

The paper addresses whether and how ethical party culture and party control influence political parties’ citizenship behavior in Ghana. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)—discretionary, extra-role conduct that supports organizational functioning—has been widely studied in public management but rarely within political parties. The authors reframe ethical organizational culture as ethical party culture, organizational control as party control, and OCB as party citizenship behavior. Drawing on self-concept theory, they propose that ethical party culture clarifies expected conduct and shapes party citizens’ self-conception, promoting sacrificial and extra-role behaviors. They further posit that party control (process, output, normative) sustains and strengthens this effect. The study is motivated by the importance of internal party mechanisms to complement Ghana’s political parties’ code of conduct, aiming to foster behavioral conformity that sustains a peaceful political environment. Hypotheses: H1 Ethical party culture positively relates to party citizenship behavior. H2 Party control positively moderates the ethical party culture–party citizenship behavior relationship.

The literature highlights OCB’s organizational benefits (reduced withdrawal, improved performance, customer satisfaction) and identifies antecedents such as employee attitudes, perceived fairness, personality, leadership, positive affect, social support, supportive climates, and public service motivation. However, limited research links ethical organizational culture to OCB in political party contexts, particularly in the Global South. Ethical organizational culture reflects the ethical quality of the work environment and organizational virtues (e.g., clarity, congruency, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability, sanctionability). Clarity—making ethical expectations concrete—can foster compliance and ethical behavior. Organizational control systems (formal and informal; process, outcome/output, and normative controls) align behavior with goals and can enhance trust, credibility, and performance, though they may involve monitoring costs. The study integrates these streams, proposing ethical party culture as an antecedent of party citizenship behavior and party control as a moderator within a self-concept framework.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of registered party citizens (partisans) from 28 political parties in Ghana. Data collection via online questionnaire emailed to party secretaries for distribution. Fieldwork period: December 2020–February 2021. Responses: 423 received (84.6% of target 500); after cleaning, N=404. Sampling context: multiparty democratic setting; partisans actively engaged in party activities. Demographics (N=404): 51.0% male, 49.0% female; age 18–24 (9.4%), 25–34 (39.1%), 35–44 (32.4%), 45–54 (12.4%), 55–64 (6.7%); education: vocational (13.4%), undergraduate degree (75.7%), postgraduate degree (10.9%). Measures:

• Party citizenship behavior (dependent variable): OCB adapted to party context; 24 items from Coyle-Shapiro (2002), 7-point Likert (1–7). Reliability: Cronbach’s alpha = 0.861.
• Ethical party culture (independent variable): 10 items adapted from Kaptein (2008; 2009) and Toro-Arias et al. (2021), emphasizing the clarity virtue; 7-point Likert (1–7). Reliability: alpha = 0.816.
• Party control (moderator): 11 items based on process, output (outcome), and normative controls (Verburg et al., 2018; Weibel et al., 2016), 5-point Likert. Reliability: alpha = 0.705.
• Control variables: gender, age, education. Validity and bias checks:
• Exploratory Factor Analysis (SPSS v22); convergent validity: AVE ≥ 0.5, CR ≥ 0.7 achieved; discriminant validity: square roots of AVE exceeded inter-construct correlations; items with loadings < 0.6 were removed as needed.
• Common method bias: Harman’s one-factor test cumulative variance = 26.879% (<50% threshold).
• Multicollinearity: VIFs ≤ 1.285 (<3.3 threshold). Analytic strategy:
• Descriptive statistics and correlations.
• Hierarchical linear regression: Model 1 controls; Model 2 adds ethical party culture; Model 3 adds party control; Model 4 adds interaction term (ethical party culture × party control). Interaction probed via two-way interaction plot (Aiken & West, 1991).

• Correlations: Ethical party culture, party control, and party citizenship behavior were all positively and significantly correlated. Means (SD): Ethical party culture 4.21 (1.114), Party control 3.55 (0.536), Party citizenship behavior 4.04 (0.830).
• Hierarchical regressions (standardized betas): • Model 1 (controls only): R^2 = 0.037; age and education showed positive, significant associations initially. • Model 2 (adds ethical party culture): β = 0.662, p < 0.001; R^2 = 0.463. Supports H1. • Model 3 (adds party control): β (party control) = 0.467, p < 0.001; R^2 = 0.632. • Model 4 (adds interaction): β (ethical party culture × party control) = 0.442, p ≈ 0.023 (significant); R^2 = 0.637; ΔR^2 = 0.005 over Model 3. Supports H2.
• Interaction plot showed that stronger party control sustains and strengthens the positive relationship between ethical party culture and party citizenship behavior. Overall: Ethical party culture has a strong positive association with party citizenship behavior, and party control positively moderates this linkage.

Findings answer the research question by showing that ethical party culture clarifies expected conduct, shaping party citizens’ self-conception and promoting extra-role, sacrificial behaviors consistent with OCB. Party control (process, output, normative) strengthens and sustains this effect, setting boundaries, reinforcing norms, and hedging against unethical conduct. The results indicate that internal party mechanisms can complement Ghana’s political parties’ code of conduct to promote peaceful, rule-abiding behavior. The study extends self-concept theory by identifying ethical organizational culture and organizational control as salient components of party citizens’ self-conception and by illuminating a moderating mechanism that strengthens the ethical culture–citizenship behavior link. Practically, parties should clarify ethical expectations and establish robust control systems (monitoring, feedback, clear procedures, and sanctions) to cultivate enduring citizenship behaviors that support democratic stability.

The study demonstrates that ethical party culture is a strong positive predictor of party citizenship behavior and that party control positively moderates this relationship among Ghanaian political party members. The contributions include: (1) extending OCB research to political parties in the Global South; (2) positioning ethical organizational culture and control as components of self-conception influencing citizenship behaviors; and (3) offering practical guidance for parties to institutionalize ethical norms and controls that complement national codes of conduct. Future research should employ longitudinal designs, assess additional ethical culture dimensions beyond clarity, examine outcomes of party citizenship behavior (e.g., efficiency, effectiveness), and target specific groups (e.g., foot soldiers, vigilante groups) and dominant parties to deepen context-specific insights.

• Cross-sectional survey design limits causal inference; longitudinal and more robust designs are needed. - Ethical organizational culture was operationalized using only the clarity dimension, leaving potential differential effects of other virtues (congruency, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability, sanctionability) unexplored. - The study focused on antecedents of party citizenship behavior, not its consequences for party performance. - Sample comprised registered members across 28 parties without targeting specific high-salience groups (e.g., foot soldiers, vigilante groups) or focusing analysis on dominant parties (NDC, NPP), which may limit generalizability to these subpopulations.