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Who would engage in unethical behavior? Should organizations bear the responsibility?

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  • Chia-Yi Cheng

  • Chia-Hung Hsieh

  • Yu-Song Yang

Abstract

Based on the findings of ethical research paradigms, this study aims to explore ethical issues pertaining to service offerings and verify the effects that individual and organizational factors can have on ethical crises. The participants are a sample derived from the actual rule-violation records of financial service salespeople from a listed life insurance company. In order to gather longitudinal data for this exploratory study on unethical behavior, this study gained 1 year of the rule violation record. Data were entered into SPSS to approach description of ethical problems, and an analysis of variance method is applied to diagnose hypotheses. The results indicate that individual age and job experience and organizational region (i.e. in the Chinese countryside) will have significant effects on unethical behavior. In addition, a consideration of the interaction between organizational scale and age shows that scale has the potential to incite unethical behavior among salespeople. Furthermore, according to the findings, this study depicts a taxonomic model. The contribution of this study is to propose essential indicators to certify an organizational warning system. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Chia-Yi Cheng & Chia-Hung Hsieh & Yu-Song Yang, 2014. "Who would engage in unethical behavior? Should organizations bear the responsibility?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 2341-2354, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:48:y:2014:i:4:p:2341-2354
    DOI: 10.1007/s11135-013-9895-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nick Lee & Amanda Beatson & Tony Garrett & Ian Lings & Xi Zhang, 2009. "A Study of the Attitudes Towards Unethical Selling Amongst Chinese Salespeople," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 497-515, October.
    2. Shripad Pendse, 2012. "Ethical Hazards: A Motive, Means, and Opportunity Approach to Curbing Corporate Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 265-279, May.
    3. Snell, Robin S., 1999. "Obedience to Authority and Ethical Dilemmas in Hong Kong Companies," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 507-526, July.
    4. Standifird, Stephen S. & Marshall, R. Scott, 2000. "The transaction cost advantage of guanxi-based business practices," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 21-42, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shaohui Lei, 2024. "Shedding Light on the Adverse Spillover Effects of Work-Family Conflict on Unethical Sales Behaviors at Work: A Daily Diary Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(2), pages 399-411, March.
    2. Bulin Zhang & Xiangmin Liu & Zhengtang Zhang, 2025. "Warding Off Cognitive Dissonance: How Supervisor Perspective Taking Shapes the Responses of Employees Who Engage in Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 199(1), pages 71-84, June.
    3. Deqiang Deng & Chenchen Ye & Fan Wu & Yijing Guo & Hao Li & Changsheng Wang, 2023. "Effect of organizational ethical self-interest climate on unethical accounting behaviour with two different motivations in China: the moderating effect of Confucian ShiZhong Thinking," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Erika Sujová & Helena Čierna & Ľubica Simanová & Pavol Gejdoš & Jaroslava Štefková, 2021. "Soft Skills Integration into Business Processes Based on the Requirements of Employers—Approach for Sustainable Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-13, December.

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