- Email: [email protected]
Human resource management, ethical context, and personnel consequences: A commentary essay
Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 908–910
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Business Research
Human resource management, ethical context, and personnel consequences: A commentary essay Sean Valentine Department of Management, University of North Dakota, 293 Centennial Drive, Mailstop 8377, United States
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 1 February 2009 Received in revised form 1 February 2009 Accepted 1 February 2009 Keywords: Institutionalized ethics Quality of work life Human resource management
a b s t r a c t In the Journal of Business Research, Koonmee, Singhapakdi, Virakul, and Lee (2010) empirically explore the notion that institutionalized ethics and quality of work life can be utilized in companies to prompt different positive work outcomes. This commentary essay considers the theoretical and practical contributions of this research, as well as the study's virtues and limitations, and offers several suggestions for future inquiry based on the findings. As a whole, the HR field should more fully consider how a variety of positive personnel consequences might be prompted from an ethical context developed through beneficial human resource management practices. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Koonmee et al. (2010) empirically explore the notion that institutionalized ethics and quality of work life can be utilized in companies to prompt different positive work outcomes. The authors assert that the ethics institutionalization process is comprised of explicit methodologies that build an ethical context such as ethics codes, training, and other programmatic elements, as well as implicit approaches that focus on the development of cultural characteristics, behavioral norms, and reward/punishment systems (Brenner, 1992; Singhapakdi and Vitell, 2007). The quality-of-work-life construct is conceptualized as having both lower-order components based on the fulfillment of needs related to safety and health and higher-order components based on the satisfaction of different self-actualization, self-concept, and affiliation needs (Sirgy et al., 2001). Finally, the key job outcomes in this study include job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit, variables considered to be critical metrics for assessing the effectiveness of human resource (HR) policy and management. Using a self-report survey containing measures of the focal variables and various demographic items, information is collected from a sample of human resource management professionals employed in business firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, and the two waves of mailed questionnaires yield an adequate response rate of almost 32%. After making the necessary nonresponse bias and common method bias checks, as well as needed item adjustments to the scales, the findings indicate that an implicit ethics institutionalization process is positively related to both lower-order and higher-order quality of work life programs. Lower-order quality of work life is associated with increased
E-mail address: [email protected]. 0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.02.029
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit, and higher-order quality of work life is associated with increased job satisfaction and team spirit. Implicit ethics institutionalization is also associated with increased job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit. Finally, several regression frameworks are specified to determine whether quality of work life mediates the positive relationships identified between ethics institutionalization and the work outcomes, and the results show that ethics institutionalization functions through quality of work life to positively impact job consequences. These results provide adequate statistical support for most of the study's hypotheses specifying positive relationships among the focal variables.
2. Strengths and the study This study has many merits that should be noted. For instance, the study explores several important topics, including the role of organizational ethics in the management of various job responses. The findings support past work in this area (e.g., Baker et al., 2006; Hunt et al., 1989; Schwepker, 2001; Trevino et al., 1998; Valentine et al., 2006; Vitell and Davis, 1990) and suggest that the advancement of implicit and explicit ethical contexts comprised of positive business values and practices should consistently yield beneficial employee job attitudes and perceptions. The study also explores the central role of quality of work life in the organizational ethics–job response linkage, and the findings imply that an ethical context can be developed to work in concert with various quality-of-work-life programs to prompt positive employee attitudes and beliefs. Consequently, there is reason to believe that organizations should dedicate more time and resources to creating a workplace that focuses on employee interests, as well as a workplace that offers ethical principles and standards that enhance employees' perceptions of the company.
S. Valentine / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 908–910
The sampling frame of the study is also one of its strengths because information was collected from individuals employed in Thailand, a country that is culturally and religiously distinctive from many Western nations such as the United States. In particular, Koonmee et al. (2010) make the point that people in Thailand subscribe to unique workrelated principles that distinguish their society from other cultural groups. Additionally, the developing nature of Thailand's economy suggests that, as the country's business communities grow, a plethora of emerging ethical problems will encourage industry leaders to focus more heavily on the development of ethical practices that better satisfy stakeholder interests, such as employee well-being investigated by Koonmee et al. (2010). Still other strengths are worth noting. The study relies on a rigorous statistical methodology to test the proposed relationships among the focal variables. Linear structural equation modeling is used to evaluate the measurement properties of the scales, and moderated regression analysis, which requires the specification of multiple models (Baron and Kenny, 1986), is utilized to explore the degree to which institutionalized ethics works with quality of work life to influence job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit. Finally, the hypotheses are supported by a well-organized review of the relevant literature, and the discussion section provides the reader with some practical interpretations of the results. 3. Limitations of the study Despite these virtues, the study has several limitations that should be outlined, many of which are discussed at some length in the paper. These limitations affect many business ethics studies and are difficult to avoid given the nature of survey research, so recognizing these shortcomings does not in any way mitigate the study's contribution to the broader business ethics and HR literatures. For instance, social desirability bias, or the tendency to provide answers that fit preconceived notions about acceptable survey responses, often adversely affects business ethics research (Randall and Fernandes, 1991). However, a measure of social desirability, such as the popular scale developed by Crowne and Marlowe (1960), is not utilized in the analysis of this current study. All information is collected with a self-report survey, so common method bias might be a limitation even though appropriate same source bias checks are employed. Further, the crosssectional nature of the research design limits one's ability to make statements about causality, and the homogeneous sampling frame also limits the application of the findings to other HR professionals and businesspersons. Finally, the lack of relationships identified between explicit ethics institutionalization and quality of work life, job satisfaction, and team spirit indicates that mediated relationships involving these variables likely do not exist, at least based on the results generated from these data. 4. Implications and directions for the broader HR field One of the most important contributions of the Koonmee et al. (2010) study involves the assessment of traditional HR issues within the domain of business ethics, a niche that has to date been underexplored in the organizational sciences. The finding that institutionalized corporate ethics can be utilized in conjunction with quality of work life to increase employees' positive work responses is particularly important for HR professionals because their primary purpose is to develop a workplace for employees that is both enriching and fair. Both ethical context and quality of work life appear to be two managerial approaches well positioned to help HR leaders and other managers develop such a positive employment environment. Further, given the findings of this study, more research investigating the role of HR practice in the management of organizational ethics and its associated consequences is certainly needed.
909
Fig. 1 provides a graphical summary detailing how the relationships among human resource management, ethical context, and personnel consequences should be investigated in future work. In particular, many business ethics models have been presented in past studies that recognize the importance of an ethical environment in the management of important employee outcomes such as ethical decision making. While a comprehensive review of all these frameworks and the associated empirical investigations is well beyond the scope of this commentary essay, it is important to describe some of the frameworks that are commonly referenced in the literature. For instance, Ferrell and Gresham (1985) develop a marketing-oriented contingency model of ethics that showed explicitly how “significant others” such as management personnel and coworkers and “opportunity” comprised of codes of conduct and behavioral reinforcement work together to influence ethical reasoning. Hunt and Vitell (1986), in their comprehensive theory of ethics for the marketing field, also suggested that various occupational and organizational contexts containing ethics codes and behavioral norms influence different ethical evaluations. Trevino (1986) developed an interactional model of business ethics that outlined how certain “situational moderators” such as reinforcement