The Methods Used to Implement an Ethical Code of Conduct and Employee Attitudes

Media reporting of recent business scandals, ranging from systemic accounting fraud to individual executive greed, has shed new light on the urgent need for organizational ethics in corporate America. The essay argues that organizational ethics can foster virtuous organizations by developing their sense of stewardship and integrity. This approach can inspire the ethical decision-making processes and standards of conduct for personnel throughout the organization. Another crucial role for organizational ethics is to regain lost trust and to recover the confidence of our communities, whether we are discussing the business community or the health care community. Corporate America and organizations in health care need to win back the respect of skeptical customers, disheartened patients, and distrusting communities. But this task can be accomplished properly only when organizations and their business practices have a renewed commitment to ethics. The essay discusses how organizational ethics can permeate the entire organization in order to instill trust and confidence among its constituencies. Although the focus of the essay is upon the role of organizational ethics in health care, the argument also applies to the renewal of business practices in corporations across the nation.     

The Methods Used to Implement an Ethical Code of Conduct and Employee Attitudes

In the process of implementing an ethical code of conduct, a business organization uses formal methods. Of these, training, courses and means of enforcement are common and are also suitable for self-regulation. The USA is encouraging business corporations to self regulate with the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FSG). The Guidelines prescribe similar formal methods and specify that, unless such methods are used, the process of implementation will be considered ineffective, and the business will therefore not be considered to have complied with the guidelines. Business organizations invest enormous funds on formal methods. However, recent events indicate that these are not, by themselves, yielding the desired results. Our study, based on a sample of 812 employees and conducted in an Israeli subsidiary of a leading multinational High-Tech corporation headquartered in the US, indicates that, of the methods used in the process of implementation, one of the informal methods (namely, the social norms of the organization) is perceived by employees to have the most influence on their conduct. This result, when examined against employee tenure, remains relatively stable over the years, and stands in contradistinction to the formalistic approach embedded in the FSG. We indirectly measure the effectiveness of the percieved most influential implementation process methods by analyzing their impact on employee attitudes (namely, personal ethical commitment and employees' commitment to organizational values). Our results indicate that the informal methods (manager sets an example or social norms of the organization) are likely to yield greater commitment with respect to both employee attitudes than the formal method (training and courses on the subject of ethics). The personal control method (my own personal values) differs significantly from all the other methods in that it yields the highest degree of personal ethical commitment and the lowest degree of employees' commitment to organizational values.     

The Value of Corporate Philanthropy During Times of Crisis: The Sensegiving Effect of Employee Involvement

Recent research suggests that philanthropy’s value to the firm is largely mediated by contextual factors such as managers’ assumed motives for charity. Our article extends this contingency perspective using a “sensegiving” lens, by which external actors’ interpretations of organizational actions may be influenced by the way in which the organization communicates about those actions. We consider how sensegiving features in philanthropy-related press releases affect whether investors value those donation decisions. For the empirical investigation in this study, we analyze abnormal returns to announcements by U.S. Fortune 500 firms documenting their donations to Hurricane Katrina disaster relief in 2005. We expect that in general, donation decisions would be controversial given the uncertainty surrounding the hurricane’s economic effects at the time. However, we also propose that announcements emphasizing employee involvement in the donation send investors positive signals about the firm’s ability to bounce back from the disaster’s adverse effects. We find empirical support for the proposed hypotheses, and discuss the implications for theory and practice.     

The Ethical Backlash of Corporate Branding

Past decades have witnessed the growing success of branding as a corporate activity as well as a rise in anti-brand activism. While appearing to be contradictory, both trends have emerged from common sources – the transition from industrial to post-industrial society, and the advent of globalization – the examination of which might lead to a socially grounded understanding of why brand success in the future is likely to demand more than superior product performance, placing increasing demand on corporations with regard to a broader envelop of socially responsible behavior. Directions for strategic and managerial options are suggested. Guido Palazzo is Assistant Professor for Business Ethics at the University of Lausanne. He graduated in Business Administration at the University of Bamberg and earned his Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from the University of Marburg. His research interests are in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Branding, Democratic Theory, and Organizational Ethics. Kunal Basu is a University Reader in Marketing at Said Business School, University of Oxford. He earned his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Florida. His research interests are in Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and Brand Management.     

