Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:01:01.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Compliance and Values Oriented Ethics Programs: Influenceson Employees’ Attitudes and Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Abstract:

Previous research has identified multiple approaches to the design and implementation of corporate ethics programs (Paine, 1994; Weaver, Treviño, and Cochran, in press b; Treviño, Weaver, Gibson, and Toffler, in press). This field survey in a large financial services company investigated the relationships of the values and compliance orientations in an ethics program to a diverse set of outcomes. Employees’ perceptions that the company ethics program is oriented toward affirming ethical values were associated with seven outcomes. Perceptions of a compliance orientation were associated with four of these outcomes. The interaction of values and compliance orientations was associated with employees’ willingness to report misconduct. In general, a values orientation makes a greater unique contribution to the measured outcomes when compared to a compliance orientation.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, P. S. and Borys, B. 1996. Two types of bureaucracy: enabling and coercive. Administrative Science Quarterly 41: 6190.Google Scholar
Akaah, I. P. 1992. Social inclusion as a marketing ethics correlate. Journal of Business Ethics 11 (8): 599608.Google Scholar
Allen, N. J. and Meyer, J. P. 1990. The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology 63: 118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arvey, R. D. and Ivancevich, J. M. 1980. Punishment in organizations: A review, propositions, and research suggestions. Academy of Management Review 5: 123132.Google Scholar
Ashforth, B. E. and Mael, F. 1989. Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Review 14: 2039.Google Scholar
Ball, G. A.; Treviño, L. K.; and Sims, H. P. 1994. Just and unjust punishment: Influences on subordinate performance and citizenship. Academy of Management Journal 37: 299322.Google Scholar
Bird, F. and Waters, J. 1989. The moral muteness of managers. California Management Review, pp. 7388.Google Scholar
Blau, P. M. 1964. Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Dalton, D. R.; Metzger, M. B.; and Hill, J. W. 1994. The ‘new’ U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines: A wake-up call for corporate America. Academy of Management Executive 8 (1): 713.Google Scholar
Eisenberger, R.; Fasolo, P.; and Davis-LaMastro, V. 1990. Perceived organizational support and employee diligence, commitment, and innovation. Journal of Applied Psychology 75: 5159.Google Scholar
Eisenberger, R.; Huntington, R.; Hutchison, S.; and Sowa, D. 1986. Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology 71: 500507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etzioni, A. 1961. A comparative analysis of complex organizations. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Festinger, L. A. 1957. A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1984. Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman/Ballinger.Google Scholar
Gouldner, A. W. 1954. Patterns of industrial bureaucracy. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Graen, G. B. and Scandura, T. A. 1987. Toward a psychology of dyadic organizing. In Cummings, L. L. and Staw, B. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior 9: 175208.Google Scholar
Homans, G. C. 1961. Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms. New York: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Lerner, M. J. 1977. The justice motive: Some hypotheses as to its origins and forms. Journal of Personality 45: 152.Google Scholar
McNamara, J. R., and Blumer, C. A. 1982. Role playing to assess social competence: Ecological validity considerations. Behavior Modification 6: 510549.Google Scholar
O’Reilly, C. and Chatman, J. 1986. Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification, and internalization of prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology 71: 492499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paine, L. S. 1994. Managing for organizational integrity. Harvard Business Review 72 (2): 106117.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D. M. and Parks, J. M. 1993. The contracts of individuals and organizations. In Cummings, L. L. and Staw, B. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior 15: 143. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Stryker, S. 1968. Identity salience and role performance: The relevance of symbolic interaction theory for family research. Journal of Marriage and the Family 30: 558564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stryker, S. 1980. Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Menlo Park, Calif.: Benjamin/Cummings.Google Scholar
Stryker, S. and Serpe, R. T. 1982. Commitment, identity salience, and role behavior: Theory and research example. In Ickes, W. and Knowles, E. S. (Eds.), Personality, roles and social behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag. Pp. 199218.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K. 1990. A cultural perspective on changing and developing organizational ethics. Research in Organizational Change and Development 4: 195230. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K. 1993. The social effects of punishment: A justice perspective. Academy of Management Review 17: 647676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treviño, L. K.; Butterfield, K.; and McCabe, D. 1998. The ethical context in organizations: Influences on employee attitudes and behaviors. Business Ethics Quarterly 8: 447476.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K.; Weaver, G. R.; Gibson, D. G.; Toffler, B. L. in press. Managing ethics and legal compliance: What works and what hurts. California Management Review.Google Scholar
United States Sentencing Commission. 1995. Corporate Crime in America: Strengthening the “Good Citizen” Corporation. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
United States Sentencing Commission. 1994. Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Weaver, G. R. 1993. Corporate codes of ethics: Purpose, process and content issues. Business and Society 32(1): 4458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, G. R.; Treviño, L. K.; and Cochran, P. L. In press a. Corporate ethics practices in the mid-1990s. Journal of Business Ethics.Google Scholar
Weaver, G. R.; Treviño, L. K.; and Cochran, P. L. In press b. Corporate ethics programs as control systems: Management and environmental influences. Academy of Management Journal.Google Scholar
Weber, J. 1995. Influences upon organizational ethical subclimates: A multidepartmental analysis of a single firm. Organization Science 6 (5): 509523.Google Scholar
Weber, M. 1947. The theory of social and economic organization. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.Google Scholar