processes (i.e., rewards/punishments) and corporate culture (i.e., behavioral norms, social learning, and leadership) impact individual ethical reasoning. Dubinsky and Barbara (1989), in their ethics framework for marketing, also focused on the role of “referent others” such as managers and coworkers in the development of ethical reasoning, and Wotruba (1990) provided support for the Trevino (1986) model by once again suggesting that different “situational moderators” such as organizational culture/practices and significant others affect selling professionals' ethical reasoning, ultimately leading to work performance, reinforcement processes, and individual learning on the job. Still another model is the Jones (1991) issue-contingent framework that distilled the concept of “moral intensity;” however, this framework also acknowledged that various “organizational factors” such as social learning, influence, and group behavior impact individual ethical intentions and behaviors. Finally, Brass et al. (1998) developed a social network model of ethical behavior that included “organizational factors,” a construct comprised of ethical codes/values, firm climate, and reinforcement processes, as a key predictor of ethical/unethical conduct. While many of these ethics models focus primary on the advancement of ethical reasoning and behavior through organizational approaches, the same basic tenets surrounding the normative impact of ethical context could be relied on to enhance many other work outcomes that interest HR professionals such as job attitudes, citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Indeed, employees' preferences for ethical organizations are widely recognized because an ethical context is often related to decreased work dissonance, enhanced perceptions of fit, and strengthened psychological contracts (e.g., Jose and Thibodeaux, 1999; Sims, 1991; Valentine et al., 2002; Viswesvaran and Deshpande, 1996; Viswesvaran et al., 1998). There is also reason to believe that various HR policies and practices can be developed in a manner to strengthen ethical context and work in concert with elements of organizational ethics to improve employees' work outcomes. Taking such action would serve to better position business ethics as a component of strategic HR policy because the ethical supervision of personnel would yield greater goal accomplishment. In particular, the selection and placement of ethical individuals in the organization should provide employees with referent others who function as positive role models. Training and development programs should teach ethical values through codes of conduct and ethics seminars so that employees become aware of the relevant ethical issues and problems associated with their work roles. Management should also develop performance management systems that are free of bias to facilitate the institutionalization of an ethical environment, as well as create compensation policies that instill a sense of justice in the company. Organizations should also consider developing beneficial policies such as quality of work life, social responsibility, and employee feedback so that an enhanced sense of corporate social performance is advanced throughout the
910
S. Valentine / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 908–910
Fig. 1. Investigating the relationships among human resource management, ethical context, and personnel consequences.
hierarchy. These policies would directly support the strategic nature of business ethics and could dovetail into greater awareness of adherence to legal standards, investments in diversity, and the development of positive labor–management relations. Similar to Koonmee et al. (2010), future research should explore in more depth the relationships between specific HR programs that institutionalize an ethical context and employee job responses. Some of the focal variables specified in Fig. 1 could be used as a springboard for such investigations. There is also a need for more rigorous empirical assessments of the linkages that exist between HR policy, ethical context, and job personnel outcomes to more adequately describe the role of personnel in the broader satisfaction of strategic goals through ethics institutionalization. Additionally, new research should determine the causes and consequences of specific HR-related ethical problems given that these dilemmas are so common in the workplace (Trevino and Nelson, 2007). In summary, HR ethics is an emerging area of inquiry that deserves more attention in the HR and business ethics literatures. By organizing new research in this area, more definitive prescriptive guidance can be provided to professionals involved in the planning and implementation of human resource management in organizations. References Baker TL, Hunt TG, Andrews MC. Promoting ethical behavior and organizational citizenship behaviors: the influence of corporate ethical values. J Bus Res 2006;59:849–57. Baron RM, Kenny DA. The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc Psychol 1986;51:1173–82. Brass DJ, Butterfield KD, Skaggs BC. Relationships and unethical behavior: a social network perspective. Acad Manage Rev 1998;23(1):14–31. Brenner S. Ethics programs and their dimensions. J Bus Ethics 1992;11(5–6):391–9. Crowne DP, Marlowe D. A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. J Consult Psychol 1960;24:349–54.
