Abstract
Managers throughout the world regularly face ethical dilemmas that have important, and perhaps complex, professional and personal implications. Further, societal consequences of decisions made can be far-reaching. In this study, 210 financial services managers from Australia, Chile, Ecuador and the United States were queried about their ethical beliefs when faced with four diverse dilemmas. In addition, the situational context was altered so the respondent viewed each dilemma from a top management position and from a position of economic hardship. Results suggest a complex interaction of situation, culture and issue when individuals make ethical judgments. Specifically, Chileans were found to have different beliefs about sex discrimination and child labor dilemmas when compared to their colleagues from the other three nations. Chileans and Australians also disagreed on the bribery dilemma. Anglo managers were more likely than Latin American managers to change their ethical responses when the situation was altered. For multinational firms interested in maintaining healthy ethical climates, the findings suggest that culturally contingent ethical guidelines, or policies adapted to the local customs, must be considered. Further, managers must remain aware of issues related to specific situations, both internal and external, that would cause subordinates to alter their moral judgment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abratt, R., D. Nel and N. Higgs: 1992, ‘An Examination of the Ethical Beliefs of Managers using Selected Scenarios in a Cross-Cultural Environment’, Journal of Business Ethics 11, 29–35.
Adler, N.: 1983, ‘Cross-Cultural Management Research: The Ostrich and the Trend’, Academy of Management Review 8(2), 226–232.
Alexander, C. and M. Becker: 1978, ‘The Use of Vignettes in Survey Research’, Public Opinion Quarterly 42, 93–104.
Alreck, P. and R. Settle: 1995, The Survey Research Handbook, 2nd ed. (Irwin, Homewood, IL).
Beltramini, R., R. Peterson and G. Kozmetsky: 1984, ‘Concerns of College Students Regarding Business Ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics 3, 24–40.
Boatright, J.: 1995, Cases in Ethics and the Conduct of Business (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Chen, C., X. Chen and J. Meindl: 1998, ‘How Can Cooperation be Fostered? The Cultural Effects of Individualism-Collectivism’, Academy of Management Review 23(2), 285–304.
Davis, M., N. Johnson and D. Ohlmer: 1998, ‘Issue-Contingent Effects on Ethical Decision-Making: A Cross-Cultural Comparison’, Journal of Business Ethics 17, 373–389.
Delery, J. and D. Doty.: 1996, ‘Modes of Theorizing in Strategic Human Resource Management: Tests of Universalistic, Contingency, and Configurational Performance Predictions’, Academy of Management Journal 39(4), 802–835.
Donaldson, T.: 1989, The Ethics of International Business (Oxford University Press, New York).
Donaldson T. and P. Werhane: 1996, Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach (Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ).
Dorfman, P. and J. Howell: 1988, ‘Dimensions of National Culture and Effective Leadership Patterns: Hofstede Revisited', in R. N. Farmer and E. G. McGoun (eds.), Advances in International Comparative Management ( JAI Press), pp. 127–150.
Dubinsky, A. and B. Loken: 1989, ‘Analyzing Ethical Decision Making’, Journal of Business Ethics 8, 83–107.
Fritzsche, D. and H. Becker: 1984, ‘Linking Managerial Behavior to Ethical Philosophy-An Empirical Investigation’, Academy of Management Journal 27, 166–175.
Geletkanycz, M.: 1997, ‘The Salience of "Cultures Consequences": The Effects of Cultural Values on Top Executive Commitment to the Status Quo’, Strategic Management Journal 18, 615–634.
Habermas: 1979, Communication and the Evolution of Society, translated by Thomas McCarthy (Beacon Press, Boston).
Hoffman, J., G. Couch and B. Lamont: 1998, ‘The Effect of Firm Profit versus Personal Economic Well Being on the Level of Ethical Responses Given by Managers’, Journal of Business Ethics 17, 239–244.
Hofstede, G.: 1980, Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (Sage, Beverly Hills, CA).
Hofstede, G.: 1997, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind (McGraw-Hill, New York).
Hofstede, G. and M. H. Bond: 1988, ‘The Confucius Connection: From Cultural Roots to Economic Growth’, Organizational Dynamics 16(4), 5–21.
Hosmer, L.: 2000, ‘It's Time for Empirical Research in Business Ethics’, Business Ethics Quarterly 10(1), 233–242.
Husted, B.: 1999, ‘Wealth, Culture, and Corruption’, Journal of International Business Studies 30(2), 339–360.
Husted, B., J. Dozier, J. McMahon and M. Katten: 1996, ‘The Impact of Cross-National Carriers of Business Ethics on Attitudes about Questionable Practices and form of Moral Reasoning’, Journal of International Business Studies (Second Qtr), 391–411.
Hunt, S. and S. Vitell: 1986, ‘A General Theory of Marketing Ethics’, Journal of Macromarketing 6, 5–16.
Jones, T.: 1991, ‘Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model’, Academy of Management Review 16(2), 366–395.
Josephson, M.: 1989, ‘Inventory of Ethical Issues in Business’, Ethics: Easier Said than Done 2(1), 49.
Keppel, G. and S. Zedeck: 1989, Data Analysis for Research Designs (W.H. Freeman and Company, New York).
Kohlberg, L.: 1984, Philosophy of Moral Development (Harper and Row, New York).
Pablo, A.: 1994, ‘Determinants of Acquisition Integration Level: A Decision-Making Perspective’, Academy of Management Journal 37(4), 803–836.
Premeaux, S. and R. Mondy: 1993, ‘Linking Management Behavior to Ethical Philosophy’, Journal of Business Ethics 12, 349–357.
Rest, J.: 1986, Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory (Praeger, New York).
Robertson, C. and P. Fadil: 1999, ‘Ethical Decision Making in Multinational Organizations: A Culture-Based Model’, Journal of Business Ethics 19(4), 385–392.
Robertson, D.: 1993, ‘Empiricism in Business Ethics: Suggested Research Directions’, Journal of Business Ethics 12, 585–599.
Ronen, S.: 1986, Comparative and Multinational Management ( John Wiley and Sons, New York).
Shane, S.: 1995, ‘Uncertainty Avoidance and the Preference for Innovation Championing Roles’, Journal of International Business Studies 26, 47–68.
Treviño, L.: 1986, ‘Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model’, Academy of Management Journal 11, 601–617.
Triandis, H., R. Bontempo, M. Villareal, M. Asai and N. Lucca: 1988, ‘Individualism and Collectivism: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Self-Ingroup Relationships’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54(2), 323–338.
Trompenaars, F.: 1994, Riding the Waves of Culture (Irwin, New York, NY).
Velasquez, M.: 2000, ‘Globalization and the Failure of Ethics’, Business Ethics Quarterly 10(1), 343–352.
Vitell, S., S. Nwachukwu and J. Barnes: 1993, ‘The Effects of Culture on Ethical Decision-Making: An Application of Hofstede's Typology’, Journal of Business Ethics 12, 753–760.
Weber, J.: 1990, ‘Managers' Moral Reasoning: Assessing their Responses to Three Moral Dilemmas’, Human Relations 43(7), 687–702.
Wyld, D., C. Jones and S. Cappel: 1993, ‘Nothing like the Real Thing? An Empirical Look at the use of Managerial and Non-managerial Student Subjects in Ethical Inquiry in Management', Paper presented at the 1993 Southern Academy of Management Meetings, Atlanta, GA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Robertson, C.J., Crittenden, W.F., Brady, M.K. et al. Situational Ethics Across Borders: A Multicultural Examination. Journal of Business Ethics 38, 327–338 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016067231599
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016067231599