IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v158y2019i4d10.1007_s10551-017-3764-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship Between Individual Work Values and Unethical Decision-Making and Behavior at Work

Author

Listed:
  • Luis M. Arciniega

    (ITAM School of Business)

  • Laura J. Stanley

    (University of North Carolina at Charlotte)

  • Diana Puga-Méndez

    (ITAM School of Business)

  • Dalia Obregón-Schael

    (ITAM School of Business)

  • Isaac Politi-Salame

    (ITAM School of Business)

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between individual work values and unethical decision-making and actual behavior at work through two complementary studies. Specifically, we use a robust and comprehensive model of individual work values to predict unethical decision-making in a sample of working professionals and accounting students enrolled in ethics courses, and IT employees working in sales and customer service. Study 1 demonstrates that young professionals who rate power as a relatively important value (i.e., those reporting high levels of the self-enhancement value) are more likely to violate professional conduct guidelines despite receiving training regarding ethical professional principles. Study 2, which examines a group of employees from an IT firm, demonstrates that those rating power as an important value are more likely to engage in non-work-related computing (i.e., cyberloafing) even when they are aware of a monitoring software that tracks their computer usage and an explicit policy prohibiting the use of these computers for personal reasons.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis M. Arciniega & Laura J. Stanley & Diana Puga-Méndez & Dalia Obregón-Schael & Isaac Politi-Salame, 2019. "The Relationship Between Individual Work Values and Unethical Decision-Making and Behavior at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 1133-1148, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:158:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3764-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3764-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-017-3764-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-017-3764-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Ralston & Carolyn Egri & Olivier Furrer & Min-Hsun Kuo & Yongjuan Li & Florian Wangenheim & Marina Dabic & Irina Naoumova & Katsuhiko Shimizu & María Garza Carranza & Ping Fu & Vojko Potocan & A, 2014. "Societal-Level Versus Individual-Level Predictions of Ethical Behavior: A 48-Society Study of Collectivism and Individualism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 283-306, June.
    2. Espíritu-Olmos, Roberto & Sastre-Castillo, Miguel A., 2015. "Personality traits versus work values: Comparing psychological theories on entrepreneurial intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1595-1598.
    3. Breda Sweeney & Fiona Costello, 2009. "Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision-making: An Empirical Examination of Undergraduate Accounting and Business Students," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 75-97.
    4. David Ralston & Carolyn Egri & Emmanuelle Reynaud & Narasimhan Srinivasan & Olivier Furrer & David Brock & Ruth Alas & Florian Wangenheim & Fidel Darder & Christine Kuo & Vojko Potocan & Audra Mockait, 2011. "A Twenty-First Century Assessment of Values Across the Global Workforce," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(1), pages 1-31, November.
    5. David Ralston & Carolyn Egri & Emmanuelle Reynaud & Narasimhan Srinivasan & Olivier Furrer & David Brock & Ruth Alas & Florian Wangenheim & Fidel Darder & Christine Kuo & Vojko Potocan & Audra Mockait, 2011. "Erratum to: A Twenty-First Century Assessment of Values Across the Global Workforce," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(4), pages 589-590, December.
    6. Treviño, Linda Klebe & Butterfield, Kenneth D. & McCabe, Donald L., 1998. "The Ethical Context in Organizations: Influences on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 447-476, July.
    7. Robyn Ann Cameron & Conor O'Leary, 2015. "Improving Ethical Attitudes or Simply Teaching Ethical Codes? The Reality of Accounting Ethics Education," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 275-290, August.
    8. Ning Li & William Murphy, 2012. "A Three-Country Study of Unethical Sales Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 219-235, December.
    9. David Fritzsche & E. Oz, 2007. "Personal Values’ Influence on the Ethical Dimension of Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 75(4), pages 335-343, November.
    10. Damodar Suar & Rooplekha Khuntia, 2010. "Influence of Personal Values and Value Congruence on Unethical Practices and Work Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 443-460, December.
