Organizational Ethics Research: A Systematic Review of Methods and Analytical Techniques
Michael S. McLeod • G. Tyge Payne •
Robert E. Evert
Received: 9 January 2014 / Accepted: 16 October 2014 / Published online: 1 November 2014
� Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Abstract Ethics are of interest to business scholars
because they influence decisions, behaviors, and outcomes.
While scholars have increasingly shown interest in busi-
ness ethics as a research topic, there are a mounting
number of studies that examine ethical issues at the orga-
nizational level of analysis. This manuscript reports the
results of a systematic review of empirical research on
organizational ethics published in a broad sample of busi-
ness journals over a 33-year period (1980–2012). A total of
184 articles are analyzed to reveal gaps in the literature
and, subsequently, lead to suggestions for future research;
this is done in an effort to stimulate and perpetuate high
quality research that more broadly impacts business
scholars and practitioners.
Keywords Analytics � Methods � Statistics � Empirical � Ethics � Virtues � Organization � Firm
Introduction
Ethics play an important role in business because they
influence decisions, behaviors, and outcomes at multiple
levels of analysis (Majluf and Navarrete 2011; Mayer-
Sommer and Roshwalb 1996; Payne et al. 2013; Shao et al.
2013; Somers 2001). Scholars have increasingly shown
interest in business ethics as a research topic, with related
research nearly tripling from 2000 to 2006 as compared to
the entire previous decade (Tenbrunsel and Smith-Crowe
2008). Recognizing this change, Tenbrunsel and Smith-
Crowe (2008, p. 545) state that ethics research ‘‘has
developed from a small niche area to a burgeoning stand-
alone field.’’ Similarly, Wright and Goodstein (2007,
p. 929) note that many scholars and practitioners have
‘‘rediscovered the importance of individual character
strengths and organizational virtues.’’ Indeed, the large
number of meta-analyses and literature reviews pertaining
to business ethics is testament to continued interest in the
topic (Trevino et al. 2014).
With increased attention given to business ethics in
general, there are a mounting number of studies that
examine ethical issues at levels of analysis beyond the
individual. For instance, Nielsen and Massa (2013) recently
discussed how scholars need to better understand how
institutional systems can influence the ethical nature and
behaviors of both individuals and organizations. At the
organizational level, which is of particular interest to this
review, there is growing interest in ethics because indi-
viduals rely on the structures, processes, and the people
around them when facing ethical dilemmas (Trevino 1986).
The contextual factors of organizations are generally
referred to as the ethical infrastructure and include such
aspects as codes, programs, climate, and culture (Tenb-
runsel and Smith-Crowe 2008; Trevino et al. 2014). Of
late, positive organizational ethics (POE) has emerged as a
strong area of interest (Sekerka et al. 2014), where POE
research seeks to understand the ‘‘factors that enable
exceptional, strong ethical conditions in organizational
life’’ (Bright et al. 2014, p. 445). In particular, the positive
organizational scholarship (POS) area of research, which
examines attributes, processes and outcomes of
M. S. McLeod � G. T. Payne (&) � R. E. Evert Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University, Lubbock,
TX 79409, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
M. S. McLeod
e-mail: [email protected]
R. E. Evert
e-mail: [email protected]
123
J Bus Ethics (2016) 134:429–443
DOI 10.1007/s10551-014-2436-9
organizations (Cameron et al. 2003), has contributed to the
increased study of organizational ethics through its focus
on constructs such as resilience, positive deviance, and
organizational virtuousness (e.g., Cameron 2003; Spreitzer
and Sonenshein 2004; Sutcliffe and Vogus 2003).
While organizational ethics research is taking on a more
prominent role in the overall business and ethics literatures, to
date there has not been a systematic review of the literature to
ascertain the status of the field in terms of empirics (i.e.,
methods and statistical techniques). Empirics, generally, are
an important consideration because they influence the devel-
opment of knowledge and, hence, practical implications as
well as future research (Sackett and Larson 1990; Scandura
and Williams 2000; Schriescheim et al. 1993). Empirical
considerations are specifically important to organizational-
level ethics research because it commonly borrows from
individual-level concepts and theories. While borrowing from
lower levels of analysis has long been a fruitful endeavor for
organizational theory in general (e.g., organizational learning,
organizational identity), doing so comes with unique diffi-
culties, often because of misspecification (Klein and Koz-
lowski 2000). Basically, both theoretical and empirical
concernsexist because organizationscannotbeconsideredthe
equivalent of individuals nor can they be approached simply
as the sum of the individuals working within them (McKenny
et al. 2013a; Whetten et al. 2009). Hence, research at the
organizational level is unique and should be considered
independently in order for the field to progress.
The purpose of this review is to ascertain the progress
and limitations of the current empirical research on busi-
ness ethics conducted at the organizational level. Specifi-
cally, this review addresses the empirical challenges faced
by organizational ethics researchers by systematically
reviewing the methods and techniques published in the 45
academic journals listed by the Financial Times. The
Financial Times list is commonly used in compiling the
research ranks of business schools and, therefore, allows us
to not only capture research published in the top journals,
but also obtain a large multidisciplinary breadth of research
across business fields. Overall, we wish to move beyond a
basic conjecture of the empirical challenges in organiza-
tional ethics research (e.g., Chun 2005; Kaptein 2010;
Payne et al. 2011a, b, 2013; Wright and Goodstein 2007)
and toward a structured understanding of what these
challenges are and where they occur within the extant lit-
erature. For example, some of these challenges include
appropriately elevating individual-level constructs to the
organizational level (e.g., Chun 2005), assessing the gen-
eralizability of organizational ethics and how ethics may
differ across organizational types (e.g., Payne et al. 2011a,
b), and developing and obtaining accurate measures of
organizational ethics (e.g., Douglas et al. 2001; Houghton
et al. 2009).
Armed with a greater understanding of the uncertainties
associated with the empirical study of organizational-level
ethics research, scholars can make more ‘‘effective use of
scientific evidence’’ and improve the research in this
growing and important field of study (Rousseau et al. 2008,
p. 475, italics in original). Further, by highlighting the
methodological challenges and opportunities found within
organizational ethics research, our review responds to
scholarly calls for the enhancement and enrichment of
empirics in the field of business ethics (e.g., Robertson
2008; Tenbrunsel and Smith-Crowe 2008; Wright and
Goodstein 2007).
Method and Results
Sample
In order to get a comprehensive and high quality sample of
articles from the primary business fields such as account-
ing, finance, information technology, management, and
marketing, we electronically searched the 45 journals listed
in the Financial Times, with no restriction on year of
publication, using the keywords organization or firm along
with ethic, moral, virtue, or virtuousness. Virtue and vir-
tuousness were included as key terms because virtue is the
ethical character of individuals and organizations and
integrates a set of values and beliefs in support of ethical
character traits (Chun 2005; Payne et al. 2011a, b; Solomon
1992; Williams 1985). Simply put, virtues (e.g., justice,
courage, truthfulness, etc.) play a significant role in how
business practices are affected by the organizations in
which the practices are embedded (MacIntyre 2013; Moore
2002). Further, there has been a notable increase in atten-
tion being given to virtue ethics, which places special
emphasis on moral character, and its application to orga-
nizations (e.g., Chun 2005; Hartman 2008; Rego et al.
2010; Payne et al. 2013). Moral was also included as a key
term because of its association with virtue, as well as
because it is often used synonymously with ethics. Further,
as argued by Moore (1999, 2002), organizations can be
considered moral agents and a source for moral develop-
ment in individuals.
Each of the 1,122 articles initially identified in the
electronic search was screened to determine if it was
empirical and addressed ethics at the organizational level
of analysis. Articles that did not clearly examine ethics at
the organizational level, or had only a tangentially related
discussion regarding organizational ethics, were not
included in our sample. For instance, some studies focused
more on the difference between individuals, such as senior
managers and lower level employees (Trevino et al. 2008)
or tax partners and non-tax partners (Bobek et al. 2010),
430 M. S. McLeod et al.
123
instead of the organizational collective. As a result, these
types of studies were not included in our sample. In other
words, while individuals can be a part of the study, the
organization had to be the main focus of the study to be
included in the sample.
Overall, a total of 184 empirical articles were deemed
appropriate for our review, consisting of articles published
between 1980 and 2012. Of these, 77 (42 %) were pub-
lished in the last five years of our sampling time frame
(2008–2012)—a testament to the growing scholarly interest
in this area of research. Also, 91 % of the total were
published in the Journal of Business Ethics (JBE) making it
the dominant outlet for organizational-level ethics
research. Other journals publishing relevant articles outside
of JBE included: California Management Review (Chatov
1980; Trevino et al. 1999; Tyler et al. 2008), Organization
Studies (Gordon et al. 2009; Moore 2012), Academy of
Management Executive (Veiga and Dechant 1993), Acad-
emy of Management Journal (Weaver et al. 1999),
Administrative Science Quarterly (Victor and Cullen
1988), Journal of Management Studies (Muller and Kolk
2010), Journal of Marketing (Hunt et al. 1989),
Organization Science (McKendall and Wagner 1997), and
Strategic Management Journal (Stevens et al. 2005).
