Skip to main content
Log in

Willingness to Report Unethical Behavior in Exit Surveys

  • Published:
Teaching Business Ethics

Abstract

The present study examined MBA respondents' potential willingness to discuss different unethical practices or behaviors via an employee exit survey. Factor analyses showed that the unethical issues could be categorized into five factors: illegal corporate activities, unfair management actions directed toward employees, illegal human resource activities, small scale dishonesty, and mistreatment of organizational constituencies with varying degrees of willingness to talk about these practices. The respondents' willingness to discuss each of the five factors differed statistically. Discussion centered upon means of using such an ethics exit survey and evaluating the utility of its information.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bruce, S. D.: 1998,‘Exit Interview: Potent Management Tool’ Chemical Engineering 95, 105–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, J. P.: 1976,‘Psychometric Theory’ in M. D. Dunnette (ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Rand McNally, Chicago, pp. 185–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drost, D. A., F. P. O'Brien and S. Marsh: 1987,‘Exit Interviews: Master the Possibilities’ Personnel Administrator 32(2), 104–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garretson, P. and K. S. Teel: 1982,‘The Exit Interview: Effective Tool or Meaningless Gesture?’ Personnel 4, 70–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A.: 1989,‘The Exit Interview: Changing Your Expectations’ Supervision 50(9), 12–13, 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A.: 1993, A Critical Evaluation of the Army Career Transitions Survey: a Suggested Approach for Reformation (SSP-TCN 93–300), Research Triangle Park, Inc., Battelle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A.: 1997,‘Lessons in Leaving’ Security Management 41(3), 61–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A. and D. Duhon: 1991,‘Assessing Intended Employee Behavior in Exit Interviews’ Journal of Psychology 125, 83–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A., T. W. Elig, E. M. Ginexi and A. J. Bright: 1995,‘The Impact of Identifi-cation and Type of Separation on Measures of Satisfaction and Missing Data in the Exit Survey Process’ Military Psychology 7, 235–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A., S. Fricker and J. W. Beard: 1995,‘The Impact of Ethical Ideology on Modifiers of Ethical Decisions and Suggested Punishment for Ethical Infractions’ Journal of Business Ethics 14, 497–510.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A. and S. B. Knouse: 1989,‘Fairwell to the Fruitless Exit Interview’ Personnel 66(9), 60–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A., S. B. Knouse and D. N. Ashworth: 1991,‘Impression Management and the Exit Interview’ in R. A. Giacalone and P. Rosenfeld P. (eds.), Applied Impression Management, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 97–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A., S. B. Knouse and A. Montagliani: 1997,‘Motivation for and Prevention of Honest Responding in Exit Interviews and Surveys’ Journal of Psychology 131, 438–448.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A. and P. Rosenfeld: 1989, Impression Management in the Organization, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A. and P. Rosenfeld: 1990, Family Separation and Petty Regulations as Dissatisfiers on the Navy Separation Questionnaire (NPRDC TN–90–13), Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, San Diego, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacalone, R. A., L. Stuckey and J. W. Beard: 1996,‘Conditions Influencing Biased Responding in Exit Interviews and Surveys’ Organizational Development Journal 14, 27–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilb, M.: 1978,‘The Standardized Exit Interview’ Personnel Journal 6, 327–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinrichs, J. R.: 1971,‘Employees Coming and Going’ Personnel 48, 30–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinrichs, J. R.: 1975,‘Measurement of Reasons for Resignation of Professionals: Questionnaire versus Company and Consultant Exit Interviews’ Journal of Applied Psychology 60, 530–532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Josephson Institute: 1989,‘An Inventory of Ethical Issues in Business’ Ethics 2(1), 49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knouse, S. B., J. W. Beard, H. G. Pollard and R. A. Giacalone: 1996,‘Willingness to Discuss Exit Interview Topics: The Impact of Attitudes toward the Supervisor and Authority’ Journal of Psychology 130, 249–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knouse, S. B. and R. A. Giacalone: 1992,‘Discussion Willingness in the Exit Interview: A Role-Play Investigation’ Canadian Journal of Administrative Science 9, 24–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T. W., S. J. Ashford, J. P. Walsh and R. T. Mowday: 1992,‘Commitment Propensity, Organizational Commitment, and Voluntary Turnover: A Longitudinal Study of Organ-izational Entry Processes’ Journal of Management 18, 15–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefkowitz, J. and M. L. Katz: 1969,‘Validity of Exit Interviews’ Personnel Psychology 22, 445–455.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martindale, L. D.: 1988,‘Automating the Analysis of Employee Turnover’ Personnel 65, 19–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, J. J.: 1996,‘How Much is the Training Worth’ Training and Development, 20–24.

  • Trice, H. M. and J. M. Beyer: 1993, The Cultures of Work Organizations, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulschak, F. L.: 1983, Human Resource Development, Reston Publishing, Reston, VA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Ven, A. H. and A. L. Delbecq: 1974,‘The Effectiveness of Nominal, Delphi, and Interacting Group Decision Making Processes’ Academy of Management Journal 17, 605–621.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehrenberg, S.: 1980,‘The Exit Interview: Why Bother?’ Supervisory Management 5, 20–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, R. H. and J. F. Macauley: 1985,‘Exit Interviews’ Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 28(3), 39–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zarandona, J. L. and M. A. Camuso: 1985,‘A Study of Exit Interviews: Does the Last Word Count?’ Personnel 62, 47–48.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Giacalone, R.A., Knouse, S.B. & Pollard, H.G. Willingness to Report Unethical Behavior in Exit Surveys. Teaching Business Ethics 3, 307–319 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009879913612

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009879913612

Keywords

Navigation