Corporate Ethical Virtues Research Articles

The role of the corporate ethical virtues model in sustainability reporting

AbstractFrom the perspective of virtue ethics, ethical organizational cultures prompt employees to act ethically. According to Kaptein's Corporate Ethical Virtues (CEV) model, this organizational ability is favored by the development of seven key corporate virtues (Clarity, Congruency, Feasibility, Supportability, Transparency, Discussability, and Sanctionability). The paper intends to connect the CEV model with sustainability reporting, which is taking on increasing relevance today due to factors such as the European Union's recent Directives on corporate non‐financial communication. In particular, the paper's objective is to examine to what extent and the way in which the virtues of the model have a role in sustainability reporting. Furthermore, this goal is enriched with an added focus, which is attention paid to actions taken by companies, and expressed in their sustainability reporting, in implementing virtuous behavior amidst the difficulties triggered by the COVID‐19 crisis. To achieve its aim, the paper presents and discusses a study of the role of the CEV model within two large companies in the logistics sector, through a content analysis of their sustainability reports covering the period 2018–2020 complemented by information from their corporate websites. The results of the analysis highlight both an overall relevance of the virtues included in the CEV model and the role of measures adopted by organizations to cope with COVID‐19 as a significant component of their sustainability performance in the pandemic period. Finally, the paper elaborates on several theoretical and practical implications stemming from the study.

Workplace ethical climate and its relationship with depression, anxiety and stress.

Ethical climate in the workplace has been highlighted to have an important impact on workers' mental health; the evaluation of workplace ethics and its impact on workers' health should be considered an occupational health issue. The present study aims to investigate ethical climate as perceived by workers, and its correlation with mental health outcomes, in particular, symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. A cross-sectional study was performed by administering an online survey, investigating socio-demographic variables, workplace ethics (through the Italian short version of the Corporate Ethical Virtues questionnaire) and mental health outcomes (using the short version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale). Descriptive analyses, analyses of variance and regression models were performed; P-values were considered significant for values ≤0.05. The sample included 176 workers; the mean age of participants was 46.22 years and 44% were males. The most represented job sector was health care (37%), and 42% of participants had college-level education. Ethical climate was significantly correlated with all mental health outcomes investigated in the study: anxiety (P ≤ 0.001), depression (P ≤ 0.05) and stress (P ≤ 0.05). Results from this study highlighted a significant correlation between workplace ethical climate and depression, anxiety and stress. This study underlines the importance of evaluating and improving ethical climate to prevent the onset of psychological distress in workers. Furthermore, results from this study should be a starting point for future research investigating the role of ethics and mental health in employees' turnover intention and job satisfaction.

Evaluation of ethical standards in a large sample of Italian white-collar workers: A pilot study

Introduction: In recent years many tools have been developed for the objective assessment of the impact of ethics in the occupational world; in the Italian context, many different methods have been used to assess ethical values in the occupational context, which presents difficulties for the occupational physician in the interpretation of the results. To standardize the evaluation of ethical standards in the workplace, the short version of a questionnaire based on the Corporate Ethical Virtues Model, which was recently validated in Italian, was used to evaluate ethical climate in a population of office workers.Methods: The questionnaire was administered to a large population of Italian office workers. Descriptive statistical analysis, as well as a logistic regression model, were performed to evaluate variables acting as predictors of ethical standards. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results: 3706 workers were included in the study; 1710 were males (46.14%). The total score obtained on the questionnaire by the workers participating in the study ranged from 31 to 96 points, with a mean of 72.16 (SD ±11.01) points (higher values indicate better ethical standards). Job role and length of service were highlighted as statistically significant (P < 0.01) predictors of ethical standards.Conclusions: Role and Length of service are predictors of ethical standards. The questionnaire may be used to evaluate ethical climate in the workplace, allowing the harmonization of the evaluation of ethical standards performed by the occupational physician. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of ethical climate on workers’ wellbeing.

Adaptation and evidence of validity of the corporate ethical virtues scale in Brazil: A measure of ethical culture in organisations

Introduction: Ethical culture stands out as an important variable in comprehending ethical norms and ethical behaviour at work. The Corporate Ethical Virtues (CEV) Scale is a widely used measure of ethical culture in organisations. This study aimed to adapt and validate the CEV Scale to a Brazilian context. Method. In Study 1 (n = 1.219), the CEV Scale was trans-lated and adapted, the reliability and the internal structure were tested and the discriminant validity of ethical climate measures was demonstrated. In Study 2 (n = 635), measurement invariance in two groups was demonstrated, and there was evidence of validity based on the relationships with related constructs. Results. The results indicated that the Brazilian ver-sion of the CEV Scale showed reasonable psychometric properties and provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusion. This measure can be used by managers and consultants to diagnose ethical organisational culture.