Dubinsky AJ, Barbara L. Analyzing ethical decision making in marketing. J Bus Res 1989;19:83-107. Ferrell OC, Gresham LG. A contingency framework for understanding ethical decision making in marketing. J Mark 1985;49:87–96. Hunt SD, Vitell S. A general theory of marketing ethics. J Macromark 1986;8:5-16. Hunt SD, Wood VR, Chonko LB. Corporate ethical values and organizational commitment in marketing. J Mark 1989;53(3):79–90. Jones T. Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: an issue contingent model. Acad Manage Rev 1991;16(2):366–95. Jose A, Thibodeaux M. Institutionalization of ethics: the perspective of managers. J Bus Ethics 1999;22(2):133–43. Koonmee K, Singhapakdi A, Virakul B, Lee D-J. Ethics institutionalization, quality of work life, and employee job-related outcomes: a survey of human resource managers in Thailand. J Bus Res 2010;63(1):20–6. Randall DM, Fernandes M. The social desirability response bias in ethics research. J Bus Ethics 1991;10:805–17. Schwepker Jr CH. Ethical climate's relationship to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention in the salesforce. J Bus Res 2001;54:39–52. Sims R. The institutionalization of organizational ethics. J Bus Ethics 1991;10(7):543–58. Singhapakdi A, Vitell S. Institutionalization of ethics and its consequences: a survey of marketing professionals. J Acad Mark Sci 2007;35:284–94. Sirgy MJ, Efraty D, Siegel P, Lee D-J. A new measure of quality of work life (QWL) based on need satisfaction and spillover theory. Soc Indic Res 2001;55:241–302. Trevino LK. Ethical decision making in organizations: a person–situation interactionist model. Acad Manage Rev 1986;11:601–17. Trevino LK, Nelson KA. Managing business ethics: straight talk about how to do it right. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons; 2007. Trevino LK, Kenneth B, Donald McC. The ethical context in organizations: influences on employee attitudes and behaviors. Bus Ethics Q 1998;8:447–76. Valentine S, Godkin L, Lucero M. Ethical context, organizational commitment, and person– organization fit. J Bus Ethics 2002;41(4):349–60. Valentine S, Greller M, Richtermeyer S. Employee job response as a function of ethical context and perceived organizational support. J Bus Res 2006;59:582–8. Viswesvaran C, Deshpande SP. Ethics, success, and job satisfaction: a test of dissonance theory in India. J Bus Ethics 1996;15:1065–9. Viswesvaran C, Deshpande SP, Joseph J. Job satisfaction as a function of top management support for ethical behavior: a study of Indian managers. J Bus Ethics 1998;17:365–71. Vitell SJ, Davis DL. The relationship between ethics and job satisfaction: an empirical investigation. J Bus Ethics 1990;9:489–94. Wotruba TR. A comprehensive framework for the analysis of ethical behavior, with a focus on sales organizations. J Pers Sell Sales Manage 1990;10:29–42.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Business Research
Human resource management, ethical context, and personnel consequences: A commentary essay Sean Valentine Department of Management, University of North Dakota, 293 Centennial Drive, Mailstop 8377, United States
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 1 February 2009 Received in revised form 1 February 2009 Accepted 1 February 2009 Keywords: Institutionalized ethics Quality of work life Human resource management
a b s t r a c t In the Journal of Business Research, Koonmee, Singhapakdi, Virakul, and Lee (2010) empirically explore the notion that institutionalized ethics and quality of work life can be utilized in companies to prompt different positive work outcomes. This commentary essay considers the theoretical and practical contributions of this research, as well as the study's virtues and limitations, and offers several suggestions for future inquiry based on the findings. As a whole, the HR field should more fully consider how a variety of positive personnel consequences might be prompted from an ethical context developed through beneficial human resource management practices. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Koonmee et al. (2010) empirically explore the notion that institutionalized ethics and quality of work life can be utilized in companies to prompt different positive work outcomes. The authors assert that the ethics institutionalization process is comprised of explicit methodologies that build an ethical context such as ethics codes, training, and other programmatic elements, as well as implicit approaches that focus on the development of cultural characteristics, behavioral norms, and reward/punishment systems (Brenner, 1992; Singhapakdi and Vitell, 2007). The quality-of-work-life construct is conceptualized as having both lower-order components based on the fulfillment of needs related to safety and health and higher-order components based on the satisfaction of different self-actualization, self-concept, and affiliation needs (Sirgy et al., 2001). Finally, the key job outcomes in this study include job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit, variables considered to be critical metrics for assessing the effectiveness of human resource (HR) policy and management. Using a self-report survey containing measures of the focal variables and various demographic items, information is collected from a sample of human resource management professionals employed in business firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, and the two waves of mailed questionnaires yield an adequate response rate of almost 32%. After making the necessary nonresponse bias and common method bias checks, as well as needed item adjustments to the scales, the findings indicate that an implicit ethics institutionalization process is positively related to both lower-order and higher-order quality of work life programs. Lower-order quality of work life is associated with increased
E-mail address: [email protected]. 0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.02.029
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit, and higher-order quality of work life is associated with increased job satisfaction and team spirit. Implicit ethics institutionalization is also associated with increased job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit. Finally, several regression frameworks are specified to determine whether quality of work life mediates the positive relationships identified between ethics institutionalization and the work outcomes, and the results show that ethics institutionalization functions through quality of work life to positively impact job consequences. These results provide adequate statistical support for most of the study's hypotheses specifying positive relationships among the focal variables.
