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This study aims to investigate the influence of two perceived organizational ethics systems (perceived ethics training quality and integrity-based climate) on the ethical decision-making (EDM) of tax accountants in Ghana. The study also examines the moderating role of the decision-makers’ financial situation on the quality ethics training–EDM relationship.

Survey data from 356 tax accountants were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique.

The results show that the two ethics systems influence EDM, but their extent of influence varies across the stages of EDM. Specifically, quality ethics training is a better predictor of EDM at the ethical issue recognition stage, whereas integrity-based climate is a better predictor of EDM at the ethical intention stage. The study also found that decision-makers’ financial situation predicts the ethical recognition stage of EDM but does not moderate the quality ethics training–EDM relationship.

This study recommends the concurrent deployment of quality ethics training and an integrity-based work climate to improve ethical behavior. Policymakers should also emphasize a work climate that promotes honesty, conscientiousness and ethical principles (integrity-based climate) to improve ethical intentions.

This study applied the interactionist theory by capturing the relative effects of two organizational ethics systems and an individual-level situational factor in a single model. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that tests the moderation effect of decision-makers’ financial situation on the ethics training–EDM relationship in a developing country context.

Drawing on the resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the level of the organization’s human resource management (HRM) practices, perceived financial resources and organizational size predict the existence of a well-developed ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying.

The human resource (HR) managers or the main health and safety representatives (HSRs) in 216 Norwegian municipalities responded to an electronic survey, representing some 50 percent of the municipalities.

The level of high-quality HRM practice predicted the existence of an ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying, particularly informal systems represented by a strong conflict management climate. Perceived financial resources did not predict the existence of such ethical infrastructure. Organizational size predicted the existence of policies and having training against bullying.

This study informs practitioners about organizational resources associated with organization having a well-developed ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying. A high level of high-quality HRM practices seems to be more important for the existence of a well-developed ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying compared to financial resources and organizational size, at least as perceived by HR managers and HSRs.

This study provides empirical evidence for the importance of having a high level of high-quality HRM practices as predictors of the existence of ethical infrastructure to tackle workplace bullying. An essential finding is that the existence of such an infrastructure is not dependent on distal resources, such as organizational size and perceived financial resources.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of formal [ethics training (ET)] and informal [psychological ethical climate (EC)] controls in reducing service sabotage (SS) and increasing employee commitment to service quality.

Data were electronically collected from a national survey of hotel/motel customer contact employees leading to a usable sample of 316 employees. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

The findings indicate that ET can be used to positively influence the EC of customer contact service employees, which, in turn, reduces their SS behavior and increases their commitment to service quality.

Management should incorporate both formal (ET) and informal (EC) controls to bring about less SS and greater commitment to service quality among customer contact employees in service settings.

This research furthers the understanding of SS by finding an important variable, EC that may be used to reduce its incidence in service settings. Further, it shows that EC is an important contributor to improving ECSQ. As such, this research gives important direction for companies wishing to improve the customer service experience.

Business ethics provide a potent source of competitive advantage, placing increasing pressure on organizations to create and maintain an ethical workforce. Nonetheless, ethical breaches continue to permeate corporate life, suggesting that there is something missing from how we conceptualize and institutionalize organizational ethics. The current effort seeks to fill this void in two ways. First, we introduce an extended ethical framework premised on sensemaking in organizations. Within this framework, we suggest that multiple individual, organizational, and societal factors may differentially influence the ethical sensemaking process. Second, we contend that human resource management plays a central role in sustaining workplace ethics and explore the strategies through which human resource personnel can work to foster an ethical culture and spearhead ethics initiatives. Future research directions applicable to scholars in both the ethics and human resources domains are provided.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and address the underlying causes of costly quality/ethical problems that have prevented companies to achieve and sustain excellence. More broadly, the study has leveraged data from multiple sources to determine root-cause issues and propose a new management model that enables leadership to prevent and effectively address quality/ethical problems by operationalizing excellence. For the purpose of this research, operationalization is defined in terms of developing a sustained culture of excellence and enabling a firm to systematically prevent, detect, and address costly problems in their daily operations.

