Effects of justice and utilitarianism on ethical decision making: a cross-cultural examination of gender similarities and differences

Cultural patterns of evasive answer bias in surveys

Complete and accurate survey data are key input for research, policy, and decision making in many disciplines. However, survey respondents do not always fully cooperate, such that they skip some items or overuse the “don’t know” answer option. Evasive answer bias reflects different information than overall survey response rates, leading to item missing data and causing substantial inaccuracies in survey results. Using data from the World Values Survey, this article identifies the magnitude of the problem, then relies on individual data and country-level cultural values to derive patterns of and reasons for this evasive answer bias. While skipping answers happens less often in collectivistic and low power distance cultures, the choice of the “don’t know” option is not significantly influenced by any cultural dimension. Across countries, the effect of cultural values is stronger for female than for male respondents. Accordingly, cross-cultural researchers are advised to use advanced imputation rather than deletion methods for handling missing data.

Cultivating Support for the Sustainable Development Goals, Green Strategy and Human Resource Management Practices in Future Business Leaders: The Role of Individual Differences and Academic Training

How we effectively train our future business leaders is critical to the success of the implementation of the SDGs. Higher education will play a central role in this effort. This research examines business student support for environmentally oriented organizational strategy (“green strategy”) and human resource management policies and practices (“green hrm”) in comparison with sustainable development (SD) students to explore the barriers facing the education of our future business leaders on the SDGs. We explore whether student political orientation, gender, or authoritarianism are associated with different levels of support within each discipline. We also examine whether business students prioritize the same UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as SD students. Results (n = 281) indicate that business students (particularly those who are male, conservative, or authoritarian) are less supportive of green strategy and green HR than SD students. However, business student support of prosperity/people-oriented SDGs offers a potential avenue for progress.

Gender Differences in Engagement in Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior—Two Studies in Poland

The objective of this article is to present the results of research on the differences in unethical pro-organizational behavior between men and women. Enterprises run the risk of loss of reputation as a result of unethical pro-organizational behavior on the part of their staff. Such behavior also stands in opposition to sustainable enterprise development. However, an employee who engages in this type of behavior may suffer guilt and embarrassment. In the long term, this hinders employee well-being. The correlation between engagement in unethical pro-organizational behavior and the respondents’ gender was examined in two empirical studies. The first one was carried out among full-time employees of companies operating in various sectors in Poland, who were extramural students (N = 786). The second study was conducted half among employees of three large holding companies and half among working students of postgraduate studies (N = 389). The t-Student test was employed in the study. Statistical analysis was performed with the use of the IBM SPSS Amos 25.0.0 software. The theoretical framework of gender socialization theory was employed. The main conclusion is that women are less inclined to display unethical behavior for the sake of an organization than men. This is the first—or one of the first articles—devoted to studying the correlations between unethical pro-organizational behavior and gender. The results of the study can be applied in practice as they support increased participation of women in management as well as in creation and implementation of ethical codes in organizations.

Kick the Cat: A Serial Crossover Effect of Supervisors' Ego Depletion on Subordinates' Deviant Behavior

Drawing on the crossover model and conservation of resources theory, we explore the mechanism through which supervisors' ego depletion induces subordinates' deviant behavior. Using the two-wave survey data from 24 supervisors and their 192 respective subordinates, we found supports for our hypotheses that (a) abusive supervision mediated the effect of supervisors' ego depletion on subordinates' ego depletion; (b) subordinates' ego depletion mediated the effect of abusive supervision on subordinates' deviant behavior; and (c) abusive supervision and subordinates' ego depletion serially mediated the effect of supervisors' ego depletion on subordinates' deviant behavior. Our serial crossover model posits that both ego depletion and unethical behavior can be transmitted from supervisors to subordinates, and that these two crossover processes are entwined with each other. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical contributions and practical implications.

Social responsibility skepticism: shareholder and stakeholder perspectives

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the notion of social responsibility skepticism (SRS) and demonstrate its importance to the existing social responsibility literature. Stakeholder-emphasizing perspective (STEP) and shareholder-emphasizing perspective (SHEP) are tested as independent constructs that both serve to reduce skepticism. SHEP, STEP and SRS are shown to be interrelated but independent ideas.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a primary questionnaire survey of managers. Multivariate regression analysis is used for analysis, level of management is a moderating variable and age and gender are control variables.

Findings

Managers who accept either the shareholder emphasis or the stakeholder emphasis have lower social responsibility skepticism. STEP and SHEP appear to be two independent constructs that both serve to reduce skepticism, although STEP is slightly more effective. The relationship is stronger for STEP managers and for higher level managers.

Research limitations/implications

Findings may be influenced by the existing political or business milieu. Findings on the moderating effect of level of management and age may reflect generational differences. Changes in gender roles may also affect findings.

Practical implications

Acceptance of management theories oriented either toward a stakeholder perspective or a shareholder perspective is associated with less skepticism. The legitimacy and value of each perspective should be acknowledged.

Social implications

Managers require support for decisions taking social responsibility into account. This study demonstrates that grounding in stakeholder theory or shareholder theory can reduce SRS.

Originality/value

This study introduces the new concept of SRS and provides a scale to measure this new variable. New scales are also provided for SHEP and STEP. Both perspectives negate tendencies toward SRS.