Table 1 contains a breakdown of the frequency of articles
by academic journal.
Study Design
An organizing structure was required to systematically
assess the sampled articles and accentuate the methodo-
logical issues in organizational ethics research (e.g., Casper
et al. 2007; Short et al. 2008). Following Casper et al.
(2007), we systematically assessed the 184 articles using
the following parameters: (1) time horizon, (2) data col-
lection method, (3) sources of data, (4) geographic scope,
(5) content areas, (6) statistical techniques, and (7) business
discipline focus. Mutually exclusive coding was performed
in applicable situations. One author coded all articles,
while another author coded a random sample representing
43 % of the total; inter-rater reliability was 93 %. As
suggested by Rousseau et al. (2008), the items that were
not initially agreed upon were discussed between the two
authors until an agreement was reached. More details
Table 1 Frequency of methodological articles in the financial times 45 list
Journal Title Frequency % Journal title Frequency %
(1) Academy of Management Journal 2 1 (24) Journal of Financial Economics 0 0
(2) Academy of Management Perspectives 1 1 (25) Journal of International Business Studies 0 0
(3) Academy of Management Review 0 0 (26) Journal of Management Studies 1 1
(4) Accounting, Organizations and Society 1 1 (27) Journal of Marketing 1 1
(5) Accounting Review 0 0 (28) Journal of Marketing Research 0 0
(6) Administrative Science Quarterly 1 1 (29) Journal of Operations Management 0 0
(7) American Economic Review 0 0 (30) Journal of Political Economy 0 0
(8) California Management Review 3 2 (31) Journal of the American Statistical Association 0 0
(9) Contemporary Accounting Research 0 0 (32) Management Science 0 0
(10) Econometrica 0 0 (33) Marketing Science 0 0
(11) Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 0 0 (34) MIS Quarterly 0 0
(12) Harvard Business Review 0 0 (35) Operations Research 0 0
(13) Human Resource Management 0 0 (36) Organization Science 2 1
(14) Information Systems Research 0 0 (37) Organization Studies 3 2
(15) Journal of Accounting and Economics 0 0 (38) Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
Processes
0 0
(16) Journal of Accounting Research 0 0 (39) Production and Operations Management 0 0
(17) Journal of Applied Psychology 0 0 (40) Quarterly Journal of Economics 0 0
(18) Journal of Business Ethics 168 91 (41) Rand Journal of Economics 0 0
(19) Journal of Business Venturing 0 0 (42) Review of Accounting Studies 0 0
(20) Journal of Consumer Psychology 0 0 (43) Review of Financial Studies 0 0
(21) Journal of Consumer Research 0 0 (44) Sloan Management Review 0 0
(22) Journal of Finance 0 0 (45) Strategic Management Journal 1 1
(23) Journal of Financial and Quantitative
Analysis
0 0
Percentages are based on total number of studies (N = 184)
Organizational Ethics Research 431
123
regarding the assessment of articles are discussed in the
following paragraphs, along with results.
Overall Study Design
Articles were coded as quantitative, qualitative, or mixed
methods (i.e., incorporating both quantitative and qualita-
tive approaches). Of the 184 articles, 132 were quantitative,
35 were qualitative, 16 used mixed methods, and 1 article
used a simulation. Time horizon was also coded as either
cross-sectional or longitudinal (Scandura and Williams
2000). Studies were overwhelmingly cross-sectional
(90 %) in their design. Also, we found that 59 % of the
quantitative and mixed methods studies formally stated
their hypotheses, while the remainder opted to propose a
general research question or agenda. Table 2 summarizes
the major design characteristics, delineating between
quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches.
Collection Method, Geographic Scope, and Business
Discipline
We coded for the data collection method utilized by each
study, labeling them as survey, archival, interview, or
observation. Since several studies used multiple collection
methods within a single study, coding was exhaustive and
included all data collection methods presented. Overall, the
most frequently used data collection method was survey
(65 %). Commonly used scales included Kaptein’s (1998)
Corporate Ethical Virtues Scale (e.g., Huhtala et al. 2011;
Kaptein2008),EthicalCommitment Index(e.g.,PaeandChoi
2011), and the Ethical Climate Scale developed by Victor and
Cullen (1988); the Ethical Climate scale was utilized in 32 %
of all quantitative and mixed-methods studies reviewed.
Archival data were utilized in 34 % of all studies and in
66 % of those classified as qualitative. Content analysis
was a noticeably commonly-employed method of archival
data collection; it was utilized in 20 % of all studies and
51 % of all qualitative studies. But while content analysis
was utilized frequently in the qualitative studies, it is worth
noting that scholars also applied content analysis tech-
niques in quantitative studies. For instance, content ana-
lysis was used in quantitative studies to evaluate business
code of ethics (Donker et al. 2008) and 10k reports
(Loughran et al. 2009). Interviews were also employed
regularly in qualitative studies (66 %), while direct
observations were used less frequently (34 %). Lastly,
Table 2 Data collection, research design, and sample
characteristics
Percentages are based on total
number of studies within the
quantitative (N = 132),
qualitative (N = 35), and mixed
methods (N = 16) categories.
Frequencies cumulate to more
than 100 % due to occurring
more than once per study
Study characteristics Freq:
quantitative
% Freq:
qualitative
% Freq: mixed
methods
%
Time horizon 132 35 16
Cross-sectional 126 95 24 69 15 94
Longitudinal 6 5 11 31 1 6
Data collection methods 132 35 16
Survey 104 79 0 0 16 100
Archival 38 29 23 66 2 13
Interview 0 0 23 66 15 94
Observation 0 0 12 34 2 13
Sources of data 132 35 16
Primary 102 77 28 80 16 100
Secondary 38 29 19 54 2 13
Geographic scope 132 35 16
North America 62 47 8 23 4 25
South America 3 2 0 0 1 6
Europe 10 8 9 26 5 31
Asia 9 7 3 9 2 13
Rest of the world (single
region)
4 3 2 6 1 6
Multiple Continents 14 11 3 9 0 0
Not specified 31 23 10 29 3 19
Business discipline focus 132 35 16
Management 110 83 32 91 15 94
Accounting or finance 14 11 1 3 1 6
Marketing 5 4 1 3 0 0
IT related 3 2 1 3 0 0
432 M. S. McLeod et al.
123
experimental or quasi-experimental efforts were used
infrequently at 1 % and 3 %, respectively
Geographic scope was coded as North America, South
America, Europe, Asia, rest of the world (single region),
multiple regions, and not specified; these frequencies and
percentages are summarized in Table 2. Geographic scope
is an important aspect of methods since region and culture
are likely to affect organizational-level ethics (Cowton and
Thompson 2000). Overall, the majority of research was
performed in North America (40 %), particularly in the
U.S. (31 %). Another telling statistic is that 24 % of the
studies failed to specify the chosen geographic location for
their study.
Finally, we determined how articles were aligned with a
specific business discipline; results are summarized in
Table 2. Specifically, each article was classified according
to whether it primarily focused on management, accounting
or finance, marketing, or information technology (IT). Of
these groupings, which parallel the Financial Times list,
the most studied business discipline perspective is man-
agement (86 %).
Statistical Techniques
Following related reviews (e.g., Dean et al. 2007), we coded
for the statistical techniques performed in each of the 184
organizational ethics studies in our sample. We entered into
this review without bias toward certain methodologies and a
wide variety of statistical techniques were analyzed and
coded, including regression, analysis of variance, factor
analysis, correlation, cluster analysis, structural equation
modeling, cross-tabulation, partial least squares, simple
descriptive statistics (e.g., survey data aggregation), repe-
ated measures, data over time analysis (e.g., time series
analysis), and qualitative methods. Articles containing
qualitative studies were primarily coded by the method uti-
lized to gather data (i.e., interviews, observations, content
analysis, archival) into the theme or content area of the study.
As Table 3 demonstrates, regression was the most
commonly utilized technique in the sample of quantitative,
mixed-methods, and simulation studies (52 %). Of the
studies using regression techniques, ordinary least squares
and hierarchical regression were most frequent, with 48 %
and 32 %, respectively. Following regression, the most
commonly used statistical techniques among the quantita-
tive, mixed-methods, and simulation studies were analysis
of variance (28 %), factor analysis (28 %), and descriptive
statistics only (14 %).
Content Areas
Articles were coded according to the ethics-based themes
that appeared regularly, such as code of ethics, corporate
social responsibility, and ethics programs. These categories
were not chosen a priori, but allowed to develop in an
iterative fashion. The most popular theme in organizational
ethics research is code of ethics, which are most often
studied with surveys (58 %), using cross-sectional (93 %)
designs. Ethical climate was the second most common
content area in our sample. Survey instruments were
heavily employed for these studies (87 %). Similar to other
content areas, the majority of ethical climate research has
been based in the management discipline (91 %) and
conducted in North America (46 %). Additionally, ethical
climate research at the organizational level is almost
exclusively cross-sectional (94 %).
