Ethics-related selection and reduced ethical conflict as drivers of positive work attitudes. Delivering on employees’ expectations for an ethical workplace
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-12-2012-0207 |
| Published date | 29 July 2014 |
| Date | 29 July 2014 |
| Pages | 692-716 |
| Author | Sean Valentine,David Hollingworth,Bradley Eidsness |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Ethics-related selection and
reduced ethical conflict as drivers
of positive work attitudes
Delivering on employees’ expectations for
an ethical workplace
Sean Valentine and David Hollingworth
Department of Management, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks,
North Dakota, USA, and
Bradley Eidsness
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA
Abstract
Purpose – There is reason to believe that an ethically minded approach to hiring and the development
of an ethical context should be associated with incremental decreases in employees’ perceptions of
ethical conflict. It is also likely that the selection of ethical employees, and the reduced ethical conflict
that follows, are positively related to employees’ positive work attitudes. The purpose of this paper is
to test these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach – Using a self-report questionnaire, information was collected
from 187 employees working for a medium-sized financial services organization with offices located
primarily in the Midwestern USA.
Findings – Results of structural equation modeling indicated that employees’ perceptions of ethics-related
selection were negatively related to perceived ethical conflict, and that reduced ethical conflict and
enhanced ethics-related selection were associated with an increased positive work attitude, which was
comprised of job satisfaction, an intention tostay, and organizational commitment.
Research limitations/implications – The results cannot prove causal association between the
constructs, and the use of one focal firm limits generalizability.
Practical implications – Organizational leaders and HR professionals should develop ethics-based
hiring practices to reduce ethical conflict and strengthen a company’s ethical context.
Originality/value – This investigation is relevant because strong relationships among ethics-related
hiring, ethical conflict, and positive work attitudes would suggest that companies must use ethical
selection criteria and maintain an ethical culture/climate that meets or exceeds employees’ expectations
about ethics. Furthermore, this study adds to the relatively few published works exploring the relationship
between ethical conflict and work attitudes.
Keywords Quantitative, Ethics, Employee selection, Work attitudes
Paper type Research p aper
Introduction
The management of ethics is viewed as a paramount issue in business today. Being
ethical and socially responsible “has for many organizations become essential to
maintaining viability and their ‘license to operate’ ” (O’Donohue and Nelson, 2009, p. 251).
Given theseexpectations, it hasbecome imperative forbusiness leaders to hireemployees
who possess the capacity to be ethical, as well as devise values-driven ethical approaches
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
Received 15 December 2012
Revised 7 December 2013
Accepted 14 June 2014
Personnel Review
Vol. 43 No. 5, 2014
pp. 692-716
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-12-2012-0207
This research was supported by the College of Business and Public Administration and the
Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of North Dakota.
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PR
43,5
that employees internalize so that their ethical reasoning increases. “Employee selection
becomes particularly important when ethics initiatives stress a values orienta tion and
are integrated into routine organizational activities [y],” making it “essential that the
recruiting and hiring process focus on attracting and selecting employees who share
the organization’s values [y]”; indeed, employees should possess an ethical mindset
in the workplace (Weaverand Trevino, 2001). Consequently, companies need to strategically
select employees and advance the appropriate initiatives to precipitate ethics and other
desirable work outcomes (Buckley et al., 2001; Weaver and Trevino, 2001). While these
decisions often depend on a wide array of complex considerations, evidence suggest
that companies should create a proper work environment, or “ethical context,” that
encourages employees to think, feel, and behave in desirable ways (e.g. Sims, 1991;
Trevino, 1986; Trevino et al., 1998; Valentine and Barnett, 2007; Valentine et al., 2006).
Ethical context is shaped from the moral ideologies, ethical philosophie s, social
mores, and norms of behavior that are adopted and institutionalized by the members of
a company (Chonko and Hunt, 1985; Hunt et al., 1989; McDonald, 1999; Sims, 1991;
Valentine et al., 2002; Werhane and Freeman, 1999). Such an environment is created to
prevent unethical decision making throughout the firm (e.g. Akaah and Lund, 1994;
Singhapakdi et al., 2000; Valentine and Barnett, 2007), and a number of approaches can
be employed. For instance, organizations can craft policies that encourage employees
to consider ethics and reprimand them when they act inappropriately (Hunt et al., 1989;
Valentine et al., 2002). Sims (1991, p. 495) suggested that organizational ethics is
strengthened by “(1) managing the psychological contracts between its employees
and the organizations, (2) reinforcing the employee’s organizational commitment, and (3)
encouraging (creating and nurturing) an ethically-oriented organizational culture.”
Companies can also utilize programmatic approaches such as ethics training, codes, and
ethics officers/committees to enhance ethical context (Adams et al., 2001; Farrell and
Farrell, 1998; Ferrell et al., 2008; Trevino and Nelson, 2007; Valentine and Barnett, 2002;
Valentine and Fleischman, 2004; Weaver et al., 1999; Wells and Schminke, 2001; Wotruba
et al., 2001). For instance, Singhapakdi and Vitell (1990) determined that individuals
employed in organizations that utilized an ethics code were more ethical thanwere those
employed in companies that did not use a code. Adams et al. (2001) reaffirmed these
findings by stating that ethics codes help employees better recognize an organization’s
support for business ethics. Finally, companies must recruit employees, managers, and
other referent individuals who aid in the development of ethics through role modeling,
vicarious social learning, and reinforcement processes (Ferrell et al., 2008; James, 2000;
Sims, 1994; Trevino and Nelson, 2007; Trevino and Youngblood, 1990).
While much attention is dedicated to the building of ethical context, primarily as
a mechanism for enhancing individual ethical decision making, an ethical workplace
also enables a company to establish stronger ties with employees. For instance, ethical
context can increase employees’ perceived fit with and commitment to an organization
(Hunt et al., 1989; Valentine et al., 2002), particularly through strengthened psychological
contracts (Sims, 1991, 1994) and enhanced identification (Collier and Esteban, 2007).
Consequently,employees show a preference for ethical firms because they benefit greatly
from the association.
However, when a company does not provide such a work context, the opposite can
occur. An unethical culture precipitates poor job responses among employees because they
feel disconnected from a workplace that fails to meet their basic ethical expectations. More
specifically, employees perceive “ethical conflict” on the job when their ethical values are
not matched and/or exceeded by their employer’s ethical orientation (Schwepker, 1999;
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Ethics-related
selection and
reduced ethical
conflict
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