Many business leaders vigorously and single-mindedly pursue bottom-line outcomes with the hope of producing superior results for themselves and their companies. Our study investigated two drawbacks of such leader bottom-line mentality. First, based on leaders’ power over followers, we hypothesized that leader BLM promotes unethical pro-leader behaviors among followers. Second, based on cognitive dissonance theory, we hypothesized that UPLB, and leader BLM via UPLB, increase turnover intention among employees with a strong moral identity. Data collected from 153 employees of various (...) organizations supported our hypotheses. In particular, leader BLM was positively related to followers’ UPLB. Further, for employees with a stronger moral identity: UPLB was positively related to turnover intention; and leader BLM was related to turnover intention via UPLB. (shrink)

This research examines how the fit between employees moral development and the ethical work climate of their organization affects employee attitudes. Person-organization fit was assessed by matching individuals' level of cognitive moral development with the ethical climate of their organization. The influence of P-O fit on employee attitudes was assessed using a sample of 304 individuals from 73 organizations. In general, the findings support our predictions that fit between personal and organizational ethics is related to higher levels of commitment and (...) job satisfaction and lower levels of turnover intent. Ethical P-O fit was related to higher levels of affective commitment across all three ethical climate types. Job satisfaction was only associated with ethical P-O fit for one of the three P-O fit variables and turnover intentions were significantly associated with two of the ethical P-O fit variables. The most consistent effect was found for the Conventional - Caring fit variable, which was significantly related to all three attitudes assessed. The weakest effect was found for the Preconventional - Instrumental fit variable, which was only predictive of affective commitment. The pattern of findings and implications for practice and future research are discussed. (shrink)

This paper draws from the fields of history, sociology, psychology, moral philosophy, and organizational theory to establish a theoretical connection between a social/organizational influence (ethical work climate) and an individual cognitive element of moral behavior (moral awareness). The research was designed to help to fill a gap in the existing literature by providing empirical evidence of the connection between organizational influences and individual moral awareness and subsequent ethical choices, which has heretofore largely been merely assumed. Results of the study provide (...) evidence that ethical work climate (EWC) is a primary predictor of individual moral awareness, and that the influence of social factors often overrides the effects of individual differences in a work group setting. Implications for future research are provided. (shrink)

This paper examines the critical role that organizational leaders play in establishing a values based climate. We discuss seven mechanisms by which leaders convey the importance of ethical values to members, and establish the expectations regarding ethical conduct that become engrained in the organizations climate. We also suggest that leaders at different organizational levels rely on different mechanisms to transmit values and expectations. These mechanisms then influence members practices and expectations, further increase the salience of ethical values and result in (...) the shared perceptions that form the organizations climate. The paper is organized in three parts. Part onebegins with a brief discussion of climates regarding ethics and the critical role of values. Part two provides discussion on the mechanisms by which leaders and members transmit values and create climates related to ethics. Part three provides a discussion of these concepts with implications for theory, research, and practice. (shrink)

This study examines the impact of various ethical climate types and job satisfaction on organizational commitment of 144 employees working at a Chinese private construction company. Both caring and independence climate types had a significant positive impact on organizational commitment. Instrumental climate had a significant negative impact on organizational commitment. Other climate types (professional, rules, and efficiency) had no significant impact on organizational commitment. Overall job satisfaction had a significant positive impact on organizational commitment. Overclaiming was significantly correlated with organizational (...) commitment, caring climate, rules climate, and job satisfaction. (shrink)

Questionnaire data obtained from 97 supervisory and nonsupervisory employees representing the Production, Production Services, Marketing, and Administration departments of an Israeli metal production plant were used to test the relationship between selected personal and organizational attributes and work related misbehavior. Following Vardi and Wiener''s (1996) framework, Organizational Misbehavior (OMB) was defined as intentional acts that violate formal core organizational rules. We found that there was a significant negative relationship between Organizational Climate and OMB, and between the Organizational Climate dimensions (Warmth (...) and Support, and Reward), and OMB. Also, the activities of misbehavior reported by both managers and employees were negatively related to the Rules, Instrumental and Caring dimensions of Ethical Climates as defined by Victor and Cullen (1988). (shrink)

This study examines the impact of various ethical climate types, dependency factors, and ethical training on ethical optimism of purchasing professionals (n = 151) in India. Instrumental and independence climate types had a significant negative impact on ethical optimism. Other climate types (professional, caring, rules, and efficiency) had no significant impact on ethical optimism. Among the dependency factors, while task uncertainty had a significant positive impact, monitoring had a significant negative impact on ethical optimism. None of the other factors significantly (...) impacted ethical optimism. (shrink)

