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Compliance and Values Oriented Ethics Programs: Influenceson Employees’ Attitudes and Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Gary R. Weaver and
Linda Klebe Treviño
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Abstract:

Previous research has identified multiple approaches to the design and implementation of corporate ethics programs (Paine, 1994; Weaver, Treviño, and Cochran, in press b; Treviño, Weaver, Gibson, and Toffler, in press). This field survey in a large financial services company investigated the relationships of the values and compliance orientations in an ethics program to a diverse set of outcomes. Employees’ perceptions that the company ethics program is oriented toward affirming ethical values were associated with seven outcomes. Perceptions of a compliance orientation were associated with four of these outcomes. The interaction of values and compliance orientations was associated with employees’ willingness to report misconduct. In general, a values orientation makes a greater unique contribution to the measured outcomes when compared to a compliance orientation.

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Articles
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Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 1999, pp. 315 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1999

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