Business ethics development of working adults: a study in Vietnam

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lam D. Nguyen ◽  
Bahaudin G Mujtaba ◽  
Frank J. Cavico
Keyword(s):  
Moral Development ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Ethical Development ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Government Work ◽  
Management Experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to ascertain if age, gender, management experience and government work experience actually make a difference in the ethical development of respondents in Vietnam, an emerging economy in Southeast Asia. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative self-administered survey was conducted with a convenience sample of Vietnamese working adults obtained through educational institutions, businesses and entrepreneurs and private and public sector organizations. This study used Clark and Clark’s (1966) Personal Business Ethics Scores measure. The Vietnamese version questionnaire was distributed, and a total of 704 surveys were fully completed and analyzed. Findings – Statistically significant differences were found in the variables of age, gender and government work experience. Management experience did not lead to any significant differences. Consequently, Kohlberg’s moral development theory regarding ethical development is partially supported. Research limitations/implications – This study used a convenience sample population. Future studies can compare specific populations in different parts of the country with similar working backgrounds and demographic variables. The small sample size is not necessarily representative of an entire country or the culture in Vietnam. Furthermore, it would be meaningful to investigate the relationship between ethical development and the demographic variables among other Asian countries near Vietnam. Finally, longitudinal studies can be implemented by future researchers to investigate the effects of changes in demographic variables on moral development. Practical implications – Females should be studied more to determine the factors that they consider when making decisions that impact others. Having longer time “socializing” with organizational values might be a stronger influence on ethical behaviors of a person. Vietnamese people are less tolerant for unethical behaviors when they are much younger and when they are much older. Social implications – The importance of ethics education programs at the national and organizational levels is underscored as a key element to combat corruption. Several specific recommendations on how to enhance the fight against corruption and bribery were provided. Originality/value – This study contributes to the moral development theory research and sheds light on the impact of age, gender, government work experience and management experience gained through the development process on ethical decision-making of Vietnamese people. Academicians, managers, practitioners, government leaders and the like can benefit from the findings of this paper.

Business Ethics Perceptions of Working Adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lam D. Nguyen ◽  
Kuo-Hao Lee ◽  
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba ◽  
Sorasak Paul Silanont
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Moral Development ◽  
Ethical Behavior ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Ethics Course ◽  
Management Experience ◽  
And Training

Businesses nowadays face urgent demands to act ethically and socially responsibly. Some believe that ethically responsible companies design and use corporate governance that serves all stakeholders' interests to achieve competitive advantage and maintaining ethical behavior is very important through corporate governance. Thus, an ethical business environment is critical and ethical behavior is expected of everyone in the modern workplace. Companies devote many resources and training programs to make sure their employees live according to the high ethical standards. This study used Clark and Clark's (1966) Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) measure to examine the relationship between gender, age, management experience, ethics course taken, and ethics training to ethical maturity of Thai working adults. This research surveyed 236 Thai working adults to measure their Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES). Statistically significant differences were found in the variables of ethics course taken and ethics training. Gender, age, and management experience, however, did not lead to any significant differences. Consequently, Kohlberg's Cognitive Moral Development theory regarding ethical maturity is partly supported since respondents with more ethics education and training have higher business ethics scores than those without ethics education and training. In this study, Thai background and cultural dimension, as well as literature on moral development and ethics, are presented along with practical applications, suggestions and implications for educators, managers, and employees.

scholarly journals Ethics And Retail Management Professionals: An Examination Of Age, Education, And Experience Variables

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba ◽  
Frank J. Cavico ◽  
Timothy O. McCartney ◽  
Peter T. DiPaolo
Keyword(s):  
Moral Development ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Retail Management ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Ethical Decisions ◽  
Retail Managers ◽  
Management Experience ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Significant Factors

Ethical maturity and behavior are of great concern to all educators, firms, and investors, and even more so in a recession. This research surveyed managers and employees in the retail environment to measure their Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) to see if age, education, and management experience makes a difference in making more ethical decisions. The PBES measures personal commitment to integrity, honesty, and observance of the laws regulating current business activities. This research takes into consideration the respondents age, management experience, and education. This study contributes to the theory of moral development as it is tested with retail managers and employees. The results of this research suggest that while age and management experience are significant factors, higher education may also play a role in the moral development of associates and managers. Kohlbergs moral development theory is supported by this research since older workers, more highly educated workers, and those with more years of management experience have a higher level of moral maturity.

Business Ethics Perceptions of Working Adults

2015 ◽  
pp. 320-336
Author(s):  
Lam D. Nguyen ◽  
Kuo-Hao Lee ◽  
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba ◽  
Sorasak Paul Silanont
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Moral Development ◽  
Ethical Behavior ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Working Adults ◽  
Ethics Course ◽  
Management Experience ◽  
And Training

Businesses nowadays face urgent demands to act ethically and socially responsibly. Some believe that ethically responsible companies design and use corporate governance that serves all stakeholders' interests to achieve competitive advantage and maintaining ethical behavior is very important through corporate governance. Thus, an ethical business environment is critical and ethical behavior is expected of everyone in the modern workplace. Companies devote many resources and training programs to make sure their employees live according to the high ethical standards. This study used Clark and Clark's (1966) Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) measure to examine the relationship between gender, age, management experience, ethics course taken, and ethics training to ethical maturity of Thai working adults. This research surveyed 236 Thai working adults to measure their Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES). Statistically significant differences were found in the variables of ethics course taken and ethics training. Gender, age, and management experience, however, did not lead to any significant differences. Consequently, Kohlberg's Cognitive Moral Development theory regarding ethical maturity is partly supported since respondents with more ethics education and training have higher business ethics scores than those without ethics education and training. In this study, Thai background and cultural dimension, as well as literature on moral development and ethics, are presented along with practical applications, suggestions and implications for educators, managers, and employees.

