‘The Business of Ethics and Gender’

Abstract

Unethical decision-making behavior within organizations has received increasing attention over the past ten years. As a result, a plethora of studies have examined the relationship between gender and business ethics. However, these studies report conflicting results as to whether or not men and women differ with regards to business ethics. In this article, we propose that gender identity theory [Spence: 1993, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64, 624-635], provides both the theory and empirical measures to explore the influence of psychological gender traits and gender-role attitudes on ethical perceptions of workplace behaviors. Statistical analyses of the data reveal that based on sex alone, no differences occur between men and women in their ethical perceptions. Yet, when a multidimensional approach to gender is applied, results show that expressive traits and egalitarian gender-role attitudes contribute to both men's and women's propensity