Personal Ethical Values Research Articles

“Doing the Right Thing” and “Making a Difference”: The Role of Personal Ethical Values in Diversity and Inclusion Consulting

This article focuses on the salience of personal ethical values for diversity work. Theory and practice of diversity management (DM) are located in a wider business ethics agenda which acknowledges the rhetorical value of the business case for diversity, but which also integrates the moral responsibilities attached to people management. Drawing on findings from a qualitative study of external diversity and inclusion (D&I) consultants in the UK, the analysis reveals the extent to which personal ethical values act as motivators for and influences on DM work. The research finds that the unique positioning of external D&I consultants facilitates a productive tension towards their work with organizations, allowing them space and opportunity to navigate ethical tensions such that they stand as particularly valuable equality practitioners.

A Study into the Relationship Between Whistleblowing, Organizational Commitment and Personal Ethical Values: Hirschman’s Exit, Voice and Loyalty in Tourism

Presently, unethical practices are a major concern in almost every sector. Among these industries is tourism. Requiring large expenditure of labor in particular is one of the causes underlying frequently observed unethical practices. The efforts to prevent such issues are of the utmost value for the sector’s long range sustainability, productivity, and economic contributions. The aim of this study is to discuss the results of the tourism employees with ethical values and high organizational commitment to disclose or not to disclose unethical practices in the enterprise within the framework of Hirschman's Exit, Voice and Loyalty theory and to enhance the understanding the consequences of whistleblowing. Under normal circumstances, an employee with serious ethical concerns and strong organizational commitment is expected not to remain silent about any unethical behavior. However, individuals are not frequently taken actions. From time to time, an employee may choose to take no action and ignore unethical behaviors. They may think that these misconducts will disappear or leave the organization in the belief that nothing in the organization will change nor will be as it should be. In this sense, in the study, the relationship between whistleblowing, personal ethical values and organizational commitment has been conceptually discussed and evaluated in terms of the tourism industry within the framework of Hirschman's Theory.

Etik ve Hukuk Boyutuyla Tezden Üretilen Yayınlarda Haksız Yazarlık

The research examines the issue of unfair authorship, considered within the scope of scientific publication ethics and the law on intellectual property rights, by analysing the order of the authors of publications derived from the dissertations. To this tendency, tags of one hundred and sixty-one dissertations published in 2015-2019 by the De- partment of Business Administration-Management & Organization categorized by document analysis. The publications derived from those are determined using certain search criteria. In the last stage, descriptive statistics applied by SPSS to see the ethical reflection of the publications. Results show that unethical authorship is approximately 17%. The doctoral students are not the first author though they are the first carrier of the research. Out of 30 universities, 11 had unfair authorship practices and clustered mainly in 5. Discussing results with the gender of the authors and supervisors, titles, and universities show that the subject needs to consider both personal ethical values and the organizational culture. In this respect, the research will practically contribute to raising awareness about ethical violations, developing mechanisms for preventing unethical practices, and shed light on future studies which investigate the causes of unethical situations.

Ethical issues in health care sector: Myth or Reality?

Ethics are the moral duties and responsibilities which govern a lifestyle. In medical profession being ethical is the primary demand, but at times ethical judgement and behaviour may direct towards an unprecedented decision. In these circumstances, medical professionals and health care providers take utmost care to take a diligent decision. But a conflict always exists between the professional and personal ethical values of all health care professionals and workers. At times the health care workers and professionals undergo severe mental distress and agony to respond to professional ethics. The study is conducted with the objective of reviewing ethical issues and conflict existing in the health care sector in the current scenario when the whole world is fighting to defeat the deadly virus of COVID. This paper is based on extensive literature review which includes research articles and papers apart from newspaper articles and reports. The review gave a clear picture on the ethical stature in health care sector. Further, the paper also highlights the ethical issues and conflicts of health care workers and professionals.

Ethical Conflicts Among the Leading Medical and Healthcare Leaders

Today, the whole world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In these circumstances, medical professionals are being viewed as the frontline warriors who are risking their lives for the sake of helping, caring, and curing these patients. However, in these difficult times, there are few medical professionals and health care providers who are taking advantage of this situation and taking advantage of distressed and distraught patients at will. A conflict between professional and personal ethical values makes them depressed and puzzled. It is tough for them to maintain a good image of their profession and business. The objectives of this study are to review the ethical conflict amid the ongoing Covid pandemic and post-Covid pandemic (vaccination period) in the context of medical professionals and health care providers. The paper is designed based on a literature review. Almost fifty-two research papers, articles, survey reports, and newspapers were studied in the context of ethics in business/profession. After reviewing moral distress is ongoing and post-pandemic period, the researchers have tried to present the medical professionals and health care providers' critical situation to give priority to their professional ethics or personal interest.