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was the third most
common content area in our sample. Survey instruments
(47 %), archival (47 %), and interviews (40 %) were the
most popular sources of data. Unlike some other research
content areas (e.g., code of ethics, ethical climate), CSR
maintained a fairly balanced geographic scope; studies
Table 3 Statistical techniques used in articles on organizational ethics
Statistical Techniques Freq %
Regression 77
Ordinary least squares 37 48
Hierarchal regression 25 32
Logistic regression 7 9
Tobit regression 4 5
Step-wise regression 3 4
Ordinal regression 2 3
Robust regression 1 1
Two-stage least squares 1 1
Three-stage least squares 1 1
Analysis of variance 41
ANOVA 27 66
MANOVA 8 20
ANCOVA 11 27
MANCOVA 3 7
Factor analysis 41
Confirmatory factor analysis 28 68
Exploratory factor analysis 11 27
Principal components analysis 11 27
Descriptive statistics only 21
Pearson correlation 16
Cluster analysis 6
Structural equation modeling 10
Cross-tabulations 6
Partial least squares 2
Spearman correlation 2
Percentages are based on total conducted within each statistical
methodology
Organizational Ethics Research 433
123
T a b le
4 S tu d y c h a ra c te ri st ic s b y a rt ic le
c a te g o ri e s
C a te g o ry
C o d e o f
e th ic s
E th ic a l
c li m a te
C S R
E th ic s
p ro g ra m
E th ic s
H o tl in e a n d
W B
O rg . v a lu e s
a n d v ir tu e s
E th ic a l
c u lt u re
E th ic a l st ru c tu re s
a n d c o m m it m e n t
O rg . e th ic a l
d e c is io n
m a k in g
O rg .
c o rr u p ti o n
O rg . e th ic a l
id e n ti ty
a n d
re p u ta ti o n
F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
%
M e th o d o lo g ic a l a p p ro a c h
6 9
5 4
4 7
2 1
1 2
1 8
1 0
1 4
1 2
5 7
Q u a n ti ta ti v e
5 1
7 4
4 2
7 8
2 3
4 9
1 8
8 6
1 2
1 0 0
1 2
6 7
6 6 0
7 5 0
1 1
9 2
3 6 0
6 8 6
Q u a li ta ti v e
1 4
2 0
4 7
1 9
4 0
3 1 4
0 0
3 1 7
0 0
4 2 9
1 8
2 4 0
1 1 4
M ix e d m e th o d s
4 6
7 1 3
5 1 1
0 0
0 0
3 1 7
3 3 0
3 2 1
0 0
0 0
0 0
D a ta
c o ll e c ti o n m e th o d s
6 9
5 4
4 7
2 1
1 2
1 8
1 0
1 4
1 2
5 7
S u rv e y
4 0
5 8
4 7
8 7
2 2
4 7
1 7
8 1
1 0
8 3
1 2
6 7
6 6 0
1 0
7 1
9 7 5
2 4 0
5 7 1
A rc h iv a l
2 8
4 1
4 7
2 2
4 7
5 2 4
2 1 7
6 3 3
0 0
3 2 1
2 1 7
4 8 0
3 4 3
In te rv ie w
1 2
1 7
1 0
1 9
1 9
4 0
2 1 0
0 0
4 2 2
2 2 0
4 2 9
1 8
2 4 0
1 1 4
O b se rv a ti o n
3 4
1 2
4 9
2 1 0
0 0
3 1 7
1 1 0
3 2 1
1 8
2 4 0
0 0
Q u a si -e x p e ri m e n t
4 6
7 1 3
5 1 1
0 0
0 0
3 1 7
3 3 0
3 2 1
0 0
0 0
0 0
E x p e ri m e n t
2 3
1 2
1 2
0 0
0 0
1 6
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
G e o g ra p h ic
sc o p e
6 9
5 4
4 7
2 1
1 2
1 8
1 0
1 4
1 2
5 7
N o rt h A m e ri c a
2 8
4 1
2 5
4 6
1 4
3 0
1 2
5 7
8 6 7
3 1 7
4 4 0
4 2 9
3 2 5
1 2 0
1 1 4
S o u th
A m e ri c a
2 3
0 0
0 0
1 5
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 1 4
E u ro p e
6 9
4 7
1 0
2 1
1 5
1 8
8 4 4
1 1 0
3 2 1
0 0
2 4 0
0 0
A si a
3 4
7 1 3
4 9
1 5
0 0
0 0
0 0
2 1 4
1 8
0 0
0 0
R e st
o f th e w o rl d
4 6
1 2
4 9
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 1 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
M u lt ip le
c o n ti n e n ts
9 1 3
1 2
4 9
0 0
2 1 7
3 1 7
0 0
1 7
0 0
1 2 0
1 1 4
N o t sp e c ifi e d
1 8
2 6
1 5
2 8
1 1
2 3
6 2 9
1 8
4 2 2
3 3 0
4 2 9
8 6 7
1 2 0
4 5 7
B u si n e ss
d is c ip li n e fo c u s
6 9
5 4
4 7
2 1
1 2
1 8
1 0
1 4
1 2
5 7
M a n a g e m e n t re la te d
5 8
8 4
4 9
9 1
4 2
8 9
2 0
9 5
1 1
9 2
1 7
9 4
8 8 0
1 2
8 6
8 6 7
4 8 0
5 7 1
A c c o u n ti n g o r fi n a n c e
6 9
3 6
4 9
1 5
1 8
0 0
2 2 0
1 7
3 2 5
0 0
1 1 4
M a rk e ti n g re la te d
4 6
1 2
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 6
0 0
1 7
0 0
0 0
1 1 4
IT re la te d
1 1
1 2
1 2
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 8
1 2 0
0 0
B e c a u se
o f ro u n d in g u p o r d o w n to
th e n e a re st w h o le n u m b e r, p e rc e n ta g e s d o n o t a lw a y s a d d to
e x a c tl y 1 0 0 % . F re q u e n c ie s w it h in
d a ta c o ll e c ti o n m e th o d s a n d a rt ic le
c a te g o ri e s (e .g ., c o d e o f
e th ic s, e th ic a l c li m a te , e tc .) m a y a d d to
g re a te r th a n 1 0 0 %
b e c a u se
c o d in g w a s e x h a u st iv e
C S R c o rp o ra te
so c ia l re sp o n si b il it y , W B w h is tl e b lo w in g ; O rg . o rg a n iz a ti o n a l, F re q fr e q u e n c y
434 M. S. McLeod et al.
123
were conducted using samples from North America
(30 %), Europe (21 %), Asia (9 %), multiple continents
(9 %), and the rest of the world (9 %). However, CSR
lacked a study within the South American region, which
was also the case for most of the organizational ethics
research content areas. In fact, only four empirical studies
were conducted using data from South America making it
the least studied geographic region (see Tables 2, 4).
Ethics programs were researched in 11 % of the studies
in our sample of articles. Ethics programs and training have
been linked to a stronger ethical culture (Kaptein 2009),
greater job satisfaction (Valentine and Fleischman 2008),
and more representation of independent board members
(Felo 2001). Most ethics program research was quantita-
tively conducted (86 %), using survey data (81 %) and
management related (95 %). For studies on ethics hotlines
and whistleblowing, which made up 7 % of the total, sur-
vey instruments (83 %) and archival (17 %) were the only
data collection methods employed. Moreover, these studies
were primarily conducted in the North American geo-
graphic region (67 %).
With the exception of research on ethics hotline and
whistleblowing, all other content areas commonly
employed qualitative approaches. In particular, CSR
(40 %), organizational corruption (40 %), and ethical
structures and commitment (29 %) were particularly high
relative to the total number of studies. For mixed methods
research, the content areas of ethical culture (30 %), ethical
structures and commitment (21 %), and organizational
values and virtues (17 %) were higher than others. Also,
examining organizational values and virtues research
revealed that, unlike most content areas, the U.S. was not
the most researched geographic region. Finally, factor
analysis (50 %), regression (39 %), analysis of variance
(22 %), and structural equation modeling (22 %) were
heavily utilized statistical techniques in this content area.
Discussion and Implications
Despite the inherent and practical importance of organi-
zational ethics (Aadland 2010; Mahoney and Thorne 2005;
Yeh et al. 2008), our review indicates that, outside of JBE,
relatively few empirical articles on the subject have been
published in the journals recognized by Financial Times.
This is troublesome because the Financial Times list
includes many of the most widely read and highly cited
journals across all major business disciplines. While many
of these are more general journals and, arguably, should
not contain as many organizational ethics studies, this
dearth of studies suggests that the issues surrounding
organizational ethics are not reaching many mainstream
readers. We would argue that publishing organizational
ethics research in these more general journals is important
for greater dissemination of evidence; it may also legiti-
mate the area of study by signaling higher research quality
(Laband 1986; Laband and Piette 1994) and may be more
likely to be read and cited (Judge et al. 2007). Further,
since such a large percentage of relevant studies published
in JBE was oriented toward the management discipline,
more effort needs to be placed into other disciplines; topics
limited to only one or a very few journals or disciplines can
lead a research field to become stagnant—slowing empir-
ical and theoretical advancement.
