An Examination of the Relationship Between Ethical Work Climate and Moral Awareness

Abstract

This dissertation 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 fill a gap in the existing literature by providing empirical evidence of the connection between organizational influences and individual ethical choices, which has heretofore largely been merely assumed. Additional aspects of moral behavior beyond moral judgment, as suggested by the Four Component Model (Rest, 1994) were investigated. Extensively relying on the work of Victor and Cullen (1987, 1988), Rest (1979), and Blum (1991, seven hypotheses were formulated and tested to determine the nature of the direct relationship between the organizational level Ethical Work Climate and individual level moral awareness, and that relationship as moderated by four demographic and individual variables. Seven of the climate types identified by Cullen, Victor, and Bronson (1993) were replicated in the present study. All three of the hypotheses pertaining to the direct relationship between Ethical Work Climate and moral awareness were supported, as were three of the four hypotheses related to the moderating variables. These results provide evidence that Ethical Work Climate is a primary predictor of individual moral awareness, and that social influence often overrides the effects of individual differences is a work group setting. Implications for future research are provided. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Initial Development of a Learners’ Ratified Acceptance of Multibiometrics Intentions Model (RAMIM)

“…The more aware students are about their university's code of conduct, the more their overall decision making appears to be ethically driven (Ramim, 2007). This finding supports prior studies in which organizational factors, such as a code of conduct, are directly related to the decision making process and employees that support the code of conduct are more likely to engage in ethical decisions (Fang, 2006;VanSandt, Shepard, & Zappe, 2006). Additionally, results of this study demonstrate that CCA makes students more likely to accept multibiometric authentication during e-learning exams.…”

An Increasing Usefulness for Managerial Communication Research on the Main Topics of Management

“…If codes of ethics are written ambiguously, managers will need to communicate more frequently to ensure that ethical expectations of the organization are well understood by employees (VanSandt, Shepard, & Zappe, 2006). Such results also correspond with the findings of previous studies that ethical climates are manageable and controllable in the workplace with ongoing and frequent communication (Parboteeah & Kapp, 2008).…”

The Relationships between Organizational Ethical Climate and Political Behavior Perceptions of the Faculty Members

“…As there is no study dealing with the faculty members' organizational ethical climate perceptions in the literature regarding Turkey, no comparison can be made with other studies. But, in some studies gender was found to be significant on ethical climate perceptions of employees (Parboteeah et al, 2008) and in some others it was found to be insignificant (Van Sandt, 2001). There may be various reasons of these inconsistent results originating from as social status of women, work environments, lack of administrative policies favoring gender equality, traditional perceptions and practices in the work setting etc.…”