From mine to ours: a dynamic process model in developing ethical culture – the case of Alibaba

ABSTRACT Organizational culture (including ethical culture) is argued to be greatly influenced by the founder or leader of the organization. However, little is known about how a founder takes procedural steps to transmit his or her personal ethical values to the whole organization. Based on an in-depth case study of Alibaba, a Chinese internet-based company, this research develops a process model to uncover the dynamics of developing an ethical organizational culture. The model articulates four mechanisms in four processes adopted by both the leaders and followers. The analysis shows that the development of an ethical culture is nonlinear and interactional, and that the founder and subordinates play different roles in the various phases of the development of an ethical culture.

Awareness of ethical dilemmas enhances public support for the principle of saving more lives in the United States: A survey experiment based on ethical allocation of scarce ventilators

Recommendations by health experts to deal with public health emergencies are primarily guided by the principle of “saving more lives”. It is unclear whether people perceive this principle as ethically more legitimate than some other principle such as “saving more life-years”. Understanding the answer to this question is particularly relevant to the allocation of scarce medical resources during public health emergencies. Different principles typically lead to different allocations, and consequently have dramatically different implications as to who survives and who dies. We fielded an online randomized controlled survey experiment in the context of scarce ventilator allocation with a demographically representative sample of US adults (n = 700) from October 22 to October 30, 2020. Participants faced hypothetical situations where they had to allocate few available ventilators among several needy patients. The experiment was designed such that the allocation decision made by a participant can be used to infer the principle in line with their personal ethical values. We interpret this inferred principle as the one that the participant perceives to be most legitimate. The treatment group, but not the control group, was provided balanced information that described the ethical dilemmas faced by experts in developing ventilator allocation guidelines. Nearly half of the participants in the control group perceive saving more lives the most legitimate principle. Despite the balanced nature of the information, the perceived legitimacy of saving more lives was 7·6 percentage points higher in the treatment group. The magnitude of this impact was particularly strong among republican-leaning participants, a subgroup that has less trust in experts according to previous research. Our findings suggest that enhancing public awareness of ethical dilemmas faced by health experts can increase the perceived legitimacy of their proposed guidelines even among those with lower trust in experts.

Spiritual Travel to Baitullah: Individual Piety in Global Capitalism

The purpose of this paper explains critically related to one's journey to perform Hajj and Umrah (pilgrimage) concerning individual piety in the crowd (globalization and capitalization) of religious rituals. Hajj and Umrah are not only spiritual journeys that have personal ethical values. Hajj and Umrah can educate someone to be patient, calm, and more submissive to God. Hajj and Umrah also teach the perpetrators to be generous, have social sensitivity, and care with fellow human beings. The writing method in this paper is ethnographic-sociological. This paper's data is based on literature, observations, and interviews with pilgrims and Umrah from Indonesia in 2014 and 2018. This paper finds that the Hajj and Umrah are also closely related to the political economy problems administered by the state and the private sector, in addition to educating the perpetrators to be pious. Hajj and Umrah can thus be said to have two sides at once, namely individual piety and social class.

Influence of Ethiopian managers’ demographics and personal ethical values on their corporate social responsibility perception

Top managers are recognized as important forces in fostering the spread of ethical spirits and responsible behaviors in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of personal ethical values and demographics (age, gender, and education level) on top managers’ CSR perceptions in Ethiopia. A quantitative approach involving a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 294 executive managers of four sectors (floriculture, food, textile, and banks). Multiple linear regressions were employed to analyze the data. The analysis revealed that while some personal demographics, i.e., age and educational level had no impact on Ethiopian managers’ CSR perception, gender was positively and significantly correlated with managers’ CSR perception. Additionally, the analysis indicated that managers’ personal moral values had significantly influenced Ethiopian managers’ CSR perception.

Do United States accountants' personal values match the profession's values (ethics code)?

PurposeCongruence of personal values to organizational (the profession) values affects job performance, job satisfaction and ethical behavior. The purpose of this paper is to answer two research questions: (1) what are the personal ethical values of today's leaders in the US accounting profession and (2) are these personal ethical values congruent with the profession's ethical code?Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a survey approach to determine the personal values of US-certified public accounting leaders. The personal values of the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) leaders were measured using the Rokeach Value Survey instrument.FindingsFindings show that for each highly prioritized personal value, there is one or more parallel with the profession's values, as represented by the US American Institute of CPAs ethics code.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was limited by the time period used. Future studies could include other time periods. This study could be used as a starting point for longitudinal studies to determine if personal values of professional accountants change over time.Practical implicationsThis paper offers a fresh understanding of the relationship of accountants' personal values to professional values.Social implicationsThis paper provides insights into the person–organization (P–O) fit of US accountants within their profession.Originality/valueThis paper examines the P–O fit of accounting leaders, that is, the congruence of personal values and organizational values. The P–O fit contributes to job performance and job satisfaction.