This study provides a comparison of the ethical perceptions of managers and non-managers, including professionals, teachers, sales persons and clerks, as well as technical and plant workers. Data of working individuals were collected in Hong Kong in the form of questionnaires which contain vignettes of questionable ethical issues. Factor analysis was used to identify the major ethical dimensions which were then used as the basis of comparison. Regression analyses were used to study the effect of various variables on ethical perceptions (...) in terms of the identified dimensions. Our study reviews that managers tend to possess deontological views that are more ethical than that found in other occupations. The gap between managers and professionals in perceiving unethical behavior is narrower compared to that between the former and individuals in other occupations. The acceptability of unethical behavior tends to decline with income. Besides, there are indications that people working in non-profit organizations tend to have higher ethical standards. Based on our results, recommendations are made to improve the ethical culture of organizations. (shrink)

In 1999, the Journal of Business Ethics published its 1 500th article. This article commemorates the journal's quest "to improve the human condition" (Michalos, 1988, p. 1) with a summary and assessment of the first eighteen volumes. The first part provides an overview of JBE, highlighting the journal's growth, types of methodologies published, and the breadth of the field. The second part provides a detailed account of the quantitative research findings. Major research topics include (1) prevalence of ethical behavior, (2) (...) ethical sensitivities, (3) ethics codes and programs, (4) corporate social performance and policies, (5) human resource practices and policies, and (6) professions – accounting, marketing/sales, and finance/strategy. Much remains to be done. (shrink)

In general, the business ethics literature has treated the conceptual domains and outcomes of macro-level, meso-level, and micro-level ethical influence separately. However, this singular treatment ignores the synergies and tensions that can arise across these different types of ethical influence. Using sales as a research context, the current study argues that all three ethical frames of references are important in shaping employee behavior and performance and, as such, should be examined simultaneously. The findings show that industrial ethical climate and salesperson (...) moral equity are positively associated with salesperson customer orientation. In addition, industrial and organizational ethical norms have a stronger joint effect on customer orientation than either ethical climate alone. More specifically, a more ethical organizational climate enhances the positive effects of the industrial ethical climate on customer orientation. Furthermore, whereas salesperson moral equity is significantly associated with salesperson customer orientation, strong moral equity beliefs in situations requiring adaptive selling result in weaker sales outcomes. This study concludes with a set of theoretical and actionable implications, as well as a discussion of future research avenues. (shrink)

This paper integrates the inclusion and organizational ethics literatures to examine the relationship between employees’ perceptions of an organizational integration and learning approach to diversity and two employee outcomes: organizational citizenship behavior toward the organization and interpersonal workplace deviance. Findings across two field studies from the USA and Germany show that employees’ perceptions of an organizational integration and learning approach to diversity are positively related to perceived organizational ethical virtue. Perceived organizational ethical virtue further transmits the effect of employees’ perceptions (...) of an organizational integration and learning approach to diversity on both organizational citizenship behavior toward the organization and interpersonal workplace deviance. In addition, we find support for a moderated indirect effect model whereby the indirect effect of the perceived integration and learning approach to diversity on the dependent variables through perceived organizational ethical virtue is stronger when employees have high personal value for diversity rather than low personal value for diversity. These results underscore the importance of having a fit between employees’ perceptions of an organization’s approach to diversity and employees’ personal value for diversity in order for inclusion to result in positive employee behaviors. Results emphasize the ethical responsibility of organizations in terms of how they approach diversity. (shrink)

There is a need for further research to understand how social capital in the workplace can be promoted. This article studies the generation of social capital from a comprehensive perspective that integrates ethics and general management. We propose the concept of “ethical work context” as an influential antecedent of the social capital in the firm. The ethical work context, which is aligned with the “humanizing culture” approach proposed by Melé ( Journal of Business Ethics 45 (1), 3–14, 2003a ), allows (...) a broader comprehension of the concrete management practices and organizational dynamics that generate organizational social capital. It is argued that social capital, understood as a by-product of the ethical work context, results both from organizational design and ongoing managerial activity. Creating an ethical work context brings ethics and social capital into the realm of the general manager; a figure that has remained absent from the social capital literature. (shrink)

We build on limited research concerning the mediation processes associated with the relationship between ethical culture and employee outcomes. A multidimensional measure of ethical culture was examined for its relationship to overall Person-Organization (P–O) fit and employee response, using a sample of 436 employees from social economy and commercial banks in Spain. In line with previous research involving unidimensional measures, ethical culture was found to relate positively to employee job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intention to stay. New to the literature, (...) ethical culture was also found to be associated positively with employee willingness to recommend the organization to others. These effects were observed even when perceptions of P–O fit were controlled. Importantly, ethical culture was also positively related to overall P–O fit, which in turn, partially mediated the relationship between ethical culture and employee outcomes. Our findings add to studies that focus on the importance of the degree of ethical congruence between the individual employee and the organization. They suggest that ethical culture, with its expected impact on virtuousness and emotional well-being, will positively influence outcomes independently of the degree to which there is a match between employee and organizational values. (shrink)