The relationship between demographic factors and managers’ perception of unethical tone at the top

Purpose

Unethical tone at the top (UTAT) carries a lot of risks and unsolicited results for both the people and companies. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the systematic differences in managers’ perception of UTAT based on their demographic characteristics, and subsequently to specify some useful recommendations to inform how companies can assist in increasing managers’ sensitivity to the harmful top-down practices and thus support ethicality in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

Eight demographic factors that, based on prior findings from the literature, might play a role in varying perception of UTAT were examined on data from 772 management professionals working in diverse industries. The Kruskal-Wallis test statistics was utilised to infer significant differences in perceptions of UTAT among managers.

Findings

Findings suggest that male managers tended to perceive UTAT as significantly less harmful than did their female counterparts. Similarly, top managers inclined to perceive UTAT as less detrimental than the middle and line management levels. Managers with higher tenure (10+ years of managerial experience) perceived UTAT as more detrimental in contributing to unethical leadership decisions and workplace culture. Respondents who have studied business-oriented programs perceived UTAT to be less harmful for the company than the non-business students. Interestingly, age, level of education, span of control and even the ethics training received during career were all found to be not relevant in this respect.

Originality/value

Based on solid empirical findings this study fills the gap in literature on the tone at the top and helps in understanding what can be done in organisational practice to improve managers’ awareness of the damaging effects of UTAT and thus to minimise threats to an ethical workplace culture.

A Comparison of the Effects of Ethics Training on International and US Students

As scientific and engineering efforts become increasingly global in nature, the need to understand differences in perceptions of research ethics issues across countries and cultures is imperative. However, investigations into the connection between nationality and ethical decision-making in the sciences have largely generated mixed results. In Study 1 of this paper, a measure of biases and compensatory strategies that could influence ethical decisions was administered. Results from this study indicated that graduate students from the United States and international graduate students studying in the US are prone to different biases. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for developing ethics education interventions to target these decision-making biases. In Study 2, we employed an ethics training intervention based on ethical sensemaking and used a well-established measure of ethical decision-making that more fully captures the content of ethical judgment. Similar to Study 1, the results obtained in this study suggest differences do exist between graduate students from the US and international graduate students in ethical decision-making prior to taking the research ethics training. However, similar effects were observed for both groups following the completion of the ethics training intervention.

The Moral Reasoning of Genetic Dilemmas Amongst Jewish Israeli Undergraduate Students with Different Religious Affiliations and Scientific Backgrounds

The main objective of this study was to shed light on the moral reasoning of undergraduate Israeli students towards genetic dilemmas, and on how these are affected by their religious affiliation, by the field they study and by their gender. An open ended questionnaire was distributed among 449 undergraduate students in institutions of higher education in Israel, and their answers were analyzed according to the framework described by Sadler and Zeidler (Science Education, 88(1), 4-27, 2004). They were divided into two major categories: those whose reasoning was based on the consideration of moral consequences (MC), and those who supported their opinion by citing non-consequentialist moral principles (MP). Students' elaborations to questions dealing with values towards genetic testing showed a correlation between the students' religious affiliation and their reasoning, with religious students' elaborations tending to be more principle based than those of secular ones. Overall, the students' elaborations indicate that their main concern is the possibility that their personal genetic information will be exposed, and that their body's personal rights will be violated. We conclude the paper by offering several practical recommendations based on our findings for genetic counseling that is specifically tailored to fit different patients according to their background.

Islamic work ethics and individualism in managing a globalized workplace: Does religiosity and nationality matter?

The integration of work ethic theories with religious beliefs and Hofstede’s national culture typology implies that Islamic work ethics peculiarly support social symbiosis and collectivism. On the contrary, present globalized workplace is pragmatically driven by individualism. To sort out these concerns, this cross-cultural study links Islamic work ethics to individualism at globalized workplace and examines the moderating influence of employee religiosity and nationality. A stratified sample of 307 employees from leading multinational corporations operating in United States, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and Pakistan participated in the study. The study found a strong positive relationship between Islamic work ethics and individualism, and no significant interaction effect of employee nationality and religiosity was observed. Together, the findings suggest that Islamic work ethics advocate a great deal of individualism, and can benefit the multinational corporations in managing their diversified workforce with a view to get maximum advantage of the opportunities offered by globalization.

Gender Differences in Physicians' Financial Ties to Industry: A Study of National Disclosure Data

Background

Academic literature extensively documents gender disparities in the medical profession with regard to salary, promotion, and government funded research. However, gender differences in the value of financial ties to industry have not been adequately studied despite industry’s increasing contribution to income and research funding to physicians in the U.S.

Methods & Findings

We analyzed publicly reported financial relationships among 747,603 physicians and 432 pharmaceutical, device and biomaterials companies. Demographic and payment information were analyzed using hierarchical regression models to determine if statistically significant gender differences exist in physician-industry interactions regarding financial ties, controlling for key covariates. In 2011, 432 biomedical companies made an excess of $17,991,000 in payments to 220,908 physicians. Of these physicians, 75.1% were male. Female physicians, on average, received fewer total dollars (-$3,598.63, p<0.001) per person than men. Additionally, female physicians received significantly lower amounts for meals (-$41.80, p<0.001), education (-$1,893.14, p<0.001), speaker fees (-$2,898.44, p<0.001), and sponsored research (-$15,049.62, p=0.05). For total dollars, an interaction between gender and institutional reputation was statistically significant, implying that the differences between women and men differed based on industry’s preference for an institution, with larger differences at higher reputation institutions.

Conclusions

Female physicians receive significantly lower compensation for similarly described activities than their male counterparts after controlling for key covariates. As regulations lead to increased transparency regarding these relationships, efforts to standardize compensation should be considered to promote equitable opportunities for all physicians.