Assessing Ethical Organizational Culture

Abstract

An important element in discussions of organizational ethicality is the diagnosis of organizational culture. Kaptein developed the Corporate Ethical Virtues Model Scale (CEVMS) to facilitate this task. We build on this work by developing a short form of Kaptein’s scale, the CEVMS–Short Form (CEVMS-SF). In a series of studies, using three independent samples, we (a) developed the CEVMS-SF (Study 1, n = 274), (b) tested the psychometric properties of the short form (Study 2, n = 417), and (c) found validity evidence (Study 3, n = 204) for the measure. The primary implication of this research is that the CEVMS-SF can be combined with existing scales allowing diagnosticians to conduct more comprehensive diagnoses by including ethical culture. We also explain how the CEVMS-SF is applicable in the action research process when conducting a diagnosis or evaluating change interventions during the transformation of an unethical organizational culture to an ethical one.