IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v132y2015i1p233-248.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Socio-moral Climate in Organizations: An Empirical Examination of Determinants, Consequences, and Mediating Mechanisms

Author

Listed:
  • Armin Pircher Verdorfer
  • Brigitte Steinheider
  • David Burkus

Abstract

During the last decade, an increasing amount of research has focused on the ethical context in organizations. Among the recent approaches in this area is the construct of socio-moral climate (SMC), which adopts a developmental perspective and refers to specific elements of organizational climate that include communication, cooperation, and how organizations handle conflict. In this article, we present the results of three empirical studies, shedding light on the nomological network of SMC. Whereas the first study introduces a short SMC measure, the other two studies examined antecedents and outcomes of SMC as well as related mediating mechanisms. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed good fit indices of the 21-item measure of SMC with five subscales. Structural equation modeling confirmed a strong relationship with servant leadership as antecedent to SMC. In turn, employees who perceived a positive SMC were less likely to experience feelings of organizational cynicism and to engage in deviant behaviors. Results indicate that SMC accounted for additional variance above and beyond perceived overall justice. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Armin Pircher Verdorfer & Brigitte Steinheider & David Burkus, 2015. "Exploring the Socio-moral Climate in Organizations: An Empirical Examination of Determinants, Consequences, and Mediating Mechanisms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 233-248, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:132:y:2015:i:1:p:233-248
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2319-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-014-2319-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2319-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Cohen, 2013. "Promoting Ethical Judgment in an Organisational Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 513-523, October.
    2. Treviño, Linda Klebe & Weaver, Gary R., 2001. "Organizational Justice and Ethics Program “Follow-Through”: Influences on Employees’ Harmful and Helpful Behavior," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 651-671, October.
    3. Feldmann, Marcel, 2010. "Die Wahrnehmung der Gerechtigkeit von Führungskräften in Arbeitssituationen - Ein kritischer Beitrag zur Messung und Analyse von Gerechtigkeitswahrnehmungen in Organisationen," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 30188, September.
    4. Wolfgang G. Weber & Christine Unterrainer & Thomas Hoege, 2008. "Sociomoral Atmosphere and Prosocial and Democratic Value Orientations in Enterprises with Different Levels of Structurally Anchored Participation," Zeitschrift fuer Personalforschung. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 22(2), pages 171-194.
    5. Wong, Nancy & Rindfleisch, Aric & Burroughs, James E, 2003. "Do Reverse-Worded Items Confound Measures in Cross-Cultural Consumer Research? The Case of the Material Values Scale," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(1), pages 72-91, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. K. Praveen Parboteeah & Matthias Weiss & Martin Hoegl, 2024. "Ethical Climates Across National Contexts: A Meta-Analytical Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 573-590, January.
    2. Maxim Egorov & Armin Pircher Verdorfer & Claudia Peus, 2019. "Taming the Emotional Dog: Moral Intuition and Ethically-Oriented Leader Development," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 817-834, December.
    3. Thomas Höge & Cornelia Strecker & Melanie Hausler & Alexandra Huber & Stefan Höfer, 2020. "Perceived Socio-moral Climate and the Applicability of Signature Character Strengths at Work: a Study among Hospital Physicians," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 463-484, April.
    4. Jinqiang Zhu & Shiyong Xu & Kan Ouyang & David Herst & Elaine Farndale, 2018. "Ethical leadership and employee pro-social rule-breaking behavior in China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 59-81, February.
    5. Christopher Chan & Subramaniam Ananthram, 2019. "Religion-Based Decision Making in Indian Multinationals: A Multi-faith Study of Ethical Virtues and Mindsets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 651-677, May.
    6. Chad A. Hartnell & Amanda Christensen-Salem & Fred O. Walumbwa & Derek J. Stotler & Flora F. T. Chiang & Thomas A. Birtch, 2023. "Manufacturing Motivation in the Mundane: Servant Leadership’s Influence on Employees’ Intrinsic Motivation and Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 533-552, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sebastian Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2017. "The Relationship Between Informal Controls, Ethical Work Climates, and Organizational Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 505-528, March.