This study explores the ability of career satisfaction to mediate the relationship between corporate ethical values and altruism. Using a sample of individuals employed in a four-campus, regional health science center, it was determined that individual career satisfaction fully mediated the positive relationship between perceptions of corporate ethical values and self-reported altruism. The findings imply that companies dedicating attention to positive corporate ethical values can enhance employee attitudes and altruistic behaviors, especially when individuals experience a high degree of career satisfaction.

Public accounting firms can build integrity within their organizations through early detection of fraud. One way to reduce and detect fraud is to encourage whistleblowing as a prosocial behavior. We explore the impact of mentoring on intention to report fraud. A survey with 120 responses from the US public accountants suggests that quality mentoring relationships, a common feature in the profession, and caring ethical climate positively relate to internal reporting of fraud. Two intermediate variables, trust and affective commitment, mediate these (...) effects. Mentor-relationship quality also increases perceptions of caring ethical climate. The study contributes to two bodies of research by finding extended benefits from mentoring, beyond those typically discussed in academic literature; and identifying a previously unexplored firm intervention capable of positively influencing prosocial behavior and combating fraud. (shrink)

The initial purpose of this study is to provide an empirical validation of Victor and Cullen’s ethical-climate model (1987, Frederick (ed.), Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Vol. 9, pp. 51–71; 1988, Administrative Science Quarterly 33, 101–125; 1990, Frederick and Preston (eds.), Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (JAI Press Inc., Greenwich, Connecticut), pp. 77–97). Testing the model on a sample of Danish firms, this study demonstrates that the empirical model as suggested by Victor and Cullen is much (...) stronger than suggested by previous research. Based on a confirmatory factor model, the results of this study suggest a revised ethical structure. Especially a sixth dimension – own interest – is separated from the original instrumental dimension. Further, this study suggests that the ethical-climate model can be enhanced with the dimension of autonomy deriving from Koys and DeCotiis’ (1991, Human Relations 44(3), 265–285.) dimensional psychological climate instrument. (shrink)

Using traditional meta-analytic techniques, we compile relevant research to enhance conceptual appreciation of ethical climate theory (ECT) as it has been studied in the descriptive and applied ethics literature. We explore the various treatments of ethical climate to understand how the theoretical framework has developed. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive picture of how the theory has been extended by describing the individual-level work climate outcomes commonly studied in this theoretical context. Meta-analysis allows us to resolve inconsistencies in previous findings as (...) well as confirm the central tenets of the overall ethical climate framework. In addition, we consider the ethical climate relationships in the larger context of the␣theoretical framework, using path analysis to test the structural relationships. Overall, our results provide evidence of the relationships between ethical climate perceptions and individual-level work outcomes. Based on our analyses, we offer future research directions important for further development of ECT. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational ethical context and the individual ethical decision-making process. In addition, a new statistical approach combining cluster and discriminant analyses was developed to overcome violations of regression assumptions, which are commonly not identified and/or ignored in behavioral and psychological research. Using regressions and this new alternative method, the findings indicated that ethical context does indeed influence the various components of ethical reasoning. However, social desirability was the strongest predictor of (...) ethical decision making, which raises new concerns about how this bias can confound business ethics research. Finally, the findings showed that the alternative method provided more useful and interpretive results, indicating that it has the capacity to influence future empirical work in the field of business ethics, particularly when dealing with data that do not satisfy regression assumptions. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed, and several noteworthy suggestions for future research are provided. (shrink)

This study explores the impact of both individual ethics (IE) and organizational ethics (OE) on ethical intention (EI). Ethical intention, or the individual's intention to engage in ethical behavior, is useful as a dependent variable because it relates to behavior which can be an expression of values, but also is influenced by organizational and societal variables. The focus is on EI in international business decision-making, since the international context provides great latitude in making ethical decisions. Results demonstrate that both IE (...) and OE influence EL Ethical congruence is also discussed as a positive influence. Younger managers are more influenced by OE than older managers. The findings call for creating governance mechanisms to enhance ethical congruence, thereby increasing the likelihood of managers making ethical choices in organizational decision-making. (shrink)

This study examines the influence of ethical value congruence on a manager sample's attitudes and behaviors using polynomial regression analysis. The results indicate a general lack of support for congruence effects. However, main effects of perceived organizational ethical values are found for all outcomes; how managers perceive their organization's values is directly associated with organizational commitment, job satisfaction, perceived procedural justice, adaptive behaviors, and turnover intentions. Implications for the impact of ethical values are drawn from the findings.