The study has defined the concept of excellence in terms of measurable results based on ten critical success factors: products, financials, stakeholders, employees, leadership, societal, operational, innovation, alignment, and ethical excellence. To identify and address the underlying causes, this study has used a spiral research model to develop and improve an assessment process for the consistent examination of three types of firms: national quality award recipients, successful and responsible Fortune-500 companies, and landmark ethical violators. Findings from case studies were then substantiated using results from current research studies and conclusions from over 20 years of international field work/experience.

To operationalize excellence, this study found that organizations need to develop a foundation for two tightly coupled and inseparable variables: ethics, excellence. Case studies show when these two variables are inadequately planned, integrated, checked, and enforced across business operations, they cause serious and costly problems. This foundation enables a firm to maximize performance, the return on investment, and to sustain performance in each of these critical success factors (CSFs) using the following interconnected building blocks of excellence: grander purpose, measurable results, effective collaboration, leadership development, individual development, continuous alignment, continuous innovation, ethics management, and ethics foundation.

The application of the assessment instrument proved to be complex due to the difficulties of transforming conjecture into certainty using existing online corporate records (e.g. understanding true leadership intention). Findings of this study are applicable to any industry and type and size company. The building blocks of this new management model should not be developed and implemented in an isolated, standalone, or piecemeal manner; nor should they be forced onto an organization as a new program. For best results, each building block needs to be implemented as an interconnected component of a complete and total system of management and infused into the fabric of the culture as a normal part of the daily operations.

Total business excellence is a proposed new management model for operationalizing excellence. This new model serves three major purposes. First, it enables an enterprise to responsibly deliver a continuous flow of innovative and competitive products as defined and measured by ten CSFs. Second, it enables management to prevent costly quality/ethical problems by developing a unified and responsible strategy for planning, execution, and quality. Most importantly, it provides a missing platform of opportunity where individuals can incrementally grow and develop as they add meaningful personal, professional, and societal value.

This study aims to investigate the role of perceived external prestige (PEP), ethical organizational climate, and leader‐member exchange (LMX) quality in explaining organizational and career commitment, and also analyzes effects of the two commitments on motivation to participate in training and turnover intention.

Relationships among the constructs are predicted based on relevant literature, and are tested using survey results from 477 employees working in 15 of the leading corporations in South Korea.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) shows that ethical organizational climate and LMX quality are a significant correlate of both forms of commitment, whereas perceived external prestige is a predictor of organizational commitment but not career commitment. Furthermore, as a mediator, each form of commitment also affects employees' training participation motivation and their turnover intention.

Overall, the value of this study lies in its focus on multiple forms of commitment reflecting current employment relationships, and in the identification of new variables for use by HR professionals in determining ways to improve both commitment to organization and career.

Training in research ethics in higher education institutions tends to be increasingly focussed on operational instruction and how to navigate review processes. This has largely come about as a result of the gradual extension of the ‘medical model’ of prospective ethics review to all research involving human participants over the last few decades. Often devolved to an administrator, the purpose of instruction in research ethics is sometimes reduced to form-filling techniques. While this may serve to facilitate researchers’ compliance with ‘auditable’ regulatory requirements, and to reassure risk-averse universities that they can demonstrate rigorous oversight, it does nothing to skill researchers in assessing the ethical implications of their own research. Mastering the skills to address and mitigate the moral dilemmas that can emerge during a research project involves more than having a pre-determined set of options for research practice. Changing their perception means enabling researchers to view themselves as ethical practitioners within a broader community of researchers. In this chapter we discuss the implementation of a university training programme that has been designed to improve both the moral character, and thus the moral competence of researchers. Using a virtue ethics approach, we employed case studies and discussion, backed up by provision of individualised advice, to help researchers to consider the moral implications of research and to improve their moral decision-making skills. Attendees reported greater engagement with the issues and increased confidence in facing ethical dilemmas in their own research.

Using the backdrop of an (apparently) extended visit to the West Indies, analogies with key concerns of internal audit are drawn. An unusual and refreshing way of exploring the main themes ‐ a discussion between Bill and Jack on tour in the islands ‐ forms the debate. Explores the concepts of control, necessary procedures, fraud and corruption, supporting systems, creativity and chaos, and building a corporate control facility.