<p>Research on organizational ethics treats mission statements as one important component. This paper examines the impact of mission statements on the ethical behavior of managers and employees. The authors surveyed top local government managers across the United States for their views on ethics and mission statements. The researchers used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to model the interrelationships between ethical mission statements and managers’ and employees’ ethical behavior. The major findings of the model show that, indeed, mission statements do have an impact on ethical behavior in the local government. In addition, a secondary model shows that organizational support from other managers within the local government was also a factor. The overall results of this research show the importance of mission statement content for local government and their influence on running ethical governments.</p>