Given this chief concern regarding limited dissemina-
tion of empirical evidence on organizational ethics, we
searched four additional journals not included on the
Financial Times 45 list; two journals focus on business
ethics (Business Ethics Quarterly and Business & Society)
and two general management journals (Journal of Orga-
nizational Behavior and Journal of Management). 1
Essentially, the additional analyses are utilized to deter-
mine if organizational ethics research is indeed restricted to
business ethics specific journals or just JBE. Using the
same search words and criteria as before, we only found
five articles from Business Ethics Quarterly (Johnson et al.
2011; Jovanovic and Wood 2007; McCabe et al. 1996;
Payne et al. 2011a, b; Trevino et al. 1998) and two from the
Journal of Organizational Behavior (Kaptein 2008; Weber,
Unterrainer, and Schmid 2009) that met our criteria for
inclusion in the sample; no appropriate articles were found
from Business & Society or the Journal of Management.
These results suggest that the research on organizational
ethics is largely contained within JBE and efforts should be
made to better disseminate research on organizational
ethics to a more general audience. Therefore, we make a
call for more rigorous research on organizational ethics that
can reach more general business journals in all disciplines.
A broader dissemination would allow the conversation on
organizational ethics to be expanded and strengthened,
having a greater impact on researchers and, ultimately,
business practitioners and policy makers.
Calls for more rigorous research are commonly made
and we acknowledge the inherent difficulty in publishing
empirical research in many of the journals covered in this
review, particularly if there is not an ongoing conversa-
tion on the topic. Indeed, for business ethics researchers,
the challenge may be especially difficult due to the
inherent limitations associated with ethics research, which
often involves substantial biases that limit the scope,
methods, and empirics (Crane 1999). For instance, biases
exist due to cultural misinterpretations of researchers
(McDonald 2000), social desirability (Randall and
1 We wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for suggestions
regarding these additional analyses.
Organizational Ethics Research 435
123
Fernandes 1991), stereotypes (Fagenson 1990), theoretical
perspectives employed (Stevenson 1990), and environ-
mental factors (Vitell 2003), including researcher inter-
actions (Miyazaki and Taylor 2008). Together, such
limitations not only restrict the type, scope and quality of
relevant research, but inhibit our ability to draw strong
conclusions and make meaningful inferences about
findings.
Challenges are also inherent in ethics research when
drawing parallels or comparisons between seemingly
similar individual-, group-, or organizational-level con-
structs. For example, virtuousness in an organization can
be viewed as the collective actions, attributes and pro-
cesses of organizational members (Cameron et al. 2004),
but we should simultaneously recognize how higher levels
of virtuousness can ‘‘facilitate, enable, and even engen-
der’’ lower levels (Luthans and Youssef 2007, p. 337).
This is an example of simultaneity—when two variables
concurrently cause one another; simultaneity is one of
several reasons for endogeneity (Antonakis et al. 2010).
Indeed, there seems to be an inherent difficulty in ethics
research associated with endogeneity (Garcia-Castro et al.
2010), which ‘‘includes omitted variables, omitted selec-
tion, simultaneity, common-method variance, and mea-
surement error,’’ that can create difficulties in modeling
and interpreting relationships, particularly regarding cau-
sality (Antonakis et al. 2010, p. 186)
With such intrinsic challenges in mind, the remainder
of this section seeks primarily to offer suggestions for
future research intended to advance the field forward;
these opportunities, of course, build on the limitations and
challenges of prior work. For although ethics research has
made considerable progress since the turn of the millen-
nium (Calabretta et al. 2011; Tenbrunsel and Smith-
Crowe 2008), there are clearly still numerous opportuni-
ties within all functional business fields (e.g., accounting,
finance, information technology, management, marketing)
to examine ethics, particularly from an organizational
perspective (Wright and Goodstein 2007) and through the
use of more advanced methods (Etzioni 2007). Thus,
following the primary objectives of this review, we now
consider the future of organizational ethics research from
an empirical perspective. Namely, we consider issues of
cross-sectional data and causality, misuse and misspeci-
fication of data, replication and reproduction, and con-
textual factors, including effects at multiple levels of
analysis. However, we are compelled to note the impor-
tance of theory when making methodological and analytic
decisions. Indeed, deep thought and consideration must be
given to the methods employed in organizational research
since ‘‘methods can generate and shape theory, just as
theory can generate and shape methods’’ (Van Maanen
et al. 2007, p. 1146).
Cross-Sectional Data and Causality
One of the most identifiable characteristics of studies in our
sample is the predominance of cross-sectional designs
(90 %), with many of these studies indicating influence or
causality between variables when the data and methods do
not support such inferences. For example, Halter et al.
(2009) claimed causality using only basic averages and
standard deviations of cross-sectional data. Further, Alas
(2009) and Lin (2011) drew several inferences to causality
using regression techniques in a cross-sectional design. In
such studies, biased estimates are likely because the cor-
relation between measures that are collected at the same
point in time is commonly different than when measures
are collected at different time periods (Edwards 2008).
Causality requires a correlation between the cause and
effect, a time difference between the two, and the ability to
rule out alternative explanations (Cook and Campbell
1979). As such, causality can generally not be substantiated
without the use of randomized experiments (Antonakis
et al. 2010), which are infeasible for most research on
organizational ethics. And while longitudinal designs can
address the second condition for causality, assuming an
otherwise correctly specified model, they do not com-
pletely rule out other causal orders that may influence
findings (Edwards 2008). Thus, more studies should
incorporate longitudinal data to overcome some of the
inherent difficulties associated with cross-sectional designs
(e.g., Mahoney and Thorne 2005; Payne et al. 2013), but
also consider other options that might further ameliorate
bias. For example, when common methods bias is
unavoidable, the use of instruments in two-stage-least
squares (2SLS) models may allow for more consistent
estimates (Antonakis et al. 2010).
Particularly relevant to our review, Garcia-Castro et al.
(2010) explicitly demonstrated how endogeneity largely
accounts for the positive relationship found between KLD
measures of social performance and firm performance in
other studies (e.g., Hillman and Klein 2001). Specifically,
they demonstrate how fixed effect and instrumental vari-
able estimations might be utilized to ameliorate some
endogeneity concerns. Further, Garcia-Castro et al. (2010)
note the importance of accounting for firm-specific char-
acteristics (e.g., management quality, culture) in under-
standing why some firms adopt certain ethical practices
initially.
Appropriately Applied Methods
Another area of concern that emerged while reviewing the
sample articles is the misuse and/or misspecification of
methods and data relative to the initial research questions
or hypotheses. Inappropriate application of methods may
436 M. S. McLeod et al.
123
lead to erroneous conclusions and, subsequently, improper
implications and future research directions. For instance,
Ki et al. (2012, p. 269) utilized step-wise regression in an
effort to answer their stated research question: ‘‘Does an
ethics statement of a Korean public relations firm have a
significant impact on the ethical behaviors of its public
relations professionals?’’ A method such as hierarchical
regression would have been more appropriate. Step-wise
regression, as compared to hierarchical regression, is a
more exploratory technique typically used to define a
posteriori order of significance of variables based solely on
statistical considerations. Hierarchical regression, on the
other hand, uses pre-specified (i.e., theory-driven) model-
ing to guide statistical analysis and is generally preferred
over the automatic algorithm—and the many limitations—
associated with stepwise regression (Judd and McClelland
1989). Overall, great care must be taken to properly match
the conceptual arguments or goals of the paper to the sta-
tistical technique. In other words, future research should
allow their theory and research questions to drive the
methodologies used.
While most studies in our sample appeared to use suit-
able methodologies, the breadth of approaches is rather
limited. For instance, 87 % of all studies on the ethical
climate construct utilized survey methods whereas quali-
tative techniques, archival, and experimental designs only
make up 7, 7, and 2 %, respectively. While surveys are
typically an effective research tool, there appears to be a
need to branch out from survey designs and find different
ways to measure ethical climate (among other organiza-
tional ethics topics) so that new questions might be asked
and answered. For example, Almer et al. (2008) used an
experimental case to examine how post-restatement of
financial statements could impact the ethical perceptions
that investors have on the organization. Future research on
ethical climate could do something similar, examining how
each of the five parts of the ethical climate construct affect
the perceptions of employees and the different employee
reactions that might occur as a result (Table 5).
Generally, a greater variety of methodologies and tech-
niques should be used to explore new research questions and
phenomena. In a somewhat counterintuitive way, scholars
may be able to use this review to first identify areas in need of
methodologicalvariation,andthenusethesegapstorecognize
new phenomena and previously untested relationships or
reexamine questions that are yet to be fully answered. For
instance, Jo and Na (2012) recently utilized a three-stage-least
squares (3SLS) approach to examine the relationship between
firm risk and CSR engagement in controversial industries; this
was done in an effort to test the two competing hypotheses of
window dressing and risk reduction. Additionally, researchers
should consider how multiple methodological approaches
might be used in a complementary fashion to get more robust
and meaningful results. For instance, Yauch and Steudel
(2003) discuss how both qualitative and quantitative methods
were used to better understand culture in organizations; they
specifically state, ‘‘Using mixed methods to acquire data can
increase the validity of the results [and] from a paradigm
perspective, using mixed methods can produce complemen-
tary results’’ (p. 477). Future research in organizational ethics
could follow similar triangulation approaches, where trian-
gulation is the use of multiple perspectives to verify and
clarify meaning (Jick 1979).
