Ethical Reasoning in an Equitable Relief Innocent Spouse Context

This study assessed the relationship between ethical reasoning and the decision to grant equitable relief using an innocent spouse vignette where a wife had partial knowledge of her husband's tax fraud. A path model derived from various ethics theories was tested using a sample of 357 accounting, legal, and human resource professionals, and after careful examination of the measurement and structural relationships in the path model, the results provided partial support for the study's hypotheses. Moral intensity was marginally associated with an increased recognition of an ethical issue and positively related ethical judgments made in an innocent spouse situation, and moral intensity was also negatively related to the decision to grant relief. The ethical judgment variable was positively related to the decision to grant relief, while ethical issue awareness was marginally associated with the decision to deny relief. The implications of these findings are discussed, along with the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.     

Strategic Choice and Organisational Context in HRM in the UK Hotel Sector

Human resource management in the UK hotel industry is typically held to be informal, instrumental and associated with poor employment relations. Some studies, however, have identified incidences of more formal, high-commitment HRM indicating greater diversity in employment practices. Using original research undertaken in south-west England, this article examines this diversity and the influence of organisational context in the formation of HRM strategy. By identifying patterns of employee relations practice it is possible to examine the influence of market factors and establishment size and the extent to which there is scope for strategic choice in HRM. The research indicates that whilst larger hotels operating in stable product markets might be more likely to display formal or strategic approaches to employee relations compared to the industry as a whole, this sub-sector still appears significantly divided in the extent to which managers feel able, willing or compelled to invest in associated practices.     

Loyalty as an Organisational Virtue

Loyalty, commitment and self-interest explored in Japanese and Western companies. The author is Principal Lecturer in the Department of Business Studies at Manchester Polytechnic.     

The Effect of Moral Intensity on Ethical Judgment

Following an extensive review of the moral intensity literature, this article reports the findings of two studies (one between-subjects, the other within-subject) that examined the effect of manipulated and perceived moral intensity on ethical judgment. In the between-subjects study participants judged actions taken in manipulated high moral intensity scenarios to be more unethical than the same actions taken in manipulated low moral intensity scenarios. Findings were mixed for the effect of perceived moral intensity. Both probable magnitude of consequences (a factor consisting of magnitude of consequences, probability of effect, and temporal immediacy) and social consensus had a significant effect; proximity did not. In the within-subject study manipulated moral intensity had a significant effect on ethical judgment, but perceived moral intensity did not. Regression of ethical judgment on age, gender, major, and the three perceived moral intensity factors was significant between-subjects, but not within-subject. Ethical judgment was found to be a more robust predictor of intention than perceived moral intensity using a within-subject design. Joan M. McMahon is an Assistant Professor of Management in the Luter School of Business at Christopher Newport University, teaching courses in Organizational Behavior, Leadership, and Human Resources. She has a B.A. in Speech from the State University of New York, College at Oneonta; an M. Ed. in Early Childhood Education from James Madison University; and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Robert J. Harvey is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Ohio State University. Dr. Harvey has authored a number of articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Personality Assessment, Personnel Psychology, and others. He is the author of the chapter on job analysis in the Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.     

Ethical Context and Ethical Decision Making: Examination of an Alternative Statistical Approach for Identifying Variable Relationships

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.     

企业市场行为的伦理判断与伦理提升

企业市场行为是企业产品的市场实现过程,这一过程实现的不仅是企业产品的经济价值,同时也是产品伦理价值的附加和实现过程。企业伦理价值的市场附加过程包括从市场决策、伦理判断到市场评价、反馈调整的过程,这一过程影响于市场决策的伦理因素,通过市场行为的伦理判断和市场评价的提升等过程,最终完成企业伦理价值在市场行为中的产品附加过程。     

Codes of Conduct in Organisational Context: From Cascade to Lattice-Work of Codes