2. Strengths and the study This study has many merits that should be noted. For instance, the study explores several important topics, including the role of organizational ethics in the management of various job responses. The findings support past work in this area (e.g., Baker et al., 2006; Hunt et al., 1989; Schwepker, 2001; Trevino et al., 1998; Valentine et al., 2006; Vitell and Davis, 1990) and suggest that the advancement of implicit and explicit ethical contexts comprised of positive business values and practices should consistently yield beneficial employee job attitudes and perceptions. The study also explores the central role of quality of work life in the organizational ethics–job response linkage, and the findings imply that an ethical context can be developed to work in concert with various quality-of-work-life programs to prompt positive employee attitudes and beliefs. Consequently, there is reason to believe that organizations should dedicate more time and resources to creating a workplace that focuses on employee interests, as well as a workplace that offers ethical principles and standards that enhance employees' perceptions of the company.
S. Valentine / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 908–910
The sampling frame of the study is also one of its strengths because information was collected from individuals employed in Thailand, a country that is culturally and religiously distinctive from many Western nations such as the United States. In particular, Koonmee et al. (2010) make the point that people in Thailand subscribe to unique workrelated principles that distinguish their society from other cultural groups. Additionally, the developing nature of Thailand's economy suggests that, as the country's business communities grow, a plethora of emerging ethical problems will encourage industry leaders to focus more heavily on the development of ethical practices that better satisfy stakeholder interests, such as employee well-being investigated by Koonmee et al. (2010). Still other strengths are worth noting. The study relies on a rigorous statistical methodology to test the proposed relationships among the focal variables. Linear structural equation modeling is used to evaluate the measurement properties of the scales, and moderated regression analysis, which requires the specification of multiple models (Baron and Kenny, 1986), is utilized to explore the degree to which institutionalized ethics works with quality of work life to influence job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit. Finally, the hypotheses are supported by a well-organized review of the relevant literature, and the discussion section provides the reader with some practical interpretations of the results. 3. Limitations of the study Despite these virtues, the study has several limitations that should be outlined, many of which are discussed at some length in the paper. These limitations affect many business ethics studies and are difficult to avoid given the nature of survey research, so recognizing these shortcomings does not in any way mitigate the study's contribution to the broader business ethics and HR literatures. For instance, social desirability bias, or the tendency to provide answers that fit preconceived notions about acceptable survey responses, often adversely affects business ethics research (Randall and Fernandes, 1991). However, a measure of social desirability, such as the popular scale developed by Crowne and Marlowe (1960), is not utilized in the analysis of this current study. All information is collected with a self-report survey, so common method bias might be a limitation even though appropriate same source bias checks are employed. Further, the crosssectional nature of the research design limits one's ability to make statements about causality, and the homogeneous sampling frame also limits the application of the findings to other HR professionals and businesspersons. Finally, the lack of relationships identified between explicit ethics institutionalization and quality of work life, job satisfaction, and team spirit indicates that mediated relationships involving these variables likely do not exist, at least based on the results generated from these data. 4. Implications and directions for the broader HR field One of the most important contributions of the Koonmee et al. (2010) study involves the assessment of traditional HR issues within the domain of business ethics, a niche that has to date been underexplored in the organizational sciences. The finding that institutionalized corporate ethics can be utilized in conjunction with quality of work life to increase employees' positive work responses is particularly important for HR professionals because their primary purpose is to develop a workplace for employees that is both enriching and fair. Both ethical context and quality of work life appear to be two managerial approaches well positioned to help HR leaders and other managers develop such a positive employment environment. Further, given the findings of this study, more research investigating the role of HR practice in the management of organizational ethics and its associated consequences is certainly needed.