Measuring Ethical Organizational Culture: Validation of the Spanish Version of the Shortened Corporate Ethical Virtues Model

A key issue in the business ethics field is the design of effective measures for assessing the ethical culture of organizations. The Corporate Ethical Virtues Model (CEV), developed by Kaptein in 2008, is an instrument for measuring ethical culture, and has been applied, adapted and validated in different contexts. In 2013, DeBode, Armenakis, Field and Walker developed the CEV–S, a shortened version of the original scale. Both the CEV and CEV–S assess eight dimensions based on corporate ethical virtues: clarity, congruency of supervisors, congruency of senior management, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability and sanctionability. The objective of this study is to present a Spanish version of the CEV–S and its validation process. The scale was applied to two samples of 114 and 193 Colombian employees from two companies operating in the services sector. The confirmatory factor analyses revealed a good fit for the eight-factor structure of the Spanish CEV–S and the statistical tests applied showed good levels of reliability and validity for this scale. The adequate psychometric properties shown by the Spanish CEV–S may support its use in future research to measure organizational ethical culture in Spanish-speaking settings.

Investigating the relationship between perception of an organisation’s ethical culture and worker motivation

PurposeThis study aims to examine whether an individual’s perception of the ethical culture of their organisation could be used to predict their work motivation.Design/methodology/approachUsing the corporate ethical virtues model as a foundation, the role of distributive justice was explored through the development of a composite measure for assessing ethical organisational culture. The resulting six-factor solution was then used. Australian employees (N = 330; Mage = 38.40) completed an online survey examining perceptions of ethical culture, distributive justice and work motivation.FindingsResults indicated that higher work motivation was associated with a higher perception of an organisation’s ethical culture. Additionally, the six dimensions of ethical culture accounted for significant variance in worker motivation, with factors relating to congruency of peers, clarity and feasibility being the best predictors.Originality/valueThis study provides useful cues for future research and interventions enabling organisations to take a more targeted approach to influence their ethical culture and, consequently, an individual’s motivation to work.

The shortened Corporate Ethical Virtues scale: Measurement invariance and mean differences across two occupational groups

AbstractSo far, the field of business ethics lacks validated measures for assessing virtues at the organizational level. The aim of this study is to investigate the measurement invariance of a shortened Corporate Ethical Virtues scale. In this manner, we contribute to validating an instrument that is both psychometrically sound and efficient to use. We conducted two survey studies of two independent groups (managers and school psychologists). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the eight‐factor model of the scale, and we found it to be invariant in two different occupational groups. The managers gave higher appraisals of ethical culture than the psychologists did in seven out of the eight dimensions. We found that despite the contextual differences, the shortened scale measures the eight dimensions of organizational ethical virtues, as intended. Thus, the use of this more compact scale can be recommended for future studies, which will hopefully stimulate more research on ethical culture in various work contexts.

Ethical culture as predictor of work motivation: An application of the CEV model

This study examines the relationship between ethical culture and work motivation, whereby specific dimensions of ethical culture are measured by employing the Corporate Ethical Virtues Model (CEV) developed by Muel Kaptein and his associates. The analysis is based on data collected by means of an online survey conducted in Croatia on a sample of 400 employees of private and public sector organizations. The results presented in the paper show that clarity is rated the highest, while supportability is the lowest-rated ethical virtue in the aforementioned organizations. Ethical culture as a whole is a good predictor of work motivation, with congruence of the management being the most important predictor. An interesting fi nding of this study is also a negative association between sanctionability and work motivation when all other predictors are being held constant. It is thus concluded that the CEV model represents a good measurement tool with a proven construct validity outside its original social and cultural context. The paper closes with suggestions for future research, especially for a possible broadening of the application of the CEV model.

How bad it is to be good: Impact of organizational ethical culture on whistleblowing (the ethical partners)

Whistleblowers are ostracized and isolated for identifying wrongdoings. Despite this deterrent, the whistleblowers have not recoiled. Nonetheless, organizations need to develop an ethical corporate culture, where employees become ‘ethical partners’ and do the right thing, not because they have to, but because they want to. The study aimed to measure the effects of ethical cultural practices using the lens of Kaptein's (2008) Corporate Ethical Virtues Model (CEVM). Split Questionnaire Survey Design (SDSD) was chosen to record responses of 104 internal auditors working in nine public and sixteen private sector organizations. Results reveal significant positive relationships between whistleblowing and the CEVM virtues.

(A)moral Agents in Organisations? The Significance of Ethical Organisation Culture for Middle Managers’ Exercise of Moral Agency in Ethical Problems

This paper investigates qualitatively the significance of different dimensions of ethical organisation culture for the exercise of middle managers’ moral agency in ethical problems. The research draws on the social cognitive theory of morality and on the corporate ethical virtues model. This study broadens understanding of the factors which enable or constrain managers’ potential for moral agency in organisations, and shows that an insufficient ethical organisational culture may contribute to indifference towards ethical issues, the experiencing of moral conflicts, lack of self-efficacy and morally disengaged reasoning. In contrast, a healthy ethical culture can contribute to motivation to tackle ethical problems, an increased capacity for self-regulation and ultimately ethical behaviour.