Motivations of undertaking CSR initiatives by independent hotels: a holistic approach

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore how senior managers of independent hotels perceive the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) through a holistic analysis of motivations of undertaking both social and environmental initiatives.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducts qualitative interviews with 22 Malaysian senior hotel managers together with ethnographic observations.FindingsEmergent themes show that CSR is a dynamic concept involving complex struggles and trade-offs between fulfilling business objectives, paying heed to personal ethical values and considering cultural norms when making decisions regarding the adoption of a range of environmental and social initiatives.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to legitimacy theory by highlighting that in the absence of pressure from key stakeholders for responsible initiatives, managers still proactively engage in CSR initiatives. More surprising still is that they set expectations instead of simply aligning or responding to the key stakeholders’ pre-set demands. Meanwhile, the uniqueness, size and purposeful selection of the sample limit the applicability of the findings to wider geographical and cultural locations.Practical implicationsWhile Malaysian hotel managers are willing to use CSR practices to demonstrate their commitment to their employees and the local communities where they operate, it is equally important that they utilize other media (such as their websites or social media) for both promotional and legitimacy building purposes. Within the context of growing tourism for economic development, the Malaysian Government can develop more effective strategies, rewards or incentives for encouraging businesses to undertake and improve CSR adoption for sustainability of this industry.Originality/valueBy extending the scope of CSR studies beyond firm performance issues, we attempt to show the wider set of motivations and contexts considered important in determining hotel engagement in CSR programs.

Mechanisms of change: Stakeholder Engagement in the Australian Resource Sector through CSR

AbstractThe study sought to draw new perspectives on how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is shaped and created within the resource sector. The study focused on examining the role of external stakeholders in influencing the CSR strategies implemented by Australian resource companies. Data were gathered by semi‐structured interviews with key stakeholders involved with 25 resource companies located in South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.Consistent with sociological theories of CSR, stakeholders such as business and community leaders, non‐government organizations (NGOs), and government employees were able to influence CSR by empowering communities to participate in CSR, bridging cultural divides between companies and communities, and linking companies to key society standards. This was facilitated by the expression of personal ethical values and knowledge sets by stakeholders and where relevant those of their organization.A range of stakeholders were active agents of change, bringing in new ideology, skills, and expertise, and, at times, challenging existing corporate practice. This process was underlined by relationship building and trust. Stakeholders effectively introduced higher ethical values to concepts of public accountability, environmental sustainability, and social justice in line with personal and organizational ethics.The study also identified factors which promoted stakeholder influence and gave stakeholders power within CSR. This included a range of institutional‐level factors such as regulatory and legal frameworks, company policy, and cultures, but also interpersonal skills and abilities of the individuals involved.The study highlights the strategic benefits of stakeholder involvement in CSR within the Australian resource sector and discusses implications for the broader resource industry. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

A Qualitative Analysis of Auditor Independence in Dominica: The Views of Auditors and Corporate Accountants

This study seeks to investigate the perceptions of auditor independence in Dominica focusing primarily on the views of the auditors and corporate accountants. A qualitative study was employed using 25 auditors and corporate accountants. Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule adapted from the Sucher and MacLullich (2004) study in Czech Republic. The study concluded that auditors in Dominica are perceived to be highly independent. It was found that the corporate accountants were generally unaware of the accounting/auditing regulatory framework in Dominica. The small business economy/unsophisticated nature of businesses, long audit tenure, the absence of a regulatory body, the closeness of society and political influence were all perceived to impair auditor independence in Dominica. Contrary, auditor independence was perceived to be enhanced by the auditors’ personal ethical values, the recently established regulatory body and the moderate competitive market in Dominica. The findings attempted to fill the gap in literature on auditor independence in small developing countries. The findings revealed that there is no regulatory body for auditors in Dominica. It was also found that the competitiveness of the audit market and the small size of the society could threaten auditor independence. However, the provision of non-audit services was not perceived to threaten auditor independence. It was also perceived that the auditors in Dominica are guided by the society’s high ethical values, which are brought about by their cultural and religious beliefs. This implies that cultural and religious pressures play a significant role in shaping the perceptions of auditor independence in Dominica.