    2. Marianela Denegri & María Baeza & Natalia Salinas-Oñate & Verónica Peñaloza & Horacio Miranda & Ligia Orellana, 2014. "Materialism in Pedagogy Students in Chile," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 505-521, June.
    3. Muel Kaptein, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Ethics Programs: The Role of Scope, Composition, and Sequence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 415-431, December.
    4. Qiang Wang & Nathan A. Bowling & Qi-tao Tian & Gene M. Alarcon & Ho Kwong Kwan, 2018. "Workplace Harassment Intensity and Revenge: Mediation and Moderation Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 213-234, August.
    5. Fenet Jima Bedaso & Uwe Jirjahn, 2024. "Immigrants and trade union membership: Does integration into society and workplace play a moderating role?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 262-292, June.
    6. Brian Whitaker & Lindsey Godwin, 2013. "The Antecedents of Moral Imagination in the Workplace: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 61-73, April.
    7. M. Joseph Sirgy & Eda Gurel-Atay & Dave Webb & Muris Cicic & Melika Husic-Mehmedovic & Ahmet Ekici & Andreas Herrmann & Ibrahim Hegazy & Dong-Jin Lee & J. Johar, 2013. "Is Materialism All That Bad? Effects on Satisfaction with Material Life, Life Satisfaction, and Economic Motivation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 349-366, January.
    8. Helen Duh & Sarah Benmoyal-Bouzaglo & George Moschis & Lilia Smaoui, 2015. "Examination of Young Adults’ Materialism in France and South Africa Using Two Life-Course Theoretical Perspectives," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 251-262, June.
    9. Nida Kamal & Hina Samdani & Amna Yameen, 2018. "Engaging Employees through Ethical Leadership," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(3), pages 300-316, September.
    10. Yun Hyeok Choi & Jae Kyu Myung & Jong Dae Kim, 2018. "The Effect of Employees’ Perceptions of CSR Activities on Employee Deviance: The Mediating Role of Anomie," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, February.
    11. Weijters, Bert & Cabooter, Elke & Schillewaert, Niels, 2010. "The effect of rating scale format on response styles: The number of response categories and response category labels," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 236-247.
    12. den Nieuwenboer, N.A. & Kaptein, S.P., 2007. "Spiraling Down into Corruption: A Dynamic Analysis of the Social Identity Processes that Cause Corruption in Organizations to Grow," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-086-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    13. Uwe Jirjahn & Thi Xuan Thu Le, 2024. "Political spillovers of workplace democracy in Germany," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 5-31, March.
    14. M. Sirgy & Eda Gurel-Atay & Dave Webb & Muris Cicic & Melika Husic & Ahmet Ekici & Andreas Herrmann & Ibrahim Hegazy & Dong-Jin Lee & J. Johar, 2012. "Linking Advertising, Materialism, and Life Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 79-101, May.
    15. Strizhakova, Yuliya & Coulter, Robin A., 2013. "The “green” side of materialism in emerging BRIC and developed markets: The moderating role of global cultural identity," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 69-82.
    16. Thyroff, Anastasia & Kilbourne, William E., 2018. "Self-enhancement and individual competitiveness as mediators in the materialism/consumer satisfaction relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 189-196.
    17. Matthew A. Douglas & Stephen M. Swartz, 2017. "Knights of the Road: Safety, Ethics, and the Professional Truck Driver," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 567-588, May.
    18. Matthew J. Monnot & Terry A. Beehr, 2022. "The Good Life Versus the “Goods Life”: An Investigation of Goal Contents Theory and Employee Subjective Well-Being Across Asian Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1215-1244, March.
    19. Weaver, S. Todd & Moschis, George P. & Davis, Teresa, 2011. "Antecedents of materialism and compulsive buying: A life course study in Australia," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 247-256.
    20. Enver Haskasap & Tulen Saner & Serife Eyupoglu & Cemre S. Gunsel Haskasap, 2022. "Influence of Organizational Democracy on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in Digital Transformation: Mediating Effects of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment for Smart Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:132:y:2015:i:1:p:233-248. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.