Employee Reactions to Internet Monitoring: The Moderating Role of Ethical Orientation

Research has demonstrated that employee reactions to monitoring systems depend on both the characteristics of the monitoring system and how it is implemented. However, little is known about the role individual differences may play in this process. This study proposes that individuals have generalized attitudes toward organizational control and monitoring activities. We examined this argument by assessing the relationship between employees’ baseline attitudes toward a set of monitoring and control techniques that span the employment relationship. We further explore the effects of employees’ generalized attitudes toward monitoring and their individual ethical orientations on their attitudinal reactions to an Internet monitoring system implemented in their workplace. Results of a longitudinal study indicate that as expected, prior beliefs and ethical orientation interact to affect employees’ reactions to monitoring systems. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The Effects of Ethical Leadership and Ethical Climate on Employee Ethical Behavior in the International Port Context

This study empirically examined the effects of ethical leadership and ethical climate on employee ethical behavior in the international port context using survey data collected from 128 respondents who worked in Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) in Taiwan. Research hypotheses were formulated from the previous literature and tested using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that ethical leadership had a significant impact on ethical climate and the ethical behavior of TIPC employees. Ethical climate was found to be positively associated with employee ethical behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of the research findings are discussed.     

Ethical Hazards: A Motive,Means, and Opportunity Approach to Curbing Corporate Unethical Behavior

Scandals in companies such as Enron have been a source of great concern in the last decade. The events that led to a global financial crisis in 2008 have heightened this concern. How does one account for executive behaviors that led to such a crisis? This article argues that a conjunction of motive, means, and opportunity creates ‘an ethical hazard’ making questionable executive decisions more probable. It then suggests that corporate unethical behavior can be minimized by creating a process to identify and remove such ethical hazards, and by appointing an ‘ethical hazards marshal.’     

会计信息披露与公司治理结构关系研究

公司治理结构是指用来协调现代公司制度下公司内部不同利益相关者之间的利益和行为的一系列法律、文化、习惯和制度的统称。会计信息的披露是解决会计信息需求者与提供者之间信息不对称的重要机制。完善的公司治理结构对会计信息披露的影响有积极作用,高质量会计信息披露的制约作用对公司治理结构意义重大。企业会计信息披露与公司治理结构之间存在着重要的内在联系:高质量的会计信息与完善的公司治理结构有着相互制约和相互促进的互动关系。     

固定资产折旧方法选择对企业纳税的影响

<正>一、固定资产折旧的计提依据《企业会计准则第4号——固定资产》第十四条规定:企业应当对所有固定资产计提折旧。但是,已提足折旧仍继续使用的固定资产和单独计价入账的土地除外。"折旧"即在固定资产的使用寿命内,按照确定的方法对     

Supervisor Role Modeling,Ethics-Related Organizational Policies,and Employee Ethical Intention: The Moderating Impact of Moral Ideology

The moral ideology of banking and insurance employees in Spain was examined along with supervisor role modeling and ethics-related policies and procedures for their association with ethical behavioral intent. In addition to main effects, we found evidence supporting that the person–situation interactionist perspective in supervisor role modeling had a stronger positive relationship with ethical intention among employees with relativist moral ideology. Also as hypothesized, formal ethical polices and procedures were positively related to ethical intention among those with universal beliefs, but the relationship was much weaker among relativists. Thus, firms wishing to optimally promote ethical attitudes and behavior must tailor their organization-based initiatives to the individual characteristics of their employees.     

企业国际竞争力理论模型与计量方法研究

尽管国际竞争力的概念由B.伯拉萨(B.Belassa)于1964年首次提出的,但是目前国际社会和学术界还没有就国际竞争力的定义形成完全一致的意见,国际竞争力问题还是一个较为新颖的课题,其理论本身具有较为明显的探索性和不成熟性的特征。为了避免在企业国际竞争力的研究中出现分析范式和理论逻辑的随意性,进而导致研究结果的不确定性。在充分考虑企业产品的结构性特征并简化其分析过程的基础上,提出无差异产品企业国际竞争力理论模型,并以此为基础进一步提出符合企业产品结构性特征要求的多产品(差异化产品)企业国际竞争力理论模型,以此对企业国际竞争力的实证研究工作,具有一定的创新性和实用价值。     

Ethical Decision-Making in Family Firms: The Role of Employee Identification

Journal of Business Ethics - The ethical behavior prevalent in an organization often determines business success or failure. Much research in the business context has scrutinized ethical behavior,...     

