What are the four determinants of ethical behavior?

Determinants of Ethical Behavior / The Roots of Unethical BehaviorPersonal EthicsGenerally accepted principles of right and wrong governing the conduct of individuals

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Our personal ethical code exerts a profound influence on the way we behave asbusinesspeople

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The first step to establishing a strong sense of business ethics is for a society toemphasize strong personal ethics

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Expatriate managers may experience more than the usual degree of pressure toviolate their personal ethicsDecision-Making Processes

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Several studies of unethical behavior in business have concluded that businesspeoplesometimes do not realize they are behaving unethically primarily because theysimple fail to ask….…. “Is this decision or action ethical?”

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Often the result of applying straight-forward business calculus to a decision withoutconsidering important ethical issuesOrganization Culture

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The climate in some businesses does not encourage people to think through theethical consequences of business decisions

The individual factors that determine the ethical standards of a person are moral development, personal values, family influences, Peer Influences and Life experiences.

Are standards of moral behavior that is behavior accepted by society as right versus wrong?

Standards of moral behavior,that is, behavior that is accepted by society as right versus wrong. ... Ethical standards that define the organization's guiding values,create an environment that supports ethically sound behavior,and stress a shared acountability among employees.

Is ethical behavior more than obeying the law?

An important distinction exists between law and ethics. Obeying the law is the minimum level of ethical conduct enforced in society; ethical behavior includes more than simply legal behavior.

Which of the following can be considered to be unethical behavior?

Unethical Behavior Among Individuals Stealing money from the petty cash drawer at work. Lying on your resume in order to get a job. Talking about a friend behind his back. Taking credit for work you did not do.

What are the causes of unethical behavior?

THE ROOT CAUSES OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR • Psychological traps are the root causes of unethical behavior. Primary Traps (External Stimuli) • “Obedience to Authority” • Personality Traps(Internal stimuli) • “Need for Closure,” • Defensive Traps(Two internal stimuli: guilt and shame) • “False Consensus Effect.”

What is the definition of unethical behavior?

Unethical behavior can be defined as actions that are against social norms or acts that are considered unacceptable to the public.

Does illegal mean unethical?

1. “Illegal” is an act against the law while “unethical” is against morality. 2. Illegal behavior is easy to detect; however, unethical behavior is tough to detect.

Is there a difference between ethics and morals?

According to this understanding, “ethics” leans towards decisions based upon individual character, and the more subjective understanding of right and wrong by individuals – whereas “morals” emphasises the widely-shared communal or societal norms about right and wrong.

assessed through formal testing and/or role

playing during the interview stage of hiring.

While method of compensation made a sig-

nificant contribution to the model in four of the

five scenarios, the contribution was relatively

small. As such, it appears that with a strong,

enforceable code of ethics and strong ethics

training 100% commission compensation

methods are viable.

Limitations and suggestions for future

research

To improve generalization of the findings, future

research should increase the sample size and

broaden the sample location from a single urban

geographic site to a larger regional or national

site. A limitation of this study was that ethical

perception, legal perception, and ethical behavior

were measured using single item measures. In the

future, attempts should be made to develop

multi-item measures for the three constructs.

Ethical intention was not measured in this study;

however, future research should attempt to

explain the roles of ethical perception and ethical

intention in explaining ethical behavior. Future

research should also investigate the responses

from used-car-only dealers and their sales staff

to these five hypothetical situations. Finally, a

comparison of auto salespersons that receive

100% of their compensation from commission

versus those who received 100% salary compen-

sation would be instructive.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge and thank

Professor Anusorn Singhapakdi, Editor Professor

Scott Vitell, and the anonymous Journal of

Business Ethics reviewers for their insightful

comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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