The Presence of Ethics Codes and Employees’ Internal Locus of Control, Social Aversion/Malevolence, and Ethical Judgment of Incivility: A Study of Smaller Organizations
Journal of Business Ethics 160 (3):657-674 (2019)
Abstract
Workplace incivility is a current challenge in organizations, including smaller firms, as is the development of programs that enhance employees’ treatment of coworkers and ethical decision making. Ethics programs in particular might attenuate tendencies toward interpersonal misconduct, which can harm ethical reasoning. Consequently, this study evaluated the relationships among the presence of ethics codes and employees’ locus of control, social aversion/malevolence, and ethical judgments of incivility using information secured from a sample of businesspersons employed in smaller organizations. Results indicated that ethics code presence was associated with a more internal locus of control and stronger ethical judgment of workplace incivility. Social aversion/malevolence was negatively related to ethical judgment, and internal locus of control was positively related to ethical judgment. Smaller firms should develop ethics codes to manage individuals’ perceptions of control, thus encouraging enhanced ethical reasoning in situations that involve the mistreatment of coworkers; they should also monitor counterproductive tendencies that harm such reasoning and precipitate incivility.My notes
Similar books and articles
Ethics codes and sales professionals' perceptions of their organizations' ethical values.Sean Valentine & Tim Barnett - 2002 - Journal of Business Ethics 40 (3):191 - 200.
Ethics training and businesspersons' perceptions of organizational ethics.Sean Valentine & Gary Fleischman - 2004 - Journal of Business Ethics 52 (4):381 - 390.
Ethics Training and Businesspersons? Perceptions of Organizational Ethics.Sean Valentine & Gary Fleischman - 2004 - Journal of Business Ethics 52 (4):391-400.
Ethics programs, perceived corporate social responsibility and job satisfaction.Sean Valentine & Gary Fleischman - 2008 - Journal of Business Ethics 77 (2):159 - 172.
Communicating ethical values: A study of employee perceptions. [REVIEW]Betsy Stevens - 1999 - Journal of Business Ethics 20 (2):113 - 120.
Ethics Programs, Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Job Satisfaction.Sean Valentine & Gary Fleischman - 2008 - Journal of Business Ethics 77 (2):159-172.
Ethical judgment and whistleblowing intention: Examining the moderating role of locus of control. [REVIEW]Randy K. Chiu - 2003 - Journal of Business Ethics 43 (1-2):65-74.
Codes of Ethics as Signals for Ethical Behavior.Janet S. Adams, Armen Tashchian & Ted H. Shore - 2001 - Journal of Business Ethics 29 (3):199 - 211.
Instilling ethical behavior in organizations: A survey of canadian companies. [REVIEW]R. Murray Lindsay, Linda M. Lindsay & V. Bruce Irvine - 1996 - Journal of Business Ethics 15 (4):393 - 407.
Modeling information ethics: The joint moderating role of locus of control and job insecurity. [REVIEW]Chieh-Peng Lin & Cherng G. Ding - 2003 - Journal of Business Ethics 48 (4):335-346.
Locus of Control and the Moral Reasoning of Managers.Almerinda Forte - 2005 - Journal of Business Ethics 58 (1-3):65-77.
Social costs of environmental justice associated with the practice of green marketing.Janet S. Adams, Armen Tashchian & Ted H. Shore - 2001 - Journal of Business Ethics 29 (3):199-211.
Why ethical codes constitute an unconscionable regression.Michael Schwartz - 2000 - Journal of Business Ethics 23 (2):173 - 184.
Ethics codes and professionals' tolerance of societal diversity.Sean Valentine & Gary Fleischman - 2002 - Journal of Business Ethics 40 (4):301 - 312.
Antecedents of managers moral reasoning.Almerinda Forte - 2004 - Journal of Business Ethics 51 (4):313-347.
Analytics
Added to PP
2018-06-15
Downloads
21 (#543,642)
6 months
1 (#452,962)
2018-06-15
Downloads
21 (#543,642)
6 months
1 (#452,962)
Historical graph of downloads
Citations of this work
Is social desirability bias important for effective ethics research? A review of literature.Siew Imm Ng, Guan Cheng Teoh, Jo Ann Ho & Houng Chien Tan - 2021 - Asian Journal of Business Ethics 10 (2):205-243.
A crisis that changed the banking scenario in India: exploring the role of ethics in business.Sushma Nayak & Jyoti Chandiramani - 2022 - Asian Journal of Business Ethics 11 (1):7-32.
Occupational health and safety in small businesses: The rationale behind compliance.Elriza Esterhuyzen - 2022 - African Journal of Business Ethics 16 (1):42-61.
Modeling Character: Servant Leaders, Incivility and Patient Outcomes.Mitchell J. Neubert, Emily M. Hunter & Remy C. Tolentino - 2021 - Journal of Business Ethics 178 (1):261-278.
How to effectively communicate your code of ethics: An empirical study using a cluster randomized control trial experiment.Eugenio Gómez-Alatorre, Juncal Cuñado & Ignacio Ferrero - 2022 - Business and Society Review 127 (1):69-96.
References found in this work
Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to Do It Right.Linda Klebe Treviño - 2010 - Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
A Review of The Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 1996–2003. [REVIEW]Michael J. O’Fallon & Kenneth D. Butterfield - 2005 - Journal of Business Ethics 59 (4):375 - 413.
A Review of The Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 1996–2003. [REVIEW]Michael J. O’Fallon & Kenneth D. Butterfield - 2005 - Journal of Business Ethics 59 (4):375-413.
A Review of the Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 2004–2011. [REVIEW]Jana L. Craft - 2013 - Journal of Business Ethics 117 (2):221-259.
Toward the development of a multidimensional scale for improving evaluations of business ethics.R. E. Reidenbach & D. P. Robin - 1990 - Journal of Business Ethics 9 (8):639 - 653.