Business Ethics Quarterly 18 (2):233-252 (2008)
Abstract |
Senior managers are important to the successful management of ethics in organizations. Therefore, their perceptions of organizational ethics are important. In this study, we propose that senior managers are likely to have a more positive perception of organizational ethics than lower level employees do largely because of their managerial role and their corresponding identification with the organization and need to protect the organization’s image as well as their own identity. Bycontrast, lower level employees are more likely to be cynical about the organization’s ethics. In order to compare senior managers’ and lower level employees’ perceptions of ethics in the organization, we surveyed randomly selected senior managers and lower level employees in three firms. We found that perceptions of ethics in the organization differed predictably across levels, with senior managers’ perceptions being significantly more positive and lower level employees’ perceptions being more negative. Implications for practice and research are discussed
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Keywords | Applied Philosophy Business and Professional Ethics Social Science |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
ISBN(s) | 1052-150X |
DOI | 10.5840/beq200818217 |
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Citations of this work BETA
Is Formal Ethics Training Merely Cosmetic? A Study of Ethics Training and Ethical Organizational Culture.Danielle E. Warren, Joseph P. Gaspar & William S. Laufer - 2014 - Business Ethics Quarterly 24 (1):85-117.
Organizational Ethics Research: A Systematic Review of Methods and Analytical Techniques.Michael S. McLeod, G. Tyge Payne & Robert E. Evert - 2016 - Journal of Business Ethics 134 (3):429-443.
Moral Agents in Organisations? The Significance of Ethical Organisation Culture for Middle Managers’ Exercise of Moral Agency in Ethical Problems.Minna-Maaria Hiekkataipale & Anna-Maija Lämsä - 2019 - Journal of Business Ethics 155 (1):147-161.
Do Ethical Leaders Get Ahead? Exploring Ethical Leadership and Promotability.Michael E. Brown - 2010 - Business Ethics Quarterly 20 (2):215-236.
The Shortened Corporate Ethical Virtues Scale: Measurement Invariance and Mean Differences Across Two Occupational Groups.Mari Huhtala, Maiju Kangas, Muel Kaptein & Taru Feldt - 2018 - Business Ethics: A European Review 27 (3):238-247.
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