Factors influencing ethical climate in a nonprofit organisation: an empirical investigation

Abstract

AbstractDrawing from Victor and Cullen's[Victor, B. and Cullen, J. B. (1987) ‘A theory and measure of ethical climate in organizations’, Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Vol. 9, pp. 51–71.],[Victor, B. and Cullen, J. B. (1988) ‘The organizational bases of ethical work climates’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 33, pp. 101–125.] theoretical framework a recent study by Agarwal and Malloy[Agarwal, J. and Malloy, D. C. (1999) ‘Ethical work climate dimensions in a not‐for‐profit organization: An empirical study’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 20, pp. 1–14.] examined ethical work climate dimensions in the context of a nonprofit organisation. This paper reviews the framework and extends the study further by investigating several factors that influence the perception of ethical work climate in a nonprofit organisation. The multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedure is employed to test nine hypotheses. Results demonstrate somewhat unique findings regarding factors that influence ethical climate perception in a nonprofit context. Specifically, the findings of this study point to the level of education, decision style and the influence that superiors and volunteers have upon ethical perception. Results also demonstrate that factors that have been employed traditionally by forprofit management, such as length of service, codes of ethics, size of the organisation and peer pressure, do not effectively influence ethical perception in the nonprofit context. Finally implications of this study are discussed. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications