Der von Sebastian Göbel und Barbara E. Weißenberger verfasste Beitrag "The Relationship between Informal Controls, Ethical Work Climates, and Organizational Performance" wurde im Journal of Business Ethics zur Veröffentlichung angenommen. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass informelle Steuerungsinstrumente (so genannte personnel and cultural controls) zwar das ethische Arbeitsklima positiv beeinflussen. Allerdings hat dies auf den Unternehmenserfolg nur dann eine positive Wirkung, wenn eine vertrauensvolle Zusammenarbeit besteht (vollständige Mediation). Das Fazit: Ohne eine vertrauensvolle Zusammenarbeit kann ethisches Arbeitsklima keine positive Wirkung entfalten.
Angehörige der Heinrich-Heine-Universität können den Beitrag in ILIAS über den eCampus Accounting im Wiki "Wissen schaffen" herunterladen.
Abstract
Due to the frequent occurrence of ethical transgressions and unethical employee behaviors, there has lately been an increasing interest in the ethical foundations of contemporary organizations. However, large-scale comprehensive analyses of organizational ethics are still comparatively limited. Our study contributes to both management control and business ethics literature by empirically examining potential antecedents as well as resulting effects of ethical work climates on organizational-level outcomes. Based on a cross-sectional survey among 295 large- and medium-sized companies, we find that more informal means of control constitute important elements of a broader organizational control context that are strongly related to the emergence of coherent ethical work climates with an increased awareness of ethical issues. Moreover, our results show that the relationship between ethical work climates and organizational performance can be considered as rather indirect as it is fully mediated by increased mutual trust among employees. Overall, our study thus supports the particular importance of ethical work climates and identifies appropriate means to encourage ethical conduct.