909
Fig. 1 provides a graphical summary detailing how the relationships among human resource management, ethical context, and personnel consequences should be investigated in future work. In particular, many business ethics models have been presented in past studies that recognize the importance of an ethical environment in the management of important employee outcomes such as ethical decision making. While a comprehensive review of all these frameworks and the associated empirical investigations is well beyond the scope of this commentary essay, it is important to describe some of the frameworks that are commonly referenced in the literature. For instance, Ferrell and Gresham (1985) develop a marketing-oriented contingency model of ethics that showed explicitly how “significant others” such as management personnel and coworkers and “opportunity” comprised of codes of conduct and behavioral reinforcement work together to influence ethical reasoning. Hunt and Vitell (1986), in their comprehensive theory of ethics for the marketing field, also suggested that various occupational and organizational contexts containing ethics codes and behavioral norms influence different ethical evaluations. Trevino (1986) developed an interactional model of business ethics that outlined how certain “situational moderators” such as reinforcement processes (i.e., rewards/punishments) and corporate culture (i.e., behavioral norms, social learning, and leadership) impact individual ethical reasoning. Dubinsky and Barbara (1989), in their ethics framework for marketing, also focused on the role of “referent others” such as managers and coworkers in the development of ethical reasoning, and Wotruba (1990) provided support for the Trevino (1986) model by once again suggesting that different “situational moderators” such as organizational culture/practices and significant others affect selling professionals' ethical reasoning, ultimately leading to work performance, reinforcement processes, and individual learning on the job. Still another model is the Jones (1991) issue-contingent framework that distilled the concept of “moral intensity;” however, this framework also acknowledged that various “organizational factors” such as social learning, influence, and group behavior impact individual ethical intentions and behaviors. Finally, Brass et al. (1998) developed a social network model of ethical behavior that included “organizational factors,” a construct comprised of ethical codes/values, firm climate, and reinforcement processes, as a key predictor of ethical/unethical conduct. While many of these ethics models focus primary on the advancement of ethical reasoning and behavior through organizational approaches, the same basic tenets surrounding the normative impact of ethical context could be relied on to enhance many other work outcomes that interest HR professionals such as job attitudes, citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Indeed, employees' preferences for ethical organizations are widely recognized because an ethical context is often related to decreased work dissonance, enhanced perceptions of fit, and strengthened psychological contracts (e.g., Jose and Thibodeaux, 1999; Sims, 1991; Valentine et al., 2002; Viswesvaran and Deshpande, 1996; Viswesvaran et al., 1998). There is also reason to believe that various HR policies and practices can be developed in a manner to strengthen ethical context and work in concert with elements of organizational ethics to improve employees' work outcomes. Taking such action would serve to better position business ethics as a component of strategic HR policy because the ethical supervision of personnel would yield greater goal accomplishment. In particular, the selection and placement of ethical individuals in the organization should provide employees with referent others who function as positive role models. Training and development programs should teach ethical values through codes of conduct and ethics seminars so that employees become aware of the relevant ethical issues and problems associated with their work roles. Management should also develop performance management systems that are free of bias to facilitate the institutionalization of an ethical environment, as well as create compensation policies that instill a sense of justice in the company. Organizations should also consider developing beneficial policies such as quality of work life, social responsibility, and employee feedback so that an enhanced sense of corporate social performance is advanced throughout the
910
S. Valentine / Journal of Business Research 63 (2010) 908–910
Fig. 1. Investigating the relationships among human resource management, ethical context, and personnel consequences.
