Trainee auditors' perception of ethical climate and workplace bullying in Chinese audit firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper aims to investigate the relationship between the audit firm's ethical climate and workplace bullying perceived by trainee auditors in Chinese audit firms.Design/methodology/approachAn Ethical Climate Questionnaire and a Negative Acts Questionnaire are adapted from the existing organization studies and business ethics literature to fit in the audit firm context and are administered in a survey on 205 trainee auditors with a four-month long work placement in audit firms. SPSS is used in statistical analyses and tests.FindingsThis study confirms that some but not all types of organizational ethical climate significantly affect the perceived workplace bullying in audit firms. The results of testing for the relations between workplace bullying and ethical climate after breaking down workplace bullying into the work-related and person-related bullying sub-categories provide some different conclusions. Besides the impacts of the ethical climate on workplace bullying, this paper also finds out that trainee auditor's gender, the leader–subordinate gender difference, firm size and audit engagement team size are more likely to affect the perception of one or more of the bullying categories in audit firms.Practical implicationsThis study implies some guidance for the audit firms to establish healthy ethical climates that can help them to recruit, train and retain young skilled auditing professionals.Social implicationsThe findings of this study imply that a healthy ethical climate can help develop the audit profession and markets by deterring workplace bullying in audit firms.Originality/valueThis paper extends the organizational studies on the impact of the audit firm's organizational ethical climate on workplace bullying in the auditing profession. It also extends the gender roles in organization studies by stratifying the levels of workplace harassment.

Development, validity and reliability testing the Swedish Ethical Climate Questionnaire

Background: An ethical climate has been described as a working climate embracing shared perceptions about morally correct behaviour concerning ethical issues. Various ethical climate questionnaires have been developed and validated for different contexts, but no questionnaire has been found concerning the ethical climate from an inter-professional perspective in a healthcare context. The Swedish Ethical Climate Questionnaire, based on Habermas’ four requirements for a democratic dialogue, attempts to assess and measure the ethical climate at various inter-professional workplaces. This study aimed to present the construction of and to test the psychometric properties of the Swedish Ethical Climate Questionnaire. Method: An expert group of six researchers, skilled in ethics, evaluated the content validity. The questionnaire was tested among 355 healthcare workers at three hospitals in Sweden. A parallel analysis (PA), an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed. Ethical considerations: The participants included in the psychometric analysis were informed about the study, asked to participate in person and informed that they could withdraw at any time without giving any reason. They were also assured of confidentiality in the reporting of the results. Findings: The parallel analysis (PA) recommended one factor as a solution. The initial exploratory factor analysis with a four-factor solution showed low concordance with a four-factor model. Cronbach’s alpha varied from 0.75 to 0.82; however, since two factors only consisted of one item, alpha could not be reported. Cronbach’s alpha for the entire scale showed good homogeneity (α = 0.86). A confirmatory factory analysis was carried out based on the four requirements and showed a goodness-of-fit after deleting two items. After deletion of these items, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82. Discussion: Based on the exploratory factor analysis, we suggest that the scale should be treated as a one-factor model. The result indicates that the instrument is unidimensional and assesses ethical climate as a whole. Conclusion: After testing the Swedish Ethical Climate Questionnaire, we found support for the validity and reliability of the instrument. We found the 10-item version of Swedish Ethical Climate Questionnaire satisfactory. However, we found no support for measuring different dimensions and, therefore, this instrument should be seen as assessing ethical climate as of whole.

Organizational Behaviour: Exploring The Relationship Between Ethical Climate, Self-Efficacy And Hope

This article explicates the extent to which ethical climate, self-efficacy and hope are related. The objective of the study was to determine if a relationship exist between ethical climate, hope and self-efficacy. The relationship between these constructs has not been researched previously. This research will add to the body of knowledge. Three questionnaires, namely Victor and Cullens Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ) (1987), the State Hope Scale (SHS) developed by Snyder, Sympson, Ybasco, Borders, Babyak and Higgins (1996), and the Self-Efficacy Scale (SES) of Sherer, Maddux, Mercandante, Prentice-Dunn, Jacobs and Rogers (1982), were combined into one questionnaire and used to measure 97 participants responses. Various sources were compared using the Grounded Theory (GT) method. Descriptive, correlational, and inferential statistics were applied to determine the relationship between ethical climate, hope and self-efficacy. The Bravais-Pearson product-moment-correlation denotes a significant relationship between the ECQ, SHS and SES. The results demonstrate the plausibility of the integrated organizational behaviour model, which provides a new perspective on the influence of hope and self-efficacy on ethical climate.

Nurses’ perception of ethical climate and organizational commitment

The high turnover of nurses has become a universal issue. The manner in which nurses view their organization’s ethical climate has direct bearing on their organizational commitment. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between nurses’ perception of ethical climate and organizational commitment in teaching hospitals in the southeastern region of Iran. A descriptive analytical design was used in this study. The sample consisted of 275 nurses working in four teaching hospitals in the southeastern region of Iran. The instruments used in this study included a demographic questionnaire, Ethical Climate Questionnaire, and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using Pearson’s correlation, t-test, and descriptive statistic through Statistical Package for Social Science, version 16. The result of this research indicated a positive correlation among professionalism, caring, rules, independence climate, and organizational commitment. Therefore, findings of this study are a guideline for researchers and managers alike who endeavor to improve organizational commitment.

Multidimensional Relationships between Paternalistic Leadership and Perceptions of Organizational Ethical Climates

This study investigated how paternalistic leadership is linked to ethical climates based on a multidimensional construct perspective. This experimental study utilized the partial least squares (PLS) techniques to analyze the data. Participants were 258 civil servants working in various public sectors in Taiwan, who were asked to rate their leaders' paternalistic leadership behaviors and their perception of the ethical climates in their organizations using the Paternalistic Leadership Scale and the Ethical Climate Questionnaire. Using the unidimensional constructs of paternalistic leadership and ethical climates, prior research showed evidence of a positive relationship; however, in the current study, multidimensional relations among these constructs may be positive or negative. The findings of this study suggested that leaders may implement specific types of paternalistic leadership to enhance the intended ethical climate in their organizations.

Civilization, National Culture And Ethical Work Climates: A Comparative Study Of CPA Firms In China And Taiwan

The emergence of China as an economic power has prompted the question, what impact if any has globalization and market liberalization had on the ethical climate of organizations within China and its neighbor Taiwan? Cross-strait tensions have eased over the past few years due to closer economic integration. Although both countries differ in political, as well as organizational design, they share core cultural values embedded within civilization; Confucianism. This study attempts to understand how the correlation established between ethical climates and National culture by Parboteeah, Cullen, Victor, and Sakano are played out against the backdrop of a shared civilization. Will the ethical climates retain or deviate from the core civilization cultural values theorized by Samuel P. Huntington? To answer that question, we collected data from C.P.A. firms in China and Taiwan using the 36-item revised version of the Ethical Climate Questionnaire developed by John B. Cullen, Bart Victor (1988), and James W. Bronson (1993). The results indicated a significant difference in four areas: 1) principal-individual, 2) principle-cosmopolitan, 3) benevolence-individual, and 4) egoism-individual. When correlated with national culture and their core civilizational cultural value of Confucianism, deviations showed that Taiwan moved away from Confucian values by scoring higher in Egoism while retaining Confucianism with a more particularistic culture. China demonstrated a shift away from Confucian values by scoring higher in principle while retaining Confucian values through its score in benevolence.

A Study Of Ethical Work Climates Between Filipino And Taiwanese Accountants

The purpose of this study is to find if there is a significant difference between the Filipino and Taiwanese accountants on the perceived work climate value. The 36-item revised version of Ethical Climate Questionnaire, developed by Bart Victor, John B. Cullen, (1987, 1988), and James W. Bronson (1993), was used as the instrument in investigating the ethical perceptions of the accountants. Factor analysis results extracted seven dimensions and all of them were originally identified from the based theory of Ethical Work Climate of Cullen, Victor, & Bronson (1993). These are Rules/Codes, Caring, Self-Interest, Social Responsibility, Efficiency, Instrumentalism, and Personal Morality. Results showed that Rules/Codes, Efficiency, and Instrumentalism dimensions have no significant difference between Filipinos and Taiwanese. The analysis indicated that caring, self-interest, social responsibility, and personal morality dimensions showed significant difference between Filipinos and Taiwanese accountants.

An Analysis of the Factor Structure of the Ethical Climate Questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to provide additional empirical evidence concerning the factor structure of the Ethical Climate Questionnaire. A random sample of 1,000 members of the American Marketing Association were selected and mailed a copy of the survey. Usable responses were received from 207 marketers, representing 207 organizations from various industries across the United States. The results provide relatively strong support for the dimensions of ethical work climate conceptualized by Victor and Cullen (1988). Factor analysis yielded six dimensions of ethical work climate, namely, (1) Team Spirit, (2) Rules and Codes, (3) Social Responsibility, (4) Self-interest, (5) Efficiency, and (6) Personal Morality.