The Promise of a Managerial Values Approach to Corporate Philanthropy

This article presents an alternative rationale for corporate philanthropy based on managerial values of benevolence and integrity. On the one hand, top managers with benevolence and integrity values are more likely to spread their intrinsic concern for others into the wider society in the form of corporate philanthropy. On the other hand, top managers high in benevolence and integrity are likely to contribute to improved managerial credibility and trusting firm-stakeholder relationships, thereby improving corporate financial performance. Therefore, the article makes the argument that both corporate philanthropy and corporate financial performance can better be interpreted as resulting from managers’ benevolence and integrity values. Jaepil Choi is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research is focused on organizational justice perceptions, leadership, work-family interface issues, and corporate social performance. He has published in Academy of Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Leadership Quarterly, Administration & Society, and Management and Organization Review. Heli Wang is currently an Assistant Professor in strategic management at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her areas of interests are in the resource-based view of the firm, stakeholder incentives, risk management and social performance. She has previously published in Academy of Management Review, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Long Range Planning.     

The Influence of Corporate Culture on Managerial Ethical Judgments

The contention that organizational culture influences ethical decision making is not disputable. However, the extent to which it influences ethical decision making in the workplace is a topic for scholarly debate and investigation. There are scholars who argue that, though corporate values are a powerful force in explaining the behavior of individuals and groups within organizations, these values are unperceived, unspoken, and taken for granted. However, there are others who argue that the formalization of corporate values facilitates job and role clarity and is the key to influencing employee behavior. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of the influence of organizational codes of ethics. The findings suggest that, depending upon the particular situation, corporate culture and ethics may mitigate individual personal moral convictions about right and wrong.     

The Pragmatic and Ethical Barriers to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: The Nike Case

Numerous studies have documented the demand for information regarding corporations’ relationships to society. Much recent research has demonstrated why stakeholders need this information, and how it benefits both companies and the public. These studies suggest numerous methods by which companies can effectively disclose corporate social responsibility (CSR) information to the public, but in practice, reporting this type of information is fraught with legal and ethical uncertainty often unexplored in most literature. This article represents a fresh analysis of the numerous pragmatic consequences and legal and ethical complications inherent in CSR reporting, using Nike Corporation as a case example. The article discusses the theoretical viewpoints surrounding the ethics of CSR disclosure, and presents the case of Nike and the complications it encountered while advertising CSR information. The article ends with an analysis of CSR auditing as a possible solution to companies seeking to improve the method and transparency of social responsibility reporting.     

Antecedents of Adopting Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Green Practices

This paper examines the antecedents of organizational commitment for adopting corporate environmental responsibility and green practices in the case of the logistics industry in South Korea. Seven hundred and eighty employees and top management from logistics companies were sampled. The data were analyzed using factor analysis, structural equation modeling techniques, and one-way analysis of variance. The results showed that social expectations, organizational support, and stakeholder pressure were the important antecedents for the adoption of corporate environmental responsibility and green practices. In the path analysis, social expectations had the greatest impact on both stakeholder pressure and green practice adoption. Moreover, we found that the higher the job titles were, the more willing they were to adopt green practices. This indicated that the current top management of Korean logistics companies is well aware of being mandated to make a commitment to corporate environmental responsibility and green practices.     

企业社会责任对员工角色外行为的影响机制

文章旨在揭示企业社会责任对内部利益相关者的行为的影响效果及影响机制,为此,把员工角色外行为作为结果变量,把员工关于企业社会责任的共享知觉(企业社会责任)作为自变量,把员工对组织的信任(组织信任)作为中介变量,探讨企业社会责任对员工角色外行为的直接影响,以及组织信任在两者之间的中介效应。通过对80家企业的696名在职员工进行问卷调查,采用多层线性模型技术对样本数据进行统计分析,文章研究发现,员工关于企业自发责任(针对社会和非社会组织、消费者和员工的责任)的共享知觉对员工角色外行为有显著的影响,而且组织信任在两者关系中起部分中介作用,相反,员工关于企业基本责任(对政府的责任)的共享知觉对员工角色外行为的影响不显著,对组织信任的影响也不显著。基于研究结论,文章提出了相应的管理建议和未来的研究方向。     

Ethical Culture and Employee Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Person-Organization Fit

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.     

The Impact of Trust on Employee Participation in Poland

This paper comments on five problems concerning the transformation of the Polish economy with special emphasis on employee participation and trust. 1) There can be no ethical evaluation or justification of employee participation independent of the goals of the transformation. 2) In Poland this participation is affected by deep distrust towards the whole process of transformation. 3) Privatisation is the topic most often mentioned in this connection. 4) The definition of trust becomes even more crucial when the phenomenon of distrust has to be explained. 5) Institutions can become the substitute of trust.