International Journal of Ethics and Systems最新文献

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the whistleblowing intentions of external auditors and the factors that influence their intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the survey methodology, data was collected from 339 external auditors from licensed private audit firms. The partial least squares structural equation modelling technique was used to analyse the data.

Findings

The results indicate that external auditors have a greater propensity to blow the whistle on wrongdoings and they prefer to report wrongdoings using internal channels than external channels. The study further found uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and long-term orientation to be good predictors of whistleblowing intentions.

Practical implications

The findings have practical implications for human resource practitioners who seek to foster job synergy and encourage the reporting of wrongdoings. Also, it has useful implications for policymakers who seek to enhance whistleblowing activities.

Originality/value

Theoretically, this study is among the first to provide empirical support for the applicability of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory at the individual level within the whistleblowing discourse from an African perspective.

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effect of total external debt stock on economic growth of the East African Community (EAC) bloc.

Design/methodology/approach

The study applies balanced panel data for seven of the eight EAC member states, spanning the period from 2013 to 2022, and uses panel data models, i.e. pooled ordinary least squares, random and fixed effects models.

Findings

The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between total external debt stock and economic growth, supporting the economic theory that reasonable levels of borrowing can stimulate economic growth, particularly when funds are channeled into productive activities. However, the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth lacks statistical significance, indicating challenges in attracting sufficient investment for substantial growth within the EAC bloc. Trade openness shows a negative and statistically insignificant correlation with economic growth. Additionally, the study finds a positive and significant correlation between the unemployment rate and economic growth, while the inflation rate demonstrates a positive but statistically insignificant relationship with economic growth.

Practical implications

The study recommends improvements in debt management practices, enhancements in the business environment, infrastructure investments, a reassessment of trade policies and initiatives to stimulate job creation and SME development. More importantly, governments should focus on expanding the tax base in ways that stimulate growth, thereby reducing reliance on external debt.

Originality/value

This study is unique as it revisits the effect of external debt stock on economic growth following Somalia’s recent membership in EAC bloc.

Purpose

New generations actively seek employment in organizations that resonate with their values, mission and sense of purpose. However, perceptions of organizational politics (POP) associated with unethical practices detrimentally affects meaningful work experiences and employee retention. Ethical leadership emerges as a critical factor in mitigating these negative effects. This study aims to propose a comprehensive model that examines the impact of ethical leadership on two crucial work outcomes: meaningful work and turnover intention. The mediating role of POP is explored, shedding light on the intricate dynamics within organizational contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the model, the authors use a sample of 261 respondents who completed an online questionnaire shared on social networks. Partial least squares is used for data analysis.

Findings

Results evidence that ethical leadership reduces employees’ POP, increases meaningful work and reduces turnover intention. One dimension of POP – communication – mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and work outcomes. Furthermore, meaningful work mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and turnover intention.

Practical implications

The study offers practical suggestions for managers to mitigate the negative impact of POP on meaningful work and employee retention.

Originality/value

This study adds to previous research by analyzing the separate and combined effects of ethical leadership on five dimensions of POP – communication, resources, decisions, reputation and relationships. Furthermore, this study adds empirical evidence on how POP influence meaningful work and employee retention.

Purpose

This study delves into the impact of an ethical mindset on the efficacy of ethical awareness within the tax profession and aims to ascertain whether the presence of an ethical mindset can account for the discrepancies in the literature and enhance the effectiveness of ethical awareness initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

The research used a tax experiment involving both treatment and control groups. Both groups were presented with a tax-related scenario, with the treatment group subjected to a specific ethical awareness intervention. To gauge the participants’ ethical mindsets, they were divided into strong self-interest and mild self-interest mindset groups based on their Machiavellian scores. The analysis was conducted utilizing ANOVA to scrutinize the results.