When organizations are too good: Applying Aristotle's doctrine of the mean to the corporate ethical virtues model

AbstractAristotle's doctrine of the mean states that a virtue is the mean state between two vices: a deficient and an excessive one. The Corporate Ethical Virtues (CEV) Model defines the mean and the corresponding deficient vice for each of its seven virtues. This paper defines for each of these virtues the corresponding excessive vice and explores why organizations characterized by these excessive vices increase the likelihood that their employees will behave unethically. The excessive vices are patronization, pompousness, lavishness, zealotry, overexposure, talkativeness, and oppressiveness.

Impact of Management Ethics on Payment Discipline

A company's ethics is one of the key factors of its effectiveness. Having poor business ethics usually lead to the lack of payment discipline. The main purpose of the study was to identify the possible impact of management ethics on the financial discipline of companies. The study involved 273 Slovenian public and private companies, which represented 9.1% of all companies invited to take part in the survey. The data on management ethics were collected using the Corporate Ethical Virtues measurement instrument questionnaire and the data concerning average late payments were obtained from the database of the Slovenian rating agency “I d.o.o.”. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 20.0 for Windows. We conducted a factor analysis and a regression analysis using the stepwise method. We found that management ethics has a positive impact on payment discipline. At the end of the article, we give suggestions for improvement of payment discipline.

Ethics culture and ethics climate in relation to employee engagement in a developing country setting

The study investigated the relationship between employees’ perceived workplace ethics culture and climate variables and their level of engagement. A non-probability sample (N = 839; females = 32%) was permanently employed in a railway organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The research constructs were measured using the Corporate Ethical Virtues (CEV) Scale, Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ), and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). A canonical analysis indicated that the participants’ perceived workplace ethics culture and workplace ethics climate were significantly and positively related to their level of engagement. Structural equation modelling indicated a moderate fit between the workplace ethics culture, workplace ethics climate and employee engagement canonical variate constructs. The findings provide evidence that individual's perception of work ethics culture and work ethics climate explain their level of work engagement.

Is the Ethical Culture of the Organization Associated with Sickness Absence? A Multilevel Analysis in a Public Sector Organization

The main aim of the present study was to examine whether an ethical organizational culture is associated with sickness absence in a Finnish public sector organization at both the individual (within-level) and work unit (between-level) levels. The underlying assumption was that employees working for organizations that are characterized by a strong ethical organizational culture report less sickness absence. The sample consisted of 2192 employees from one public sector city organization that included 246 different work units. Ethical organizational culture was measured with the Corporate Ethical Virtues scale covering eight sub-dimensions. Sickness absence was inquired by asking the participants to report how many days they had been absent from work because of their own sickness over the past year. Multilevel structural equation modelling showed that, at the individual level, perceptions of a strong ethical organizational culture were associated with less sickness absences after controlling for the background factors. This link was not found at the work-unit level. The findings indicate that an ethical organizational culture plays a significant role in enhancing employee well-being measured as sickness absence. It seems that especially supervisor’s ethical role modeling and possibilities to discuss about ethical issues are important factors in preventing sickness absence in the organizations.

THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADER MEMBER EXCHANGE AND ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATIVENESS

Ethical organizational culture as a social phenomenon has drawn scholars and organizations’ attention after the global economic crisis in 2008 which, again, proved the importance of the ethical component of organizational culture as a phenomenon potentially accounting for organizational failures. A practical need for management of ethical virtues of organizational culture calls for robust measurement instruments which could help to diagnose potential ethical risks and improve ethical dimensions of organizational culture. The paper presents the results of confirmatory validation analysis of a measurement instrument for ethical organizational culture or the corporate ethical virtues model. The model encompasses 8 virtues, i.e. clarity, congruency of supervisors, congruency of management, transparency, feasibility, discussability, supportability, and sanctionability, measured by a 58-item scale initially. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.19.3.8357

Exploring Ethical Organizational Culture: Validation of Measurement Instrument in Lithuania

Ethical organizational culture as a social phenomenon has drawn scholars and organizations’ attention after the global economic crisis in 2008 which, once again, proved the importance of the ethical component of organizational culture as a phenomena potentially accounting for organizational failures. A practical need for management of ethics in organizational culture calls for robust measurement instruments which could help to diagnose potential ethical risks and improve ethical dimensions of organizational culture. The paper presents results of explorative validation analysis of a measurement instrument for ethical organizational culture or the corporate ethical virtues model that was originally developed by Kaptein (2008). The model encompasses 8 virtues, i.e. clarity, congruency of supervisors, congruency of management, transparency, feasibility, discussability, supportability and sanctionability, by 58 item scale. Drawing on the argument that self-reported and ethics-related measurements can be highly sensitive to a socio-cultural context, we assume that a measurement instrument tested in a Dutch company may be differently handled in Lithuania. The results of validation by accomplishing factor analysis in a sample of 757 respondents in Lithuanian public organization show that the overall fit of the model is quite high; although some additional conclusions potentially describing socio-cultural context can be formulated.