Codes of conduct have proliferated not only at company level, but also at supra- and sub-organisational levels. However, the latter have remained an under-researched area within the CSR literature. Hence, this article examined what range of organisational and sub-organisational codes large companies – here the FTSE100 constituent companies – have developed. The article isolated seven different types of organisational and sub-organisational codes, which together with six supra-organisational ones form a lattice-work of intermeshing documents. Such a division of labour between types of codes has two significant implications for CSR practice and research. In terms of corporate practice, an analysis of the content of the organisational and sub-organisational codes indicates that companies seem to enter into generalised commitments in the more visible documents, whereas other aspects, in particular more coercive aspects of CSR, get buried in the lower levels of the code hierarchy. In terms of research methodology, the differentiation between codes highlights that an analysis of codes of conduct alone is insufficient to establish what the CSR approach of a company is. Rather, it is the entire range of codes at organisational and sub-organisational levels that scholars of codes of conduct should be concerned with.     

How Group Loyalties Shape Ethical Judgment and Punishment Preferences

Once a matter of safety and survival, loyalty is a moral principle deeply rooted in human evolution—one that may wield a profound influence on ethical judgment and conceptions of just punishment. Consumers live in a complex Web of loyalty obligations woven through affiliations with marketers, fellow consumers, and other groups. This article examines how such affiliations shape consumers’ judgments of ethically controversial marketing conduct and preferences for punishment. In general, the more unethical an act is judged to be, the more severe the preferred punishment. However, the findings show that although consumers judge a controversial marketing act as more unethical when an in‐group member targets the consumer's in‐group (vs. out‐group), a more lenient punishment is preferred (Study 1). Additionally, the extent to which one embraces loyalty as a moral value appears to mediate the relationship between group affiliations and preferred punishment (Study 2). This is a bias participants deny having, but believe others exhibit. This research finds evidence of loyalty to the principle of loyalty itself. A person will view an out‐group member transgressing a member from that same out‐group with disdain similar to that accorded an in‐group member who transgresses the in‐group, because the innate badness of the act is compounded by the stigma of disloyalty.     

Evaluation as an Organisational Development Tool

What do you do with a failed evaluation? That is, can positive outcomes come out of a situation where a return on investment cannot be demonstrated? This study highlights the value of the ROI method in providing direction at the macro‐level even when level 4 and 5 evaluations are unable to be ascertained. By taking a macro‐level view, the researcher was able to provide positive feedback and recommendations for further organisational development.     

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.     

Creating an Ethical Work Context: A Pathway to Generate Social Capital in the Firm

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.     

Characterizing Ethical Cases: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Individual Differences, Organisational Climate, and Leadership on Ethical Decision-Making

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the unique impact of individual differences (e.g. gender, managerial experience), social culture, ethical leadership, and ethical climate on the manner in which individuals analyse and interpret an organisational scenario. Furthermore, we sought to explore whether the manner in which a scenario is initially interpreted by respondents (i.e. as a legal issue, ethical issue, and/or ethical dilemma) influenced subsequent recognition of the relevant stakeholders involved and the identification of intra- and extra-organisational variables significant to the scenario depicted. Data for this study were anonymously collected from professional samples in Russia (Moscow region) and in New Zealand. Findings show a strong effect of social culture (i.e. working in New Zealand or working in Russia) on the manner in which respondents characterised the scenario, on the experience of ethical climate and ethical leadership in their organisations, and on the ability to identify intra- and extra-organisational variables responsible for the situation presented in the scenario, above and beyond other individual and contextual factors.     

The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment

This article reports the findings of a survey examining if there are gender and career stage differences between male and female practitioners regarding ethical judgment. The results show that, on average, females adopted a more strict ethical stance than their male counterparts on 7 out of 19 vignettes. Males on the other hand, demonstrated a more ethical stance than their female counterparts on 2 out of 19 vignettes. The results furthermore indicate there is a significant difference in ethical judgment across career stages. Overall, it appears that practitioners in later career stages display higher ethical judgment than practitoners in lower career stages. Implications are provided for both practitioners and academicians.     

