The Impact of Personal Values on Judgements of Ethical Behaviour in the Workplace

The Impact of Personal Values on Judgements of Ethical Behaviour in the Workplace

Joan Finegan

Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 13, Number 9

https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00881335

Source: WeLib

Joan Finegan’s study explores how personal values shape the way people judge ethical behaviour in the workplace. Personal values act like guiding principles, influencing how individuals decide what is right or wrong in different situations. In simple terms, Finegan’s research shows that our personal values act like filters: they shape how we see workplace behaviour as ethical or unethical, and they influence whether we feel the need to take action.

To examine this, the study asked undergraduate students to rank their values using Rokeach’s value system, which distinguishes between terminal values (life goals such as happiness or security) and instrumental values (day-to-day principles such as honesty or ambition). After ranking their values, the students were presented with workplace scenarios involving ethically questionable behaviours and asked to judge whether the actions were ethical and whether they would intervene.

The findings show that people with different value priorities judged the same behaviours in different ways. For example, someone who places honesty at the top of their values list may see a questionable action as clearly unethical, while someone who values ambition more might be more tolerant of it. These differences also influenced whether participants felt responsible to act and correct the situation.

The study highlights that ethical behaviour at work is not judged the same way by everyone, because employees bring their own value systems into the workplace. This means organizations need to be aware of these differences and encourage shared values such as fairness, honesty, and responsibility. By promoting these values, organizations can build a stronger and more consistent ethical climate.

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