This study is an empirical investigation of ethical sensitivity of leaders in contemporary organizations and how?this trait affects good governance. While there is ample research on the topic of ethical leadership and governance, quantitative descriptions of how concerns regarding ethics are taken up in leadership theory/leadership approaches and manifest in relevant?governance orientations remain scarce. The?current study fills part of this void by examining the association between ethical awareness and good practice in public sector organizations. Data were obtained by means of a structured survey from the leaders of organizations (purposive sampling), applying?quantitative research. Ethical consciousness was the independent variable and good?governance is the dependent variable. Descriptive statistics and inferential analysis were conducted to evaluate the degree and significance of association between construct. The findings reveal a positive and statistically significant association between ethical awareness and good governance. Leaders demonstrating higher levels of ethical awareness exhibit stronger commitments to transparency, accountability, fairness and responsible decision-making. These results provide preliminary empirical support for the role of internalized ethical values in strengthening governance practices. This study contributes to the leadership and governance literature by offering early quantitative validation of the ethical awareness good governance nexus. As a preliminary investigation, the findings support the refinement of measurement instruments and theoretical assumptions for subsequent large-scale empirical studies. Practically, the results inform leadership development initiatives and governance reforms by highlighting ethical awareness as a foundational element of effective and sustainable governance.
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