Ethical Work Climate Dimensions in a Not-for-Profit Organization: An Empirical Study

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: Agarwal, James, Malloy, David Cruise
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.05.1999; D. Reidel Pub. Co; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavior; Business ethics; Climate models; Climatology; Corporate culture; Descriptive ethics; Discriminant analysis; Ethical behavior; Ethical codes; Ethics; Factor analysis; Morality; Non-profit organizations; Nonprofit organizations; Norms; Organization theory; Organizational behavior; Perceptions; Questionnaires; Social ethics; Studies; Values; Work environment; Canada
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1005974718602

This paper is an attempt to address the limited amount of research in the realm of organizational ethical climate in the not-for-profit sector. The paper draws from Victor and Cullen's (1988) theoretical framework which, combines the constructs of cognitive moral development, ethical theory, and locus of analysis. However, as a point of departure from Victor and Cullen's work, the authors propose an alternative methodology to extract ethical climate dimensions based on theoretical considerations. Using the Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ), an exploratory factor analysis is conducted followed by a confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL. The resulting five dimensions are labelled as: individual caring, machiavellianism, independence, social caring, and law and code. Findings provide a somewhat disparate perspective of the ethical climates in a not-for-profit context. First, there is a more discriminating perception of benevolent climate than its for-profit counterpart. Second, the dimensions are polarized between the individual and the cosmopolitan loci of analysis. These findings are then discussed with implications and direction for future research.