While clear gaps and areas for future research exist,
there are numerous examples of innovative approaches to
address the difficult challenges associated with organiza-
tional ethics research; we highlight several of these as an
additional way to encourage new approaches. For example,
to overcome social desirability response bias, Houghton
et al. (2009) had participants respond to hypothetical
vignettes, as opposed to asking respondents directly about
their perceptions, values, social norms or impressions of an
event or organizational practice (e.g., corporate social
responsibility). Another method that could similarly be
utilized is a forced ranking system wherein respondents
would be forced to rank their most likely action for a given
scenario. Also, conjoint analysis, which has been previ-
ously utilized in the entrepreneurship literature to explore
how venture capitalists make investment decisions (e.g.,
Drover et al. 2014), could be applied to ethics, virtue, and
moral decisions and behaviors. More specifically, conjoint
analysis requires research participants to make decisions
based on various controlled trade-offs, which reveal the
relative importance of the attributes under analysis. Thus,
researchers could provide organizations with a hypothetical
scenario wherein organizations chose certain actions based
on trade-offs of each action. Past research has shown that
organizations are constantly forced to make trade-offs
when attempting to address multiple demands with a
restricted set of options (Payne 2006). Thus, conjoint
analysis would be a suitable method to use when examin-
ing ethical trade-offs.
Another avenue of high potential for future research is
found in the configurations literature, which commonly
utilizes typological and taxonomical groupings of organi-
zations to explain a variety of outcomes (Short et al. 2008).
According to configurations theory, different configura-
tions of strategy, structure or other characteristic are pre-
dictive of performance, effectiveness or other outcomes.
Hence, it seems reasonable to consider organizational
ethics in a similar fashion, not as individual activities but as
configurations of characteristics or approaches. For exam-
ple, Tseng and Fan (2011) used hierarchical clustering to
group organizations into two distinct ethical climate
groups; these groupings were then used to test hypotheses
regarding the impact of ethical climate on knowledge
Organizational Ethics Research 437
123
T a b le
5 S ta ti st ic a l te c h n iq u e s a n d st u d y ty p e s b y a rt ic le
c a te g o ri e s
C a te g o ry
C o d e o f
e th ic s
E th ic a l
c li m a te
C S R
E th ic s
p ro g ra m
E th ic s
H o tl in e a n d
W B
O rg . v a lu e s
a n d v ir tu e s
E th ic a l
c u lt u re
E th ic a l
st ru c tu re s a n d
c o m m it m e n t
O rg . e th ic a l
d e c is io n
m a k in g
O rg .
C o rr u p ti o n
O rg . e th ic a l
id e n ti ty
a n d
re p u ta ti o n
F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
% F re q
%
S ta ti st ic a l te c h n iq u e s
6 9
5 4
4 7
2 1
1 2
1 8
1 0
1 4
1 2
5 7
R e g re ss io n
2 1
3 0
3 5
6 5
1 7
3 6
1 1
5 2
4 3 3
7 3 9
5 5 0
4 2 9
1 0
8 3
2 4 0
4 5 7
A n a ly si s o f v a ri a n c e
1 4
2 0
1 6
3 0
5 1 1
3 1 4
2 1 7
4 2 2
5 5 0
2 1 4
5 4 2
0 0
3 4 3
C F A /E F A /P C A
7 1 0
1 9
3 5
9 1 9
6 2 9
2 1 7
9 5 0
2 2 0
2 1 4
4 3 3
0 0
1 1 4
D e sc ri p ti v e st a ti st ic s o n ly
1 5
2 2
1 2
6 1 3
3 1 4
2 1 7
1 6
2 2 0
2 1 4
0 0
1 2 0
0 0
P e a rs o n c o rr e la ti o n
4 6
6 1 1
3 6
2 1 0
3 2 5
2 1 1
2 2 0
0 0
1 8
0 0
0 0
S E M
1 1
2 4
2 4
2 1 0
2 1 7
4 2 2
1 1 0
1 7
0 0
1 2 0
0 0
C lu st e r a n a ly si s
2 3
3 6
2 4
1 5
1 8
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 2 0
0 0
C ro ss -t a b u la ti o n s
4 6
0 0
2 4
0 0
1 8
1 6
0 0
1 7
0 0
0 0
0 0
P a rt ia l le a st
sq u a re s
0 0
2 4
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
S p e a rm
a n c o rr e la ti o n
0 0
1 2
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 6
0 0
1 7
0 0
0 0
0 0
S tu d y ty p e
6 9
5 4
4 7
2 1
1 2
1 8
1 0
1 4
0 0
7
C ro ss
se c ti o n a l
6 4
9 3
5 1
9 4
4 2
8 9
1 9
9 0
1 1
9 2
1 4
7 8
9 9 0
1 0
7 1
1 1
9 2
3 6 0
7 1 0 0
L o n g it u d in a l
5 7
2 4
5 1 1
2 1 0
1 8
4 2 2
0 0
4 2 9
1 8
2 4 0
0 0
S im
u la ti o n
0 0
1 2
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
1 1 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
C a se
st u d y
6 9
5 9
1 3
2 8
0 0
0 0
4 2 2
1 1 0
2 1 4
1 8
2 4 0
0 0
B e c a u se
o f ro u n d in g u p o r d o w n to
th e n e a re st w h o le
n u m b e r, p e rc e n ta g e s d o n o t a lw a y s a d d to
e x a c tl y 1 0 0 % . F re q u e n c ie s m a y a d d to
g re a te r th a n 1 0 0 %
b e c a u se
c o d in g w a s e x h a u st iv e
C S R c o rp o ra te
so c ia l re sp o n si b il it y , W B w h is tl e b lo w in g ; O rg . o rg a n iz a ti o n a l, F re q fr e q u e n c y
438 M. S. McLeod et al.
123
management attitudes and process involvement. Similarly,
Morris et al. (2002) found four distinct clusters of firms
using cross-sectional survey data. While mostly descrip-
tive, this study confirms that small firms may take very
different approaches to ethics at the organizational level.
Future research should consider the antecedents to such
groupings, as well as the outcomes associated with these
types. Also, given some concerns regarding the use of
cluster analysis and other agglomerative methods, Fiss
(2007, p. 1183) suggests using a set-theoretic approach to
configurations; a set-theoretic approach ‘‘uses Boolean
algebra to determine which combination of organizational
characteristics combine to result in the outcome.’’ As such,
a more subjective and, perhaps, meaningful approach to
organizational ethics groupings might be achieved.
Replication and Reproduction
Organizational-level ethics research is arguably still early
in its development. Therefore, it is even more imperative
that authors provide the details necessary regarding data
and methods to ensure replication is possible, along with
reproducibility, if given access to data. Reproducibility, in
particular, has become an increasingly important discus-
sion topic in the social sciences. Other fields outside of
business, such as psychology, economics, and medical
research, have also expressed concern with a lack of
reproducible research (e.g., Amir and Sharon 1990; Ioan-
nidis 2007). Case in point, we found that 24 % of the
studies did not specify the chosen geographic location of
their sample or study. Such omissions of information can
be troublesome, particularly when considering how
research builds upon itself to produce new knowledge.
Further, such lackadaisical reporting may be seen by
scholars, particularly those outside of the field, to be
indicative of the quality or rigor of the research itself.
Missing information is also an ethical concern because
studies that do not properly report information cannot be
scrutinized fully. Considering the nature of the field, it
seems even more prudent that scholars studying organiza-
tional ethics lead the way in taking responsibility for pro-
viding detailed and accurate information regarding our
research. We ask that scholars think deeply about their
ethical responsibilities when conducting and reporting
research. More specifically, issues of appropriate sampling,
properly specified methods, technical proficiency, and
proper reporting should be at the forefront of concerns.
Overall, we argue for the importance of performing high
quality empirical research. Without properly conducting
and reporting research, organizational ethics scholars could
expend valuable time and resources chasing after the pro-
verbial wild goose.
Context and Multi-level Considerations
Organizational behaviors are often dependent on the situ-
ational and environmental context (Donaldson 2001).
Consequently, the context within which ethical actions are
performed by organizations seems to be an important area
of research that remains largely under-examined. Mirroring
Zahra and Wright’s (2011) arguments regarding the
entrepreneurship field’s next steps, we recognize the need
to examine the heterogeneous facets of context and incor-
porate those aspects into future research and theory-
building efforts in the ethics field. By analyzing organi-
zational ethics within various contexts—including spatial,
time, social and institutional contextual dimensions (e.g.,
Zahra and Wright 2011)—ethics scholars should be able to
more precisely identify and clarify the empirical links
found in our literature and how context may alter previ-
ously held views.