Over the past two decades, Victor and Cullen's (Adm Sci Q 33:101-125, 1988) typology of ethical climates has been employed by many academics in research on issues of ethical climates. However, little is known about how managerial practices such as communication and empowerment influence ethical climates, especially from a functional perspective. The current study used a survey of employees from Taiwan's top 100 patent-owning companies to examine how communication and empowerment affect organizational ethical climates. The results confirm the relationship between (...) these two managerial practices and organizational ethical climates. We discuss our results and their implications for both future academic research and practice. (shrink)

This study considers the ethical decision making of individual employees and the influence their perception of organizational expectations has on employee feelings about the decision making process. A self-administered questionnaire design was used for gathering data in this study, with a sample size of 245 full-time employees. The match between the ethical alternative chosen by the respondent and that alternative perceived to be encouraged by his/her organization was found to be significantly related to both feelings of discomfort and feelings of (...) intrapersonal role conflict. Implications for these findings are discussed. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, EarlyView.

This paper is an attempt to address the limited amount of research in the realm of organizational ethical climate in the not-for-profit sector. The paper draws from Victor and Cullen's (1988) theoretical framework which, combines the constructs of cognitive moral development, ethical theory, and locus of analysis. However, as a point of departure from Victor and Cullen's work, the authors propose an alternative methodology to extract ethical climate dimensions based on theoretical considerations. Using the Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ), an exploratory (...) factor analysis is conducted followed by a confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL. The resulting five dimensions are labelled as: individual caring, machiavellianism, independence, social caring, and law and code. Findings provide a somewhat disparate perspective of the ethical climates in a not-for-profit context. First, there is a more discriminating perception of benevolent climate than its for-profit counterpart. Second, the dimensions are polarized between the individual and the cosmopolitan loci of analysis. These findings are then discussed with implications and direction for future research. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Research suggests that ethical leadership affects employee behavior and organizational functioning. This study aimed to determine the relationship between EL and productive energy, as mediated by person-organizational fit. The study used assumptions of the social learning and social exchange theories that posit that leadership has a direct impact on employee behavior, mainly through role modeling and the reciprocal nature thereof. An empirical paradigm using a cross sectional quantitative design was used. The PE instrument was assessed for construct validity within (...) the South African context. The analysis included a comparison between the private and public sectors, emphasizing the importance of context as differentiator. Relatively high, statistically significant correlations were found between the variables for both sectors and the combined sample. The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that 18% of the variance in PE is explained by EL. This model was improved by the inclusion of POF. The conceptual model was confirmed with structural equation modeling. The findings of this study suggest that EL has a significantly positive effect on PE and POF, which mediates the relationship between EL and PE. Sectoral differences were reported. (shrink)

The rash of high-profile accounting frauds involving internal corporate accountants calls into question the individual accountant’s perceptions of the ethical climate within their organization and the limits to which these professionals will tolerate unethical behavior and/or accept it as the norm. This study uses social cognitive theory to examine the antecedents of individual corporate accountant’s perceived personal fit with their organization’s ethical climate and empirically tests how these factors impact organizational attitudes. A survey was completed by 203 corporate accountants to (...) assess their perception of relevant variables. The results of the structural equation model indicate three significant antecedents relating to ethical climate fit: higher internal levels of locus of control; greater numbers of prior job changes; and higher perceptions of an increasingly better fit with the firm’s ethical climate. Our results also indicate that higher levels of perceived fit to the ethical climate of a firm are associated with higher levels of perceived job satisfaction and organizational commitment. We also theorize that perceptions of an organization’s ethical climate may be reflections of client narcissism and serve a potential indicator of fraud risk. This is an important topic of study, since current auditing standards call for auditors to examine organizational attitudes toward fraud, but offer minimal guidance in doing so. (shrink)

This research seeks to better understand how an organization-related employee perception and job attitude may influence organizational members to ethically create customer value. Specifically, it is proposed that high person–organization fit perception, more precisely ethical values person–organization fit perception, can influence business-to-business salesperson commitment to providing superior customer value both directly and indirectly through trust in sales manager, while encouraging ethical salesforce behavior, an important aspect of communicating and delivering customer value. Results from a study of 408 business-to-business salespeople find (...) that ethical values person–organization fit positively influences salesperson commitment to providing superior customer value, as well as trust in manager. Trust in manager directly affects commitment to customer value and mediates the relationship between ethical values person–organization fit and unethical intent. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided, as well as directions for future research. (shrink)