ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the treatment of moral development in the public administration literature. In contrast to most chapters in this volume, this chapter introduces literature and methodologies that may appear far afield from public administration. A faithful rendering of the theoretical background for moral development theory ranges from developmental psychology to theories of social justice. The actual application of moral development theory to public administration ethics is an important but still emerging initiative in the field. A prime objective of this chapter is to assess its potential as an approach for learning more about how public administrators make moral choices and for strengthening their capacities for ethical decision-making. Since the overall framework for our work has been derived from research in behavioral science, we will provide a detailed review of that material, then indicate how we have adapted the approach for public administration, outline our findings, and close with a discussion of implications and continuing issues.
