Executive attitudes,organizational size and ethical issues: Perspectives on a service industry

Responding to Randall and Gibson's (1990) call for more rigorous methodologies in empirically-based ethics research, this paper develops propositions — based on both previous ethics research as well as the larger organizational behavior literature — examining the impact of attitudes, leadership, presence/absence of ethical codes and organizational size on corporate ethical behavior. The results, which come from a mail survey of 149 companies in a major U.S. service industry, indicate that attitudes and organizational size are the best predictors of ethical behavior. Leadership and ethical codes contribute little to predicting ethical behavior. The paper concludes with an assessment of the relevant propositions, as well as a delineation of future research needs.Dr. Paul R. Murphy is currently Associate Professor of Business Logistics at John Carroll University. His previous publications have appeared in journals such as theTransportation Journal, Transportation Research, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Global Marketing, andIndustrial Marketing Management.Dr. Jonathan E. Smith is Associate Professor of Management and Marketing at John Carroll University. He teaches courses in organizational behavior and human resource management. His current research interests are in business ethics, leadership and organizational uses of information. Dr. Smith consults with organizations regarding management development, ethics and business/organizational communications.Dr. James M. Daley is Associate Dean at John Carroll University and is a consultant to business, government, and academia; his publications include one book and over 40 articles.