Work Ethics Perceptions of Pakistani Employees

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Razia Begum ◽  
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Statistical Measures ◽  
Government Work ◽  
Ethics Course ◽  
Management Experience ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Qualification Management

Globalization has placed modern organizations in tremendous competition locally and regionally across borders; thus, the ultimate goal of every organization is the same which is profitable survival. In order to make sure that this profitable survival goal does not come at the cost of harming others, guiding principles are needed to bring goodness and fairness for the stakeholders' interests. This paves the way for designing, implementing and adopting ethical principles in the organization to keep competition fair and just. This study has been carried out in three big cities (Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad) of Pakistan to identify and assess the relationship of workplace ethics with age, qualification, management experience, government work experience and on-the-job ethics training. Collected data from 380 male and female Pakistani respondents were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical measures. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between ethical maturity of employees and such demographic variables as age, qualification, on-the-job ethics training, having had an ethics course, and years of management experience. However, government work experience did not demonstrate any significant results with ethical maturity. Implications and suggestions for management development and training are provided.

Ethical leadership in organizations: evidence from the field

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghna Goswami ◽  
Rakesh Kumar Agrawal ◽  
Anil Kumar Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Ethical Conduct ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Level ◽  
Public Sector Research ◽  
The Individual

Purpose Owing to the significant and critical role of ethical leadership in organizations, this study aims to explore and understand the perceptions about ethical leadership in organizations. It empirically investigates whether the individual attributes of gender, age, work experience, executive level and qualification of members and other demographic variables, such as industry and sector, affect the perception of members toward ethical conduct of their supervisors. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study where the analysis is based on the data collected from 419 members of 3 different industries, namely, public sector research and development organizations, information technology organizations and academic universities and colleges. Findings The results reveal that perception of ethical leadership does not vary across gender and qualification of members but varies across age, work experience, management level, industry and sector. Practical implications This study helps to understand the importance and role of various individual attributes that affect the perception of ethical leadership by followers. This study will make leaders to be more aware and behave in ethical manner with respect to different groups of followers. Originality/value Because of occurrence of many scandals and fraudulent behaviors in organizations, business ethics has caught the attention of policy makers, corporate organizations and academic. Ethical leadership is very crucial for organizational success on a sustainable basis. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is among the early studies conducted to investigate the influence of the individual attributes and other demographic variables on the perception of members toward ethical conduct of their supervisors.

Corporate social responsibility and corporate fraud

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 762-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maretno Agus Harjoto
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Moral Development ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Ethical Culture ◽  
Corporate Fraud ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of corporate culture, measured by corporate social responsibility (CSR), on the likelihood and severity of corporate fraud. CSR literature indicates that corporate managers are moral actors and are obliged to exercise their discretionary decisions according to their moral standards. Based on the moral development theory, this study argues that higher managers’ ethical values reflected by higher CSR activities are less likely to commit fraud and have lower severity of fraud. Design/methodology/approach This study argues that at the firm level, corporate culture can be measured by firms’ CSR activities. Using probit, match-pair, propensity matching and Heckman regressions on a sample of 152 criminal corporate fraud cases in the USA from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) during 2000 and 2010, this study empirically examines the impact of CSR, CSR strengths and concerns scores on the likelihood and the severity of corporate fraud. Findings Firms with higher CSR and CSR strengths (concerns) scores have lower (higher) likelihood and lower (higher) severity of corporate fraud. This study finds that firms with higher community, employee, environment and product-related CSR have lower likelihood of fraud, and firms with higher diversity, employee, environment and product-related CSR have lower fraud severity. Practical implications Establishing a positive corporate ethical culture is essential to curb the outbreak of corporate fraud that threatens our societal norms. The findings also shed some light for investors, corporate board of directors and regulators to consider CSR as a reflection of top managers’ moral values that is negatively related to the occurrence and severity of corporate fraud. Social implications Strengthening moral values among top executives and employees in corporations by encouraging CSR activities aid our society to alleviate future outbreak of epidemic problem for corporate fraud. Originality/value This study brings a new perspective that there is a relationship between corporate ethical culture within an organization, measured by CSR activities, and corporate fraud based on the cognitive moral development theory in organization.

Work Ethics Perceptions of Pakistani Employees

2015 ◽  
pp. 1106-1118
Author(s):  
Razia Begum ◽  
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Statistical Measures ◽  
Government Work ◽  
Ethics Course ◽  
Management Experience ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Qualification Management

Globalization has placed modern organizations in tremendous competition locally and regionally across borders; thus, the ultimate goal of every organization is the same which is profitable survival. In order to make sure that this profitable survival goal does not come at the cost of harming others, guiding principles are needed to bring goodness and fairness for the stakeholders' interests. This paves the way for designing, implementing and adopting ethical principles in the organization to keep competition fair and just. This study has been carried out in three big cities (Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad) of Pakistan to identify and assess the relationship of workplace ethics with age, qualification, management experience, government work experience and on-the-job ethics training. Collected data from 380 male and female Pakistani respondents were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical measures. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between ethical maturity of employees and such demographic variables as age, qualification, on-the-job ethics training, having had an ethics course, and years of management experience. However, government work experience did not demonstrate any significant results with ethical maturity. Implications and suggestions for management development and training are provided.

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