Measuring Individual Beliefs about Organizational Ethics

Abstract

This study sought to develop an individual measurement scale for use as a general tool in identifying personal ethical beliefs that could potentially conflict with perceived company interests. A total of 225 employed people ranging from high school graduates to master's degree students responded to a 16-item survey. Two interpretable factor loadings emerged from the factor analysis. The first appeared to be a general "company support" factor and the second a "lie to protect the company" factor. Reliability analysis supported the factor analysis results. This scale represents an employee's beliefs about ethical behavior and could be used in organizational settings to identify potential ethical conflicts.