Evaluation of ethical standards in a large sample of Italian white-collar workers: A pilot study

Background

In recent years many tools have been developed for the objective assessment of the impact of ethics in the occupational world; in the Italian context, many different methods have been used to assess ethical values in the occupational context, which presents difficulties for the occupational physician in the interpretation of the results. To standardize the evaluation of ethical standards in the workplace, the short version of a questionnaire based on the Corporate Ethical Virtues Model, which was recently validated in Italian, was used to evaluate ethical climate in a population of office workers.

Methodology

The questionnaire was administered to a large population of Italian office workers. Descriptive statistical analysis, as well as a logistic regression model, were performed to evaluate variables acting as predictors of ethical standards. P-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results/discussion

In all, 3706 workers were included in the study; 1710 were males (46.14%). The total score obtained on the questionnaire by the workers participating in the study ranged from 31 to 96 points, with a mean of 72.16 (SD ± 11.01) points (higher values indicate better ethical standards). Job role and length of service were highlighted as statistically significant (P < 0.01) predictors of ethical standards.

Conclusion/perspectives

Role and length of service are predictors of ethical standards. The questionnaire may be used to evaluate ethical climate in the workplace, allowing the harmonization of the evaluation of ethical standards performed by the occupational physician. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of ethical climate on workers’ well-being.