Proud to belong: The impact of ethics training on police officers in Ghana

Please send an email to Nadine Ketel or Paul Muller if you are interested to participate in this seminar (series).

Abstract: We evaluate the impact of a two-day ethics and integrity training program conducted on a randomly selected sample of traffic police officers operating in the Accra region, in Ghana. The training was designed to activate behavioral change by leveraging officers' mission as members of the police force, and by creating a new shared identity of Agents of Change, aimed at inducing a collective shift in attitudes and behaviors. About one third of all traffic officers who were stationed in the area received the training. Data generated by a survey and an incentivized cheating game conducted by phone 20 months after the training intervention, show that the program positively affected officers' values and beliefs regarding on-the-job unethical behavior, increased their tendency to report such behavior and improved their attitudes toward citizens. Moreover, the program significantly lowered officers' propensity to cheat in the incentivized game.