When considering context empirically, a major issue is
the nested nature of most data and organizations. For
example, Jin and Drozdenko (2010) take a multi-level
perspective of how organizational-level ethics and indi-
vidual-level ethics affect each other. We suggest that along
with the individual and organizational levels, other levels
(e.g., groups, industries, nation-states) should likewise be
examined to ascertain the origination and differentiation of
organizational ethics within these various contexts. Indeed,
we did not identify in our sample any studies that compared
organizational differences in ethics among industries. We
did, however, note some studies that analyzed differences
using alternative categorizations. In particular, our review
shows that only 7 % of the studies analyzed ethics of
family firms. For example, Deniz and Suarez (2005) use
non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis as an exploratory
technique to extract the profile of family firms according to
their perception of social responsibility. Non-hierarchical
cluster analysis offers a method whereby the degree of
clustering within the data can be optimized and appropri-
ately assessed, allowing researchers to set the desired
number of clusters according to their theoretical basis and
find the best cluster solution (Hair et al. 2010). Such cat-
egorization techniques can aid researchers seeking to not
only better understand differences among groupings, but
also to help explain and predict how various characteristics
of organizational groups influence various outcomes.
Multilevel modeling and analytical techniques, such as
random coefficient modeling, have also shown to be
important and useful in related phenomena (e.g., Payne
et al. 2011a, b). In particular, multi-level perspectives can
help illuminate the various contexts of organizations and
how these contexts influence organizational ethics or phe-
nomena occurring in and around organizations. Indeed, the
very nature of ethics and values is inherently nested (i.e.,
Organizational Ethics Research 439
123
individuals within teams within organizations within
industries) and offers great potential for better under-
standing multi-level phenomena in general.
Although potentially useful, caution is advised when
examining ethics at the organizational level. For example,
Johnson et al. (2011) could have further enhanced their use
of the anomie construct at the organizational level through
more careful specification of the definition and a stronger
approach to its validation. First, the definition provided by
Johnson et al. (2011, p. 473), a ‘‘collective condition
characterized by the absence of normative guidelines’’,
conflicts with Durkheim (1951)—an originator of the
anomie construct—who defined it as a mismatch, not an
absence, of normative guidelines (Star et al. 1997). Second,
the validation of the construct was minimal, including only
interviews of seven managers, and should be expanded,
particularly given changes in the levels of analysis
(McKenny et al. 2013b). As an exemplar study, Chun
(2005) conducted a rigorous examination of virtue in which
she empirically defined and measured organizational vir-
tues by first examining individual virtues and delineating
which individual virtues transferred to the organizational
level through a methodical triangulation of content ana-
lysis, surveys, and interviews using a large and highly
diverse sample. We encourage future ethics researchers to
take similar prudence when transferring individual level
constructs to the organizational level (McKenny et al.
2013a, b).
Conclusion
‘‘Scholarly progress…requires us to assess what we know and how well we know it as well as what we don’t know’’
(Zahra and Wright 2011, p. 67). This review of the orga-
nizational ethics literature is intended to assess what we do
and do not know about empirical practices in an effort to
increase the relevance and impact of this important area of
research. This review also responds to the call by
researchers to provide stronger methodological practices in
organizational ethics research by taking the first step
toward understanding the state of the field in terms of
empirics (e.g., Robertson 2008; Tenbrunsel and Smith-
Crowe 2008; Wright and Goodstein 2007). Overall, our
review suggests that while advances have been made
recently, more sophisticated methodologies and statistics
need to be facilitated such that the field of organizational
ethics can improve in rigor and become more broadly
disseminated. Basically, with more advanced empirical
research on organizational ethics, more studies can be
published in the more general journals of each business
discipline and, subsequently, have a greater impact on
business research and practice.
While such general suggestions are simplistic, and may
easily apply to many other fields of research, they are still
meaningful. Therefore, in conclusion, we wish to empha-
size three key characteristics of organizational-level ethics
research that lend support for conducting this study. First,
business ethics is difficult to define and measure because
the perception of ethics varies extensively. Indeed, per-
ceptions of ethics varies, both morally and legally, among
cultures and nations (e.g., Calderón-Cuadrado et al. 2009;
Robertson et al. 2008; Wines and Napier 1992), as well as
business disciplines (Nicholson and DeMoss 2009). Hence,
an assessment of how and where ethics research is being
conducted can help us move the field forward. With greater
awareness of the field’s boundaries, we can expand said
boundaries to impact a greater constituency. Second, there
is a taboo generally associated with answering honestly to
tough ethical questions (Houghton et al. 2009). As such,
more innovative methods are needed to tap into the ethical
nature of organizations. For instance, Payne et al. (2013)
utilized content analysis techniques to examine how vir-
tuous rhetoric influences the financial outcomes of foreign
IPOs. Finally, ethics are generally considered at the indi-
vidual level and have only relatively recently been elevated
for use at the organizational level. As previously men-
tioned, an inherent challenge with ethics research is its
embedded nature, which presents multi-level challenges,
but also opportunities.
In summary, ethics are difficult to ascertain and under-
stand since they are abstract, riddled with biases, constantly
evolving, and inherently nested across levels of analysis.
Each of these reasons individually and collectively dem-
onstrates the uniqueness of the methodological challenges
found in organizational ethics research. Taken together,
such limitations inhibit organizational ethics research from
realizing its full potential (e.g., Robertson 2008; Tenb-
runsel and Smith-Crowe 2008; Wright and Goodstein
2007). Our desire is that researchers will build upon the
guidance found within this review in such a way that
organizational ethics scholars will be able to perpetuate the
field’s tremendous methodological and theoretical
advancement for many years to come.
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- c.10551_2014_Article_2436.pdf
- Organizational Ethics Research: A Systematic Review of Methods and Analytical Techniques
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Method and Results
- Sample
- Study Design
- Overall Study Design
- Collection Method, Geographic Scope, and Business Discipline
- Statistical Techniques
- Content Areas
- Discussion and Implications
- Cross-Sectional Data and Causality
- Appropriately Applied Methods
- Replication and Reproduction
- Context and Multi-level Considerations
- Conclusion
- References
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Loredana TEREC-VLAD18
Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229, Romania,
Lumen Research Center in Social and Humanistic Sciences
Marius CUCU
Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229, Romania
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyse the organizational culture within the business environment. The paper
analyzes the ethical criteria of the entrepreneurs and the way they relate to the consumer, as well as the
reinforcement of the moral values so that the final result of the economic activity is represented by sustainability
and economic profit. We thought it would be important to point out that promoting an ethical firm can ensure the
well-needed trust capital in a constantly changing society. In this context, corporate responsibility is a key
element that ensures both the sustainability of the company as well as the sustainability of the relations with the
business partners.
In our view, a strong corporate culture must integrate ethics and responsibility in all its activities, since the
focus is often laid on obtaining profit, not on the values that should lead the organization towards success over a
long period of time. Since our society provides both positive and negative information regarding any company or
organization, the focus should be laid increasingly more on the ethics and responsibility of the human resources
in regard to the external environment of the company.
We thought it would be appropriate to bring up these issues since the issue of building an organizational culture
is at a very early stage in our country, and most entrepreneurs only aim at obtaining short-term profit. The fees
and taxes are high and the thick legislation often does not provide alternatives; therefore, one must take into
account the fact that the real profit is not represented by the short-term benefits, but rather by the benefits
obtained in a constant manner over medium-long periods of time.
Key words: ethics, organizational culture, trust capital, profit, economic activity
JEL Classification: L20
I. INTRODUCTION
In a constantly changing society, where the needs of the individual are becoming increasingly
diversified and the products and services can be substituted at any time, the main interest of the entrepreneur is
to obtain profit and ensure sustainability over time. The manager’s actions and the way he and implicitly the
organization he is managing relate to the consumer can make the difference between success and failure in
business. A first aspect that the focus is laid on is related to the entrepreneur’s behaviour, since the responsibility
towards the business partners should by no means affect the environment or the community. Nowadays people
talk increasingly more about business ethics, business responsibility or about the responsible behaviour towards
the business partners. All these aspects are, in our opinion, purely theoretical, given that in practice the vast
majority of the business people from the former communist countries largely excel at lack of culture (Botescu, I.,
Nicodim, L., Condrea E., 2008). The main ethical issues of business are closely related to the economic
indicators of the organization’s activity - the measurable revenues, the expenses and the profit; we can also add
the responsibility indicators, expressed by obligations towards the other persons wherewith one comes into
contact within the business environment (Botescu, I. Nicodemus, L., Condrea E., 2008). Due to these issues,
business ethics does not enjoy a clear status, given that the association between the terms business and ethics
may seem inadequate Maxim, S.T., Dascălu, I.D., Hapenciuc, V., 2008): on the one hand, one seeks to maximize
the profit and, on the other hand, the responsibility towards the products or services that the company is
providing to the consumers.
18 This work has been supported through the project “Interdisciplinary excellence in the doctoral scientific research in Romania -
EXCELLENTIA”, co-funded from the European Social Fund through the Human Resource Development Operational Program 2007-2013,
contract no. POSDRU/187/1.5/S/155425.
ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE – KEY ELEMENTS REGARDING THE
DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
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[Volume 5, Issue 1 (8), 2016]
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In a society where everyone can find out anything, the question of business transparency is raised.