    11. de Leeuw, Jan & Mair, Patrick, 2009. "Multidimensional Scaling Using Majorization: SMACOF in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 31(i03).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tiehua Chen & Wenyi Hu & Jingpin Liu & Hongxia Li, 2022. "Effect of Work Values on Miners’ Safety Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment and the Moderating Role of Safety Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Deepika Mishra & Natasha Tageja, 2022. "Cyberslacking for Coping Stress? Exploring the Role of Mindfulness as Personal Resource," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 56-67, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zlatko Nedelko & Vojko Potocan, 2021. "Sustainability of Organizations: The Contribution of Personal Values to Democratic Leadership Behavior Focused on the Sustainability of Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Vojko Potocan & Zlatko Nedelko & Matjaz Mulej & Marina Dabic, 2021. "How University’s Activities Support the Development of Students’ Entrepreneurial Abilities: Case of Slovenia and Croatia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(1), pages 22-40, March.
    3. Mulej, Matjaž & Potočan, Vojko, 2016. "Plenary Lecture: Knowledge Management or Knowledge-Cum-Values-Management?," Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference (2016), Rovinj, Croatia, in: Proceedings of the ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Conference, Rovinj, Croatia, 8-9 September 2016, pages 1-9, IRENET - Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, Zagreb.
    4. Marina Dabic & Vojko Potocan & Zlatko Nedelko, 2017. "Personal values supporting enterprises’ innovations in the creative economy," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(4), pages 1241-1261, December.
    5. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Björn Ambos & Phillip C Nell, 2018. "Conceptualizing and measuring distance in international business research: Recurring questions and best practice guidelines," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(9), pages 1113-1137, December.
    6. Ženko Zdenka & Mulej Matjaž & Potočan Vojko, 2017. "Knowledge-cum-values Management belongs to the Way out from Global Crisis," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 8(1), pages 113-123, March.
    7. Terpstra-Tong, Jane & Ralston, David A. & Treviño, Len J. & Naoumova, Irina & de la Garza Carranza, María Teresa & Furrer, Olivier & Li, Yongjuan & Darder, Fidel León, 2020. "The Quality of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX): A Multilevel Analysis of Individual-level, Organizational-level and Societal-level Antecedents," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(3).
    8. I-Fang Cheng & Che-Jen Su & Hsin-Hsing Liao & Nicolas Lorgnier & Anne-Marie Lebrun & Wen-Shen Yen & Yi-Fang Lan & Yingfang Huang, 2019. "Adolescents’ perceptions of mother–father dominance in family vacation decisions: a 25-society study," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 13(4), pages 755-778, December.
    9. Dabić, Marina & Maley, Jane F. & Črešnar, Rok & Nedelko, Zlatko, 2023. "Unappreciated channel of manufacturing productivity under industry 4.0: Leadership values and capabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. M. Mulej & Vojko Potocan & Zlatko Nedelko, 2015. "A New Socio-economic Order: Evidence About Employees' Values' Influence on Corporate Social Responsibility," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 230-239, March.
    11. Michael A. Sartor & Paul W. Beamish, 2020. "Private Sector Corruption, Public Sector Corruption and the Organizational Structure of Foreign Subsidiaries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 725-744, December.
    12. Rok Črešnar & Zlatko Nedelko, 2020. "Understanding Future Leaders: How Are Personal Values of Generations Y and Z Tailored to Leadership in Industry 4.0?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, May.
    13. Marshall Schminke & Anke Arnaud & Regina Taylor, 2015. "Ethics, Values, and Organizational Justice: Individuals, Organizations, and Beyond," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 727-736, September.
    14. Ahmed Musbah & Christopher J. Cowton & David Tyfa, 2016. "The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 335-358, March.
    15. Tausch, Arno, 2015. "Hofstede, Inglehart and beyond. New directions in empirical global value research," MPRA Paper 64282, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 May 2015.
    16. Heidi A. Wayment & Jack J. Bauer, 2018. "The Quiet Ego: Motives for Self-Other Balance and Growth in Relation to Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 881-896, March.
    17. María Teresa de la Garza Carranza & Eugenio Guzmán Soria & Jorge Armando López Lemus & Virginia Susana Soto Hernández, 2019. "Engagement of Mexican Millennials at Work in Relation to their Expectations," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(8), pages 71-80, August.
    18. Mark F Peterson & Tais S Barreto, 2018. "Interpreting societal culture value dimensions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(9), pages 1190-1207, December.
    19. Donald G. Gardner & Vathsala Wickramasinghe, 2023. "Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka," Merits, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-14, July.
    20. Joel Marcus & Heather MacDonald & Lorne Sulsky, 2015. "Do Personal Values Influence the Propensity for Sustainability Actions? A Policy-Capturing Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 459-478, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:158:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3764-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.