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Level of Coherence Among Ethics Program Components and Its Impact on Ethical Intent

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  • Pablo Ruiz
  • Ricardo Martinez
  • Job Rodrigo
  • Cristina Diaz

Abstract

Three ethics program components, a code of ethics, ethics training initiatives and ethics-oriented performance appraisal content, were examined for their relationship to ethical intent using a sample of 525 employees from the Spanish financial services industry. As expected, all three components contributed to the prediction of ethical intent. Importantly, clusters of employees who reported experiencing distinct combinations of the program components were identified and compared for their level of ethical intent. Employees who perceived all three components to be strongly implemented reported significantly higher levels of ethical intent relative to those who viewed the components as either all weakly implemented or not present. Combinations including training initiatives plus one other element had a similar impact to the fully implemented approach. Contrary to expectations, ethics-oriented performance appraisal content did not relate more strongly to ethical intent than codes of ethics. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Pablo Ruiz & Ricardo Martinez & Job Rodrigo & Cristina Diaz, 2015. "Level of Coherence Among Ethics Program Components and Its Impact on Ethical Intent," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(4), pages 725-742, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:128:y:2015:i:4:p:725-742
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2064-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Thomas Stöber & Peter Kotzian & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2019. "Design matters: on the impact of compliance program design on corporate ethics," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 383-424, December.
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    7. Sean R. Valentine & Sheila K. Hanson & Gary M. Fleischman, 2019. "The Presence of Ethics Codes and Employees’ Internal Locus of Control, Social Aversion/Malevolence, and Ethical Judgment of Incivility: A Study of Smaller Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 657-674, December.

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