Ethical Judgment of Food Fraud. Effects on Consumer Behavior

This study brings important insights for the food industry by addressing how consumers ethically judge or evaluate unethical firm behavior, in specific reference to food fraud, and if and to what extent that judgment affects the consumer–brand relationship and consumer behavior. it is an empirical investigation of the unethical intentional mislabeling in the U. S food industry. The paper analysis if there are statistically significant associations between brand attachment, ethical judgment, brand commitment, and purchase intention. Quantitative data (151) was collected about three different leading manufacturing food brands (three studies). Correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Findings reveal the important relation between all the constructs. Significant effects on how consumers ethically judged this brand transgression. Thus, it was found that as consumers judged this action as more unethical, the intentions to both stay committed to and purchase the brand were considerably damaged.     

Ethical Context, Organizational Commitment, and Person-Organization Fit

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among ethical context, organizational commitment, and person-organization fit using a sample of 304 young working adults. Results indicated that corporate ethical values signifying different cultural aspects of an ethical context were positively related to both organizational commitment and person-organization fit. Organizational commitment was also positively related to person-organization fit. The findings suggest that the development and promotion of an ethical context might enhance employees' workplace experiences, and companies should consider adopting ethical policies that support principled conduct, punish unethical actions, and increase individual perceptions of an ethical company environment.     

Ethical Judgment and Radical Business Changes: The Role of Entrepreneurial Perspicacity

Journal of Business Ethics - This study examines the implications of practical reason for entrepreneurial activities. Our study is based on Thomas Aquinas’ interpretation of such virtue, with...     

The Influence of Perceived Importance of an Ethical Issue on Moral Judgment,Moral Obligation,and Moral Intent

The study extends and tests the issue contingent four-component model of ethical decision-making to include moral obligation. A web-based questionnaire was used to gauge the influence of perceived importance of an ethical issue on moral judgment and moral intent. Perceived importance of an ethical issue was found to be a predictor of moral judgment but not of moral intent as predicted. Moral obligation is suggested to be a process that occurs after a moral judgment is made and explained a significant portion of the variance in moral intent. Electronic supplementary material   The online version of this article (doi: ) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Russell Haines is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology at Old Dominion University. He received his B.S. and Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. from The University of Houston. His research interests are in laboratory experiments, ethical decision- making, supply chain decision-making, and computer- mediated communication. Marc D. Street is an Assistant Professor of Management at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. He received his B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park (1983); his MBA from the University of Baltimore (1993); and his Ph.D. from the Florida State University (1998). His primary research interests are in the areas of decision-making and business ethics. Dr. Street’s research has been published in journals such as Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of World Business, among others. Douglas Haines is Associate Professor of Marketing and Department Chair of the Department of Business in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Idaho. Before acquiring his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, he worked for 15 years in various positions at the H.J. Heinz company including Vice President of the Weight Watchers Foods Division of Heinz USA. His research interests include decision making, particularly in the marketing channel context, inter firm relationships, and the development of the market for biodiesel and other alternative energy sources.     

The Impact of Ethical Ideologies,Moral Intensity,and Social Context on Sales-Based Ethical Reasoning

Previous research indicates that ethical ideologies, issue-contingencies, and social context can impact ethical reasoning in different business situations. However, the manner in which these constructs work together to shape different steps of the ethical decision-making process is not always clear. The purpose of this study was to address these issues by exploring the influence of idealism and relativism, perceived moral intensity in a decision-making situation, and social context on the recognition of an ethical issue and ethical intention. Utilizing a sales-based scenario and multiple ethics measures included on a self-report questionnaire, data were collected from a regional sample of business students, most of whom had modest work experience. The results indicated that perceived moral intensity was associated with increased ethical issue recognition and ethical intention. Idealism was also associated with increased ethical issue recognition, and relativism was associated with decreased ethical intention. Social consensus was positively related to ethical issue recognition and intention, while competitive context was inversely related to ethical intention. Finally, ethical issue recognition was associated with increased ethical intention. Idealism, moral intensity, social consensus, and work experience worked together as predictors of ethical issue recognition, whereas recognition of an ethical issue, relativism, moral intensity, social consensus, and competitive context worked together to predict ethical intention.