Assessing the Correlation of Culture With Business Ethics of Company Managers in the United States and Mexico
Observable harm has been inflicted upon business by unethical decisions and misconduct. Much of this phenomenon can be traced to impoverished ethical attitudes. Among the various reasons for this problem is that of a manager's culture, which has a distinct influence on attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this chapter was to determine, through empirical data, whether differences rooted in culture significantly contribute to differences in ethical attitudes. Management scholar Geert Hofstede's classification of cultural elements for understanding and explaining aspects of national culture was correlated with the ethical attitudes of business managers in the two national cultures of the United States and Mexico. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between national culture and ethical attitudes and the dultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation. A significant difference in ethical attitudes between managers from the United States and Mexico was also found.