The Effect of Ethical Climate on Work Engagement

Abstract

In order to survive and gain competitive advantage in this fast changing environment, nowadays organizations attribute much more importance to their work force. This situation leads to efforts that make employees more engaged. While engaging employees depends on many agents and variables, the predominant ethical climate within an organization is one of these factors. Ethical climate and work engagement are two management concepts which are in mutual interaction.In this study, ethical climate and work engagement concepts are studied theoretically. The main purpose of this study is to examine ethical climate's relationship with work engagement. The measurement of work engagement has been made by the most common measure of Schaufeli, Salanova, González- Romá & Bakker's (2002b) Utrecht Engagement Scale (UWES). Ethical Climate has been measured by the Ethical Climate Questionnaire developed by Victor and Cullen (1988). ECQ is the most common measure in ethical climate research, as well. The measurements have been gathered together in a 53-item survey and applied to 199 employees of one of the biggest automotive manufacturer located in Bursa, Turkey.The results show that work engagement is positively and significantly related with ethical climate. Social responsibility climate has a greater effect on work engagement than other dimensions of ethical climate. Social responsibility climate's effect on dedication dimension of work engagement is greater than its effect on absorption and vigor dimensions. Ethical climate's relationship with dedication and absorption is stronger than its relationship with vigor.