“Climate for ethics” and occupational‐organisational commitment conflict

Abstract

Purpose

Many, if not all, professions place a high value on ethical conduct. Professionals working in organisations that are perceived to have a low regard for ethics should therefore experience occupational‐organisational conflict leading to lower organisational commitment. The purpose of the paper is to examine the relationship between police officers' perceptions of their organisation's commitment to ethics, and their affective commitment to that organisation and their occupation.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from a recent survey (2005) of frontline police officers in Western Australia are analysed (n=1,837). Analysis of the gender, age, years in the organisation and other demographics show the sample of respondents is representative of the total workforce of frontline officers. The moderating role of tenure is examined for officers with two to ten years (n=697), 11‐20 years (n=687), and more than 20 years (n=453) using multi‐sample analysis.

Findings

Perceptions of officers early in their career about their organisation's commitment to ethics is more important to their commitment to their occupation than for officers with more than ten years' tenure. Perceptions of officers about their organisation's regard for ethics in the middle stage of their careers were found to impact relatively weakly on their commitment to their organisation compared with officers earlier or later in their career.

Practical implications

The study suggests that leaders and managers in policing organisations should pay particular attention to the perceptions early career officers develop regarding ethics if they want to strengthen occupational and organisational commitment and increase the likelihood they will remain in working in the profession.

Originality/value

The paper shows that police work demands that a strong climate for ethics exists within policing organisations. The importance to officers' sense of identification with their profession and commitment to their organisation at different stages of their career has received limited attention despite the implications for leadership and management practices.

Citation

English, B. (2008), "“Climate for ethics” and occupational‐organisational commitment conflict", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 27 No. 9, pp. 963-975. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710810901309