Business ethics is not just about fair competition or responsibility; it also involves many other aspects, including
a strong code of ethics. Ethical codes are written documents that refer to values, norms and behaviour, which are
legally connoted (Miller, V., 2006); however, this does not mean that they require exclusively complying with
the legal framework; they are simply a set of decision tools which are useful for solving the conflicts that might
arise between employees and employers, between managers and shareholders (Dinu, V., 2008) or between the
organization and the business partners . The bigger the organization is, the greater are expectations of the society
regarding that organization, since the ethical behaviour is a consistent action, with an accepted code of behaviour
(Purcărea, T.V., Purcărea, A., 2008)
Business ethics requires a particular approach, given that the decisions have economic implications. On
the one hand, it is about ethical dilemmas, and on the other hand about the legal aspect of the organization's
actions. Since the question of institutionalizing ethics is raised within organizations, we cannot talk only about
business ethics, but also about the ethics of organizations. This involves “an articulation, application and
assessment of the organization's values and moral positions” (Agheorghiesei, DT,, 2011); these issues “derive
and develop within an organizational culture where the vision and the mission consist of professional and
managerial performances and in reaching the organization’s objectives upon the current practices”
(Agheorghiesei, DT, 2011). In this context, besides institutionalizing ethics, one raises the issue of integrating
ethics within the organizational culture of the companies.
Business organizational ethics does not only involve an ethical behaviour or a behaviour that complies
with the legal framework in force (Terec-Vlad, L., Trifu, A., Terec-Vlad, D., 2015). On the contrary, one can
talk about aspects related to the internal and external communication. However, communication is closely
related to ethics, which is why we thought it would be appropriate to bring into question the fact that ensuring
the comprehension of the messages must take account of the tone, time, moment and completion of the
communication. From the managerial perspective, communication is one of the tools that the leader most often
appeals to in order to coordinate his subordinates; it includes items such as:
- The emergence of a thought or idea that the issuer is going to structure in a logical form (Burciu, A., 2008);
- As a result of this structuring, one can say that the idea was decoded under the form of an explicit message (Burciu, A., 2008)
- The explicit and complete transmission of the message towards the receiver (Burciu, A., 2008); - The type of channel used - oral, telephone, e-mail (Burciu, A., 2008); - Preliminarily preparing the recipient for receiving the message (Burciu, A., 2008); - Decoding and understanding the message (Burciu, A., 2008).
As previously mentioned, we can talk about ethics within communication as well; when transmitting the
message, one should not use manipulation and persuasion strategies or phrases with double meaning for
everyone to understand what they want. Communication ethics must be based on a series of values such as
honesty, trust, integrity and respect for the organization's internal and external environment. Since ethics is most
often confused with professionalism, we believe that communication should be tactful, without resorting to
manipulation, even when solving conflicts. One of the most important values that organizations focus on is the
truth and along with it freedom, responsibility and autonomy.
Ethics and communication do not only refer to issues related to the transmission of messages (Posteucă,
N., 2015) or related to the society where the organization carries out its activities; thus, the issue of becoming
rich over night is raised, especially since the economy is currently quite unstable. Vasile Morar believes that the
main types of issues are: determining the fairness of resource distribution, the way of converting a clear principle
of equity to particular cases, the conflicts of values, the consequences of the new technologies and problems that
arise due to the development of moral intuitions and the task of putting them into practice (Morar, V., 2006). On
the other hand, another set of problems faced by business ethics involves:
- Is an organization forced to help fight the problems faced by the society? (Shaw, W., Barry, V., 1992);
- Is it legitimate for the employees to use the positions they hold within companies in order to advance their own interests? (Shaw, W., Barry, V., 1992);
- Is passing a personality and honesty test a justifiable criterion for hiring a person? (Shaw, W., Barry, V., 1992);
- Should the producers show the flaws of their products? (Shaw, W., Barry, V., 1992) - What are the obligations of an employee towards the parties outside the company such as
customers, competitors and the society in general? (Shaw, W., Barry, V., 1992)
These are just some of the issues that the researchers in the field of organizational culture argue upon in
order to analyze the firms’ behaviour in relation to the issues listed above. Nowadays people talk increasingly
more about ethical education.
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In this context, Monica Petcu and Eduard Dinu believe that through ethical education one aims, on the
one hand, to ensure certain knowledge that enables the integrative-systemic approach of the problems, the
deceleration of the interdependencies and specific conditionalities, the critical analysis and sustainable design of
the business, handling the ethical dilemmas based on ethical theories and, on the other hand, to train
professionals that adhere to the values of the company, are open to cooperation, are concerned with self-
education, create added value and are good communicators within the company’s activities and in the public
space and to form adhocracies (Petcu, M. Dinu, E., 2014)
II. GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
The organizational culture refers to the values, beliefs and practices accepted by the members of an
organization, which are transmitted from generation to generation by the employees ((Deaconu, A., Podgoreanu,
S., Rasca, L., 2004). They are required - we could say – by the organization's manager, given that one
specifically aims to obtain long-term profit, together with loyalty and responsibility towards the business
partners. Not all the organizations have the same organizational culture and they do not all focus on the same
types of values; the organizational culture acts as a reference system which allows the members to act in
accordance with the external environment (Cîrnu, D., Boncea, A., 2010); for this reason, the elements that
characterize the organizational culture are difficult to define, they are multi-dimensional and focus on the group
or the individual; on the other hand, they involve: integrating the subunits, which can be independent or
interdependent, risk tolerance, awards and rewards, focusing on the goals or the means, the degree of openness,
and the need to analyse and change the organizational culture (Cîrnu, D., Boncea, A., 2010).
Although there is no universally accepted definition of the organizational culture, the term can be
defined as the values, attitudes, beliefs and practices promoted within an institution or organization. Going
further into this issue and taking into account the fact that even since year 1952 there were around 164
definitions, we shall present the components outlined by Huczynski and Buchanan:
- Slogans: they are ideas that highlight the company's current activity; they change periodically (Huczynscki, A. Buchanan, D., 2001);
- Symbols - are a sign that suggests one of the company’s goals (Huczynscki, A. Buchanan, D., 2001);
- Artefacts or building designs – are issues whereby the organization is individualized in the view of the public opinion (Huczynscki, A. Buchanan, D., 2001);
- The language or technical vocabulary (Huczynscki, A. Buchanan, D., 2001); - Myths and heroes from the history of the organization, which enable the exemplification of the
values that actually define the organizational culture (Huczynscki, A. Buchanan, D., 2001);
- Rituals from the organization’s activity, which involve incorporating the elements of the organizational culture in the employees’ thinking and behaviour (Huczynscki, A. Buchanan, D.,
2001);
- The values, which are the essential component of the organizational culture and influence the firm's view regarding business ethics (Huczynscki, A. Buchanan, D., 2001);
Since the values are the most important aspects of the organizational culture, one must note that they are
strategic doctrines that are stable over time; they are the basis for the assessment of the organization’s members,
whereby situations, objects and people are being assessed (Dominguez Silva, I., Rodriguez Dominguez, B.B.,
Navarro Dominguez, J.A., 2009). Luminita Oprea believes that each organization must first determine the values
that guide the company's existence. In this respect, each organization must:
- Focus on the individuals in the organization (Oprea, L., 2005); - Build a corporate conceptual legacy, by integrating ethics into the learning and training process
(Oprea, L., 2005);
- Put employees first (Oprea, L., 2005); - Know the communities where it carries out its activities (Oprea, L., 2005); - Develop a system whereby the debates remain transparent (Oprea, L., 2005); - Form wise partnerships (Oprea, L., 2005); - Measure the impact of its activity (Oprea, L., 2005); - Report the obtained results inside and outside the company (Oprea, L., 2005). There are several differences between the organizational culture and the organizational climate, which
refer to the social context that influences the internal and external adaptation, the nature of the phenomena and
the holistic nature of the phenomena (Năstase, M., 2004). The cultural phenomena that occur within the
organization are related, on the one hand, to the national and local culture, and on the other hand to the
professional communication and the practices promoted by the members of the organization (State, O., 2004).
We believe that the analysis of the organizational culture is extremely important, given that there are a lot of
factors, including the political, geographic and economic factors, which may adversely affect the activity of the
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firms, thus generating deficit and implicitly huge losses. A strong organizational culture together with
organizational ethics can make the difference between performance at enterprise level and the optimum climate
for achieving the goals.
Besides these aspects, one must take into account the fact that the development of techniques and
technologies also involved the emergence of several problems related to the image of the organizations. Because
the mass media daily broadcasts news and events regarding the unethical behaviour and the lack of transparency
of the companies, the development and penetration within the international markets has become increasingly
difficult. We are stating this in the context where the legislation changes every day and adapting to the customer
needs can be difficult especially since certain products are often substituted with cheaper ones. Hence, the fact
that organizations must strictly relate to the requirements of the consumers, through a strong organizational
culture, based on professionalism and transparency.
Our suggestion regarding the organizational culture refers to the fact that the issues related to the
applicability of the ethical laws are both theoretical and practical given that, once the consumer requirements
have been identified, the respect for the consumer and implicitly for the company must evolve in predictable
directions. Taking into account the fact that every company must face various changes, the analysts in the field
of organizational culture are focusing increasingly more on the organizational diagnosis. The organizational
diagnosis should be determined not only in crisis situations, but also in those periods when the company is
profitable, since it helps identify the appropriate actions in accordance with the requirements of the market where
they are competing.
III. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Reputation is considered the image that the society perceives regarding a company or organization.
Reputation is closely related to the trust capital granted to the business partners and to the social sphere in
general. Building a solid reputation can be achieved through socially responsible actions (Sandu, A., 2009), since
moral behaviour is considered one of the main strategies of the company within the markets. Nowadays the
focus is laid increasingly more on the social and environmental aspects; this is why most speeches and public
debates refer to these issues.
The concept of corporate social responsibility arose as a result of several economic practices that
affected the social sphere; they thought that the absence of a legal framework allowed for the violation of the
moral norms. In the developed countries, where there are legal norms, companies and organizations comply with
them; however, in some developing countries the legal framework allows the performance of fraudulent or at
least immoral actions. Today, social responsibility (Sandu, A., 2012) is based on elements such as transparency,
orientation towards innovation, broad vision, verifiability and continuous improvement (Moneva, J., 2005); it is
believed that socially responsible behaviour is measured through the sustainability of the organizations’
activities.
The social responsibility of the firms involves a new model of productive relationships,
interconnections between the public and private strategies, and involvement of the various agents within the
socioeconomic system (Perez Gonzales, M.C., Blanco Canto, M., Tocino, M., 2013). Responsibility involves an
internal and external compromise; for this reason, as an element of continuous improvement within the
organizational dynamics, adapting to the endogenous factors and agents is essential. The evolution of corporate
social responsibility involves social marketing issues, and a new management area within the company’s
organization chart.
Talking about corporate social responsibility involves several aspects:
- Responsibility towards the legal framework - Responsibility towards the environment - Responsibility towards the human rights - Responsibility towards the profession - Responsibility towards the organization the individual belongs to - Responsibility towards the future of the planet and the generations to come - Responsibility towards one’s own actions, towards one’s own person. Besides these aspects, one must take into account the values such as: equity, respect, honesty and
integrity. Researchers in the field believe that CSR is voluntary and involves creating long term relationships
with the market and the social environment so as to ensure economic prosperity and the improvement of social
cohesion (Hristea, A.M., 2011). Because there is no universally accepted definition of the corporate social
responsibility, specific literature provides a wide range of terms that could amount to this concept : on the one
hand, we talk about corporate responsibility and corporate governance and, on the other hand, about responsible
entrepreneurship and corporate citizenship (Barbu, I.A., Chirea, G., Constantinescu, L., 2011, apud Grigore, G.,
Grigore, Ghe, 2009).
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Given that it has become increasingly difficult for companies and organizations to enter the market and
remain there, corporate responsibility faces a number of difficulties especially on the part of the firms: on the one
hand, the issue of obtaining profit is raised, and on the other hand, the issue of resisting on the market in the
context of fierce competition. Maxim, A. identified several obstacles regarding the orientation towards
responsible behaviour:
- Adapting to CSR requires continuous efforts and adaptations - A steep learning curve - Difficulties in terms of getting help - CSR is a complex area, with social, environmental and economic impact and influences - The boundaries are not clear - There are difficulties in terms of establishing a credible and effective CSR approach - The time required for CSR activities - The CSR language must be materialized especially when it comes to SMEs (Maxim, A., 2006) The analysis conducted during this study led to the conclusion that the firm’s social responsibility and
the organizational culture complement each other; thus, we can talk about creating a positive image of the
organization within the society. Promoting an ethical company that provides respect and trust both for the
business partners as well as for the employees is the key to profitability and sustainability over time. In the
context of fierce competition and ever-changing needs, the only aspect that should remain permanent in business
is ethics. Given the postmodern condition of our society (Guliciuc, V., 2014), responsible behaviour and ethics in
business relationships involve transparency and internal and external compromise.
For this reason, we believe that before talking about the financial issues, we should talk about internal
and external compromise, ethical behaviour and responsibility for the actions undertaken. A responsible
organization aims at maximizing the profit only through a type of behaviour that highlights the social value.
Social responsibility as a part of the organizational culture and the business strategies is closely related to justice
and the way organizations act.
The business environment can often bear changes and therefore the actions should be based on social
dialogue. One of the constant concerns of the companies and organizations is the level of consumer satisfaction.
Investigations must take into account the quality-price ratio, the geographic area and the type of customers.
Involving the organizations in this type of activities requires focusing on the business partners, since creating
benefits for all the parties involved may entail their satisfaction.
IV. CORPORATE CULTURE AND THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
Within a constantly changing society, a strong corporate culture that integrates ethics in all its activities
is essential. We are stating this because the focus is often laid on obtaining profit, not on the values that should
lead the organization towards success over a long period of time, while at company level the employee’s
commitment and loyalty towards the company start to fall after less than six months from the date of
employment, and after maximum two years many employees start considering the possibility of changing the job
(Rogojanu, A., Badea, L., 2009).
This happens most often due to lack of values, the lack of motivation and implicitly the lack of
performance, since a drop in the company’s revenues that is visible to the employees may reduce their
efficiency. Development and performance are extremely important, especially for start-up companies, and the
entrepreneurs' perception regarding the business environment includes, among others, the ability to solve
problems (Nicolescu, O., Nicolescu, C., 2013). However, when it comes to competition, we must keep in mind
the fact that the human resources make the difference between success and failure because:
- Commercials are made by PR specialists – thus, human resources - Sales are made by sales specialists - thus, human resources - Purchases are made by the purchasing department, which is composed of human resources, etc.
In this context, if all the activities of a firm or organization are undertaken by the available human
resources, then they need to be trained so as to reach maximum efficiency in all the activities they conduct. For
this reason, ethical and deontological codes, such as the codes of: public notaries, architects, doctors and
academics prevent and combat unfair practices, promoting equitable, fair and honest actions (Ioncică, M.,
Petrescu, E.C., Ioncică, D., 2008). Rogojanu A and Badea L believe that a clear philosophy is a very important
element that eases the decision-making process, since it guides all the firm’s actions in the market in order to
beat the competitors (Rogojanu, A., Badea, L., 2009). Therefore, human resource management must become a
strategic function of the company, as important as finance or marketing, since responsibility is the key value
(Niculescu, N., 2006). In addition, the ethical value is given by the way the company promotes the ethical
values, given that moral behaviour is only possible in a free society (Trifu, A., Terec-Vlad, L., 2013). We believe
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that the strategies of the organizations must comply with the requirements of the business partners in order to
build sustainable businesses that lead to obtaining benefits such as: trust capital, motivation of the human
resources, market share increase, etc. Since our society aims to obtain maximum benefits in exchange for as
small payments as possible, the dilemmas of the managers regard choosing the most appropriate strategy, which
ensures the sustainability of the business (Ganescu, MC, 2012):
- Social and societal strategies - Ecological and environmental strategies - Responsible distribution and supply strategies - Corporate image creation strategies - Strategies for obtaining competitive advantages - Strategies for obtaining added value (Ganescu, MC, 2012) In our opinion, they can be built only through a strong organizational culture that ensures ethics and
communication within these strategies and implicitly the responsibility in the organization's internal and external
environment. Regarding communication, it plays an extremely important role in solving the conflicts, because it
can increase the understanding and reduce the risk of jumping to conclusions or making generalizations (Hener,
G., 2010). On the other hand, nowadays we need moral education and reflexive thinking in the context of
permanent changes at any level (Lenta, O., 2015), as well as methodologies and pragmatic strategies within the
learning process (Eși, M.C., Posteucă, N.L., 2014).
V. CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this paper was to emphasize the importance of organizational culture in a society which
focuses increasingly more on ethics and responsibility. If until recently the focus was laid on profit, lately
corporate responsibility towards the business partners, the environment, the consumers, etc. has become a largely
talked about issue. We thought it would be appropriate to analyze these aspects not only because organizational
culture is a key element, but also because promoting an ethical company can ensure the well-needed trust capital
in a constantly changing society.
A good reputation can be built only through socially responsible actions, since moral behaviour is
considered one of the main strategies of the company within the markets. We also thought it would be
appropriate to bring into question the importance of the human resources within organizations, since they
represent the engine of the economic activities and we may say that they can make the difference between
success and failure in business. In this context, the motivation of the human resources and a strong
organizational culture are key elements that every firm should take into account if it also aims at sustainability
over time besides obtaining profit. Social responsibility and internal and external compromise are elements of
continuous improvement within the organizational dynamics; therefore, the evolution of corporate social
responsibility involves creating a new management area within the firm’s organization chart.
We thought it would be appropriate to bring these issues under discussion since the legal framework of
our country, as well as the heavy fees and taxes often do not provide any other alternative but the attempt to
obtain short-term benefits. However, we believe that the real benefits can be obtained based on the trust capital
that the company or organization provides for the business partners. Trust capital implicitly leads to obtaining
profit for extended periods of time; for this reason, the change in mentality should be as fast as possible in order
to ensure the financial benefits expected by the entrepreneurs.
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