The Associations between Ethical Organizational Culture, Burnout, and Engagement: A Multilevel Study

Purpose Ethical culture is a specific form of organizational culture (including values and systems that can promote ethical behavior), and as such a socially constructed phenomenon. However, no previous studies have investigated the degree to which employees’ perceptions of their organization’s ethical culture are shared within work units (departments), which was the first aim of this study. In addition, we studied the associations between ethical culture and occupational well-being (i.e., burnout and work engagement) at both the individual and work-unit levels.Design/Methodology/ApproachThe questionnaire data were gathered from 2,146 respondents with various occupations in 245 different work units in one public sector organization. Ethical organizational culture was measured with the corporate ethical virtues scale, including eight sub-dimensions.FindingsMultilevel structural equation modeling showed that 12–27 % of the total variance regarding the dimensions of ethical culture was explained by departmental homogeneity (shared experiences). At both the within and between levels, higher perceptions of ethical culture associated with lower burnout and higher work engagement.ImplicationsThe results suggest that organizations should support ethical practices at the work-unit level, to enhance work engagement, and should also pay special attention to work units with a low ethical culture because these work environments can expose employees to burnout.Originality/ValueThis is one of the first studies to find evidence of an association between shared experiences of ethical culture and collective feelings of both burnout and work engagement.

Assessing Ethical Organizational Culture

An important element in discussions of organizational ethicality is the diagnosis of organizational culture. Kaptein developed the Corporate Ethical Virtues Model Scale (CEVMS) to facilitate this task. We build on this work by developing a short form of Kaptein’s scale, the CEVMS–Short Form (CEVMS-SF). In a series of studies, using three independent samples, we (a) developed the CEVMS-SF (Study 1, n = 274), (b) tested the psychometric properties of the short form (Study 2, n = 417), and (c) found validity evidence (Study 3, n = 204) for the measure. The primary implication of this research is that the CEVMS-SF can be combined with existing scales allowing diagnosticians to conduct more comprehensive diagnoses by including ethical culture. We also explain how the CEVMS-SF is applicable in the action research process when conducting a diagnosis or evaluating change interventions during the transformation of an unethical organizational culture to an ethical one.

The Corporate Ethical Virtues Scale: Factorial Invariance Across Organizational Samples

This study investigated the factorial validity of the 58-item Corporate Ethical Virtues scale (CEV; Kaptein, J Organ Behav 29(7):923–947, 2008). The major aim was to test the invariance of the factor structure across different organizational samples. The CEV scale was designed to measure eight corporate virtues: clarity, congruency of supervisors, congruency of senior management, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability, and sanctionability. The data (total N = 3,702) consisted of four organizational samples that are operated in the private and public sector. The results of confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized eight-factor structure, as well as its alternative second-order factor structure, where high correlations between the first-order factors (virtues) were explained by a general CEV factor. These factor structures (including factor loadings) remained the same across samples, lending strong support for the group invariance assumption of the scale. Thus, the 58-item CEV scale was found to be a valid tool for measuring the aspect of ethical organizational culture in different organizations, and its use can be recommended for future research.

Does the Ethical Culture of Organisations Promote Managers’ Occupational Well-Being? Investigating Indirect Links via Ethical Strain

The present study had two major aims: first, to examine the construct validity of the Finnish 58-item Corporate Ethical Virtues scale (CEV; Kaptein in J Org Behav 29:923–947, 2008) and second, to examine whether the associations between managers’ perceptions of ethical organisational culture and their occupational well-being (emotional exhaustion and work engagement) are indirectly linked by ethical strain, i.e. the tension which arises from the difference in the ethical values of the individual and the organisation he or she works for. The sample consisted of 902 managers from different organisations, in middle and upper management levels, aged 25–68 years. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided support to the hypothesised eight-factor structure of the CEV scale; i.e. the scale contained the factors of clarity, congruency of supervisors, congruency of senior management, feasibility, supportability, transparency, discussability and sanctionability. In addition, it emerged from the CFAs that the high intercorrelations of these factors can be explained by the second-order factor of ethical culture. The managers’ perceptions of the ethical culture prevailing in their organisations were associated with their occupational well-being both directly (high-work engagement) and indirectly via a low level of ethical strain (low-emotional exhaustion). Thus, the findings indicated that the ethical culture of organisations plays a major role in managers’ occupational well-being.