hierarchy. These policies would directly support the strategic nature of business ethics and could dovetail into greater awareness of adherence to legal standards, investments in diversity, and the development of positive labor–management relations. Similar to Koonmee et al. (2010), future research should explore in more depth the relationships between specific HR programs that institutionalize an ethical context and employee job responses. Some of the focal variables specified in Fig. 1 could be used as a springboard for such investigations. There is also a need for more rigorous empirical assessments of the linkages that exist between HR policy, ethical context, and job personnel outcomes to more adequately describe the role of personnel in the broader satisfaction of strategic goals through ethics institutionalization. Additionally, new research should determine the causes and consequences of specific HR-related ethical problems given that these dilemmas are so common in the workplace (Trevino and Nelson, 2007). In summary, HR ethics is an emerging area of inquiry that deserves more attention in the HR and business ethics literatures. By organizing new research in this area, more definitive prescriptive guidance can be provided to professionals involved in the planning and implementation of human resource management in organizations. References Baker TL, Hunt TG, Andrews MC. Promoting ethical behavior and organizational citizenship behaviors: the influence of corporate ethical values. J Bus Res 2006;59:849–57. Baron RM, Kenny DA. The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc Psychol 1986;51:1173–82. Brass DJ, Butterfield KD, Skaggs BC. Relationships and unethical behavior: a social network perspective. Acad Manage Rev 1998;23(1):14–31. Brenner S. Ethics programs and their dimensions. J Bus Ethics 1992;11(5–6):391–9. Crowne DP, Marlowe D. A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. J Consult Psychol 1960;24:349–54.
Dubinsky AJ, Barbara L. Analyzing ethical decision making in marketing. J Bus Res 1989;19:83-107. Ferrell OC, Gresham LG. A contingency framework for understanding ethical decision making in marketing. J Mark 1985;49:87–96. Hunt SD, Vitell S. A general theory of marketing ethics. J Macromark 1986;8:5-16. Hunt SD, Wood VR, Chonko LB. Corporate ethical values and organizational commitment in marketing. J Mark 1989;53(3):79–90. Jones T. Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: an issue contingent model. Acad Manage Rev 1991;16(2):366–95. Jose A, Thibodeaux M. Institutionalization of ethics: the perspective of managers. J Bus Ethics 1999;22(2):133–43. Koonmee K, Singhapakdi A, Virakul B, Lee D-J. Ethics institutionalization, quality of work life, and employee job-related outcomes: a survey of human resource managers in Thailand. J Bus Res 2010;63(1):20–6. Randall DM, Fernandes M. The social desirability response bias in ethics research. J Bus Ethics 1991;10:805–17. Schwepker Jr CH. Ethical climate's relationship to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention in the salesforce. J Bus Res 2001;54:39–52. Sims R. The institutionalization of organizational ethics. J Bus Ethics 1991;10(7):543–58. Singhapakdi A, Vitell S. Institutionalization of ethics and its consequences: a survey of marketing professionals. J Acad Mark Sci 2007;35:284–94. Sirgy MJ, Efraty D, Siegel P, Lee D-J. A new measure of quality of work life (QWL) based on need satisfaction and spillover theory. Soc Indic Res 2001;55:241–302. Trevino LK. Ethical decision making in organizations: a person–situation interactionist model. Acad Manage Rev 1986;11:601–17. Trevino LK, Nelson KA. Managing business ethics: straight talk about how to do it right. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons; 2007. Trevino LK, Kenneth B, Donald McC. The ethical context in organizations: influences on employee attitudes and behaviors. Bus Ethics Q 1998;8:447–76. Valentine S, Godkin L, Lucero M. Ethical context, organizational commitment, and person– organization fit. J Bus Ethics 2002;41(4):349–60. Valentine S, Greller M, Richtermeyer S. Employee job response as a function of ethical context and perceived organizational support. J Bus Res 2006;59:582–8. Viswesvaran C, Deshpande SP. Ethics, success, and job satisfaction: a test of dissonance theory in India. J Bus Ethics 1996;15:1065–9. Viswesvaran C, Deshpande SP, Joseph J. Job satisfaction as a function of top management support for ethical behavior: a study of Indian managers. J Bus Ethics 1998;17:365–71. Vitell SJ, Davis DL. The relationship between ethics and job satisfaction: an empirical investigation. J Bus Ethics 1990;9:489–94. Wotruba TR. A comprehensive framework for the analysis of ethical behavior, with a focus on sales organizations. J Pers Sell Sales Manage 1990;10:29–42.