RT Article
T1 The impact of personal values on judgments of ethical behaviour in the workplace
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 13
IS 9
SP 747
OP 755
A1 Finegan, Joan
LA English
YR 1994
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785605666
AB This study examines how our personal values influence our judgment of the morality of some workplace behaviours. Sixty-nine undergraduates were asked to rank order separately Rokeach's instrumental and terminal values in terms of their importance as guiding principles in their life. Subjects then read four scenarios, each of which described ethically questionable behaviour of the sort that might be encountered in business. They were then asked to rate whether or not the behaviour of the person described in the scenario was ethical, and whether or not they had any intentions to rectify the situation. People with different value hierarchies perceived the targeted behaviours differently. For example, subjects who valued “honesty” perceived the behaviour as more immoral than subjects who did not value honesty. While the ranking of the instrumental valuehonesty was the best predictor of people's judgments about the morality of the behaviour, their ranking of the instrumental valueambition was the best predictor of their behavioural intentions.
K1 Questionable Behaviour
K1 Behavioural Intention
K1 Ethical Behaviour
K1 Good Predictor
K1 Economic Growth
DO 10.1007/BF00881335