Ethical values in the evaluation of corporate social performance

Purpose– This paper aims to explore two factors that may moderate the relation between an individual’s ethical values and their evaluation of competing ethical and financial outcomes. It is argued that distance (i.e. low proximity) attenuates moral intensity, thereby inhibiting ethical decision-making (EDM). In contrast, it is argued that presenting outcomes in a separate social and environmental perspective in the balanced scorecard (BSC) increases EDM.Design/methodology/approach– In an experiment, participants evaluated social outcomes presented in a BSC. Proximity and scorecard format were manipulated in a 2 × 2 factorial design.Findings– The results indicate that physical and social proximity increase the extent to which performance evaluation is influenced by the ethical values of the evaluator. Contrary to expectations, BSC format did not influence the EDM of the evaluator.Research limitations/implications– Participants were undergraduate students which may limit the generalisability of the results. Further research should be conducted with practicing managers. The study focused on a particular ethical issue, hiring and training from the local community. Further research is necessary to consider the effect of personal ethical values on other aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR).Practical implications– This study indicates that ethical values will be less salient when the outcomes relate to distant locations. There are important implications for multinational corporations seeking to avoid the liability of foreignness in their distant operations.Originality/value– Previous CSR research has focused on the institutional level. The focus of the authors on the individual’s decision-making process increases our understanding of the biases that can affect EDM.

Experiencing everyday ethics in context: Frontline data collectors perspectives and practices of bioethics

Data collectors play a vital role in producing scientific knowledge. They are also an important component in understanding the practice of bioethics. Yet, very little attention has been given to their everyday experiences or the context in which they are expected to undertake these tasks. This paper argues that while there has been extensive philosophical attention given to ‘the what’ and ‘the why’ in bioethics – what action is taken place and why – these should be considered along ‘the who’ – who are the individuals tasked with bioethics and what can their insights bring to macro-level and abstract discussions of bioethics. This paper will draw on the philosophical theories of Paul Ricoeur which compliments a sociological examination of data collectors experiences and use of their agency coupled with a concern for contextual and institutional factors in which they worked.In emphasising everyday experiences and contexts, I will argue that data collectors' practice of bioethics was shaped by their position at the frontline of face-to-face interactions with medical research participants and community members, alongside their own personal ethical values and motivations. Institutional interpretations of bioethics also imposed certain parameters on their bioethical practice but these were generally peripheral to their sense of obligation and the expectations conferred in witnessing the needs and suffering of those they encountered during their quotidian research duties.This paper will demonstrate that although the principle of autonomy has dominated discussions of bioethics and gaining informed consent seen as a central facet of ethical research by many research institutions, for data collectors this principle was seldom the most important marker of their ethical practice. Instead, data collectors were concerned with remedying the dilemmas they encountered through enacting their own interpretations of justice and beneficence and imposing their own agency on the circumstances they experienced. Their practice of bioethics demonstrates their contribution to the conduct of research and the shortcomings of an over-emphasis on autonomy.

Ethical Values and Long-term Orientation

Lapses in ethical conduct by those in corporate and public authority worldwide have given business researchers and practitioners alike cause to re-examine the antecedents to personal ethical values. We explore the relationship between ethical values and an individual’s long-term orientation or LTO, defined as the degree to which one plans for and considers the future, as well as values traditions of the past. Our study also examines the role of work ethic and conservative attitudes in the formation of a person’s long-term orientation and consequent ethical beliefs. Empirically testing these hypothesized relationships using data from 292 subjects, we find that long-term perspectives on tradition and planning indeed engender higher levels of ethical values. The results also support work ethic’s role in fostering tradition and planning, as well as conservatism’s positive association with planning. Additionally, we report how tradition and planning mediate the influence of conservatism and work ethic on the formation of ethical values. Limitations of the study and future research directions, as well as implications for business managers and academics, are also discussed.

Attitudes on euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide and terminal sedation -- A survey of the members of the German Association for Palliative Medicine

Due to recent legislations on euthanasia and its current practice in the Netherlands and Belgium, issues of end-of-life medicine have become very vital in many European countries. In 2002, the Ethics Working Group of the German Association for Palliative Medicine (DGP) has conducted a survey among its physician members in order to evaluate their attitudes towards different end-of-life medical practices, such as euthanasia (EUT), physician-assisted suicide (PAS), and terminal sedation (TS). An anonymous questionnaire was sent to the 411 DGP physicians, consisting of 14 multiple choice questions on positions that might be adopted in different hypothetical scenarios on situations of "intolerable suffering" in end-of-life care. For the sake of clarification, several definitions and legal judgements of different terms used in the German debate on premature termination of life were included. For statistical analysis t-tests and Pearson-correlations were used. The response rate was 61% (n = 251). The proportions of the respondents who were opposed to legalizing different forms of premature termination of life were: 90% opposed to EUT, 75% to PAS, 94% to PAS for psychiatric patients. Terminal sedation was accepted by 94% of the members. The main decisional bases drawn on for the answers were personal ethical values, professional experience with palliative care, knowledge of alternative approaches, knowledge of ethical guidelines and of the national legal frame. In sharp contrast to similar surveys conducted in other countries, only a minority of 9.6% of the DGP physicians supported the legalization of EUT. The misuse of medical knowledge for inhumane killing in the Nazi period did not play a relevant role for the respondents' negative attitude towards EUT. Palliative care needs to be stronger established and promoted within the German health care system in order to improve the quality of end-of-life situations which subsequently is expected to lead to decreasing requests for EUT by terminally ill patients.

Ethics, trust and expectations regarding the treatment of disabled staff within a tourism/hospitality industry context

Whilst it has long been recognized that disabled employees can be the recipients of discrimination in the workplace, occasioned by many factors including physical appearance, relatively little is known regarding the ethical conceptualizations, trust responses and also problem-solving architecture that potential employees bring to such contexts, particularly in service industries such as tourism/hospitality. This study has examined discrimination shown to a disabled hospitality industry employee within an ethical framework, investigating personal ethical beliefs, individual ethical influences upon behaviour and also perceived management problem-solving response influences in the face of disability discrimination. The study has been conducted among a sample of university management students in a major Australian tourism destination, many of whom on graduation would seek employment within the tourism/hospitality industry. Three personal ethical belief types were identified: equity or procedural justice, competence and integrity, with both competence and integrity ethics being regarded as of higher value than equity. Major individual ethical influences included one's own values and also those of the ambient society; the most highly rated perceived management response involved the protection of company image whereas the least expected involved a management perspective focusing on justice of all people involved in the ethical dilemma. The competence ethical belief was found to predict the individual who would be influenced by a legal perspective; the justice for all management perspective was employed as a measure of respondent trust in management, with analyses revealing that the competence ethical belief, the career and societal influences and also gender being found associated with lower levels of trust in management's willingness to respond to disability discrimination in a just manner. The protection of company image as a management response, employed as a measure of mistrust, was associated with integrity personal ethical values, and also with career, societal and own ethical influences upon responses to an incident of disability discrimination. Implications for future research in this domain together with implications for the tourism/hospitality industry are examined.

Organizational loyalty and personal ethics: The moral priorities of Chinese cadres

The ethical norms of senior cadres in the Peoples Republic of China are examined with respect to personal ethics, organizational loyalty and social responsibility. The extent to which one of these sets of norms may take priority over the other is investigated using survey research. The personal ethical values of the 46-50 age group are found to be unusually acute for a group of middle-aged administrators, much closer to those of the younger cadres. Also, they demonstrate exceptional homogeneity in their responses as compared to other age groups. However, they appear to have little independence of conscience when confronted with concrete decision making situations. Loyalty to the organization is found to be particularly dominant over personal ethics and responsibility to the larger society among these 46-50 year-old cadres. Lacking a moral anchor in any foundational philosophy or ideology, these cadres are highly vulnerable to control by the bureaucracies in which they are employed. Further research is suggested to explore the possibility that the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76 may have impacted this particular generation of cadres in ways that severed their ties to Marxism and traditional Chinese values rooted in Confucianism.

Confucian ethics and economic development: A study of the adaptation of Confucian values to modern Japanese economic ideology and institutions

This paper analyzes the relationship between Confucian values and odern Japanese economic development, especially in terms of the adaptation of selected Confucian values by pre- and post- World War II Japanese industrialists and government officials toward the formation of a modern Japanese ideology of capitalist economic development. The use of such Confucian values is examined in terms of their appearance in three different areas of Japanese social life: education, the workplace (including both labor-management relations and industrial organization), and the role and attitudes of the government bureaucracy. While such values were consciously used by elites to further economic development, they also reflected in many cases these elites' own personal ethical values. Moreover, although it is difficult to measure precisely how much such values impacted the course of modern Jap development, it is clear that they did have an effect, both positive and negative. Such values and their expression in institutions have also been subtly transformed over time to meet the changing needs of Japan's developing economic and social environment, with the result that in many ways they are now better termed “post-Confucian” Yet, at the same time there is a continuing emphasis on the central values of “respect for learning,” “social harmony” “loyalty” and “familism.”