Findings

The key findings shed light on the fact that while ethical awareness endeavors can enhance the likelihood of individuals making ethical choices in tax decisions, their effectiveness varies significantly depending on the individual’s ethical mindset. Furthermore, results show that gender affected the relationship between ethical mindset and ethical awareness effectiveness, and males with mild self-interest score reacted more to the ethical awareness intervention. Results support that individuals’ ethical mindset, measured as strong self-interest and mild self-interest, is pivotal in determining the effectiveness of ethical awareness efforts.

Originality/value

This study is unique because it evaluates the effect of ethical mindsets to provide a novel way to improve tax ethical awareness initiatives.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine the ethical implications surrounding generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Design/methodology/approach

Leveraging a novel methodological approach, the study curates a corpus of 364 documents from Scopus spanning 2022 to 2024. Using the term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and structural topic modeling (STM), it quantitatively dissects the thematic essence of the ethical discourse in generative AI across diverse domains, including education, healthcare, businesses and scientific research.

Findings

The results reveal a diverse range of ethical concerns across various sectors impacted by generative AI. In academia, the primary focus is on issues of authenticity and intellectual property, highlighting the challenges of AI-generated content in maintaining academic integrity. In the healthcare sector, the emphasis shifts to the ethical implications of AI in medical decision-making and patient privacy, reflecting concerns about the reliability and security of AI-generated medical advice. The study also uncovers significant ethical discussions in educational and financial settings, demonstrating the broad impact of generative AI on societal and professional practices.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides a foundation for crafting targeted ethical guidelines and regulations for generative AI, informed by a systematic analysis using STM. It highlights the need for dynamic governance and continual monitoring of AI’s evolving ethical landscape, offering a model for future research and policymaking in diverse fields.

Originality/value

The study introduces a unique methodological combination of TF-IDF and STM to analyze a large academic corpus, offering new insights into the ethical implications of generative AI across multiple domains.

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the impact of prolonged work hours and high stress levels on ethical behavior within health-care settings. It evaluates how these factors compromise professional and personal boundaries and examines the efficacy of targeted ethical training programs designed to mitigate these challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts an integrated conceptual framework combining the interactionist model of ethical decision-making, organizational justice theory and virtue ethics. It uses data from the General Social Survey (GSS) and analyzes trends and insights from existing literature. The study explores theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence to understand the complex interplay between workplace stress, long hours and ethical behavior in health-care environments, ensuring the validity and reliability of the findings.

Findings

The findings highlight a significant correlation between excessive work hours, increased stress levels and ethical lapses in health-care settings. These lapses, including breaches of confidentiality and inappropriate workplace relationships, can have profound implications for patient care and professional satisfaction. The efficacy of ethical training programs in enhancing moral reasoning and ethical judgment among health-care professionals is demonstrated, particularly those programs that mirror real-world complexities. Such training equips health-care workers with the necessary tools to navigate ethical dilemmas effectively, fostering a culture of ethical awareness and integrity.

Originality/value

This paper uniquely contributes to the literature by comprehensively analyzing how stress and work hours influence ethical behavior, specifically in health-care settings. Supported by a robust theoretical framework, it extends previous research by demonstrating the effectiveness of ethical training in improving ethical behavior. The paper provides practical recommendations for health-care organizations to cultivate a culture of ethical awareness and integrity, highlighting the potential for such programs to improve patient care and professional satisfaction significantly.

Purpose

Drawing from stakeholder (ST) and social exchange theory (SET), the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between customer perceived ethicality (CPE), electronic word of mouth (eWOM), customer trust (CT) and customer loyalty (CL). Furthermore, this study aimed to understand the dual role of CPE and eWOM in obtaining CT and achieving CL.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a quantitative, cross-sectional research design, data were collected from face-to-face surveys, yielding 358 responses. The partial least square algorithm was used to test the proposed hypothesis.

Findings

The analysis revealed that CPE and eWOM positively affect CT and CL, and CT has a mediating effect on the association between CPE–CL and eWOM–CL. CT was also found to positively affect CL.

