Work

When Organizational Identification Elicits Moral Decision-Making: A Matter of the Right Climate

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: To advance current knowledge on ethical decision-making in organizations, we integrate two perspectives that have thus far developed independently: the organizational identification perspective and the ethical climate perspective. We illustrate the interaction between these perspectives in two studies (Study 1, N = 144, US sample; and Study 2, N = 356, UK sample), in which we presented participants with moral business dilemmas. Specifically, we found that organizational identification increased moral decision-making only when the organization’s climate was perceived to be ethical. In addition, we disentangle this effect in Study 2 from participants’ moral identity. We argue that the interactive influence of organizational identification and ethical climate, rather than the independent influence of either of these perspectives, is crucial for understanding moral decision-making in organizations.

Source: Journal of Business Ethics

DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2784-0

Authors: Suzanne van Gils, Michael A. Hogg, Niels Van Quaquebeke, Daan van Knippenberg

Institutions: Maastricht University, Claremont Graduate University, Kühne Logistics University, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Language: English

Topic: Ethics in Business and Education

Subfield: Information Systems and Management

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,790

Funder: Vereniging Trustfonds Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam