Morality is present at two levels, personal and structural.
A person's moral behaviour is how he behaves. Structural morality usually belongs to a religious, philosophical or cultural system. The system will dictate what is right or wrong. A wrong moral structure is far more devastating that an immoral individual.
So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. (1 Kings 12:28-30 ESV)
Jeroboam was a founder of a kingdom and a dynasty. Personally, he was a capable man. He was not a cruel dictator like what some modern dictators were and he must have been popular. When he proposed the tweaks to the religious practices of Israel, it was accepted by the people.
He made the following changes:
He switched the place of worship from Jerusalem to Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:29);
He instituted a religious festival in Bethel, held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in imitation of the annual Festival of Tabernacles in Judah (1 Kings 12:32).
This was a structural change and it affected the entire country. Henceforth, Jeroboam became known as "Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin". It led to the early demise of the northern kingdom.
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