Practical implications

Hotel managers can prioritize ethical practices and leverage the power of eWOM to build trust and achieve loyalty. This integrated approach not only enhances customer satisfaction and retention but also creates a competitive advantage.

Originality/value

The novelty of this study lies in the investigation of the dual role played by CPE and eWOM as antecedents of CT and CL within the hotel industry. Finally, this study explains the drivers of CT and CL, thereby making a novel contribution to the literature.

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the deployment of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure incurred by Indian corporate sector, under various development heads as specified by CSR statutes in India.

Design/methodology/approach

The thematic distribution of mandatory CSR expenditure is calculated on a large sample of top 500 Bombay Stock Exchange-listed companies in India over a time span of seven years from 2014 to 2015 till 2020–2021. The money spent on each of the specified stakeholders is extracted from the annual reports of the sampled companies to calculate the average expenditure under each of the development heads.

Findings

The findings indicate that the distribution of CSR expenditure by Indian companies into various development heads is unbalanced. Some of the heads such as “Education”, “Healthcare”, “Development Projects”, “Employment” and “Environment” attract more CSR contributions, whereas some other equally important heads such as “Art & Culture”, “Sports”, “Armed Forces” and “Technology Incubators” have comparatively received much less contributions in all the years of assessment. However, during the times of COVID, Indian companies proactively contributed to combat the virus so much so that “COVID-19 Relief” received all-time high contributions among all the development indicators.

Practical implications

The institutionalised back up has replaced the randomness in stakeholders’ approach followed by Indian companies. To ensure the balanced development of the country, the disproportionate contribution into various development heads in all the years of mandatory CSR era calls for further assessment of CSR guidelines issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MOCA).

Originality/value

This study gives significantly novel insights into the CSR literature by comprehensively analysing the deployment of mandatory CSR funds into various development heads as specified by MOCA in India.

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the impact of leader’s religiosity on teachers’ organizational commitment and leaders’ virtuous behaviors. Second, it is intended to examine the significant influence of Al-Ghazali’s fundamental virtues – wisdom, justice, temperance and courage – on the level of commitment displayed by teachers in K12 schools.

Design/methodology/approach

To analyze this connection, a total of 335 surveys were collected from K12 private schools situated in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The data were then evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Findings

It has been found that leaders’ virtuous behaviors have significant positive effects on teachers’ commitment. Furthermore, while religiosity did not directly influence teachers’ commitment, the virtuous behaviors of leaders played a significant mediating role in this relationship.

Originality/value

This research fills a gap in the literature by exploring the impact of Islamic ethical principles on employee commitment, specifically within the context of K12 education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It emphasizes the critical role of leaders’ virtuous behaviors in improving employee commitment.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of moral intensity on the ethical decision-making process of professional accountants based on a combined importance-performance map analysis (cIPMA).

Design/methodology/approach

Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on data from 309 accountants, the study examined the relationships between four moral intensity dimensions: magnitude of consequences, social consensus, probability of effect and concentration of effect, and the ethical decision-making process. The study also methodologically complemented by a combined importance-performance map analysis and necessary condition analysis.

Findings

The findings reveal that moral recognition and moral judgment are necessary conditions for predicting accountants’ moral intent. However, in terms of importance and performance, moral recognition plays a less significant role compared to moral judgment. Furthermore, the influence of moral intensity dimensions is pronounced on moral recognition, while their influence on moral judgment and moral intent is more context dependent. This is also exhibited in the combined importance-performance map analysis results.

Research limitations/implications

The study highlights the importance of considering specific ethical dilemmas and the differential influence of moral intensity when developing strategies to strengthen ethical decision-making in the accounting profession. Future research is encouraged to explore how cultural backgrounds and diverse settings influence accountants’ ethical decision-making with tailored measurement tools for a more comprehensive understanding.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is among the first to complement the results of PLS-SEM with importance-performance map analysis and necessary condition analysis to examine the relationship between moral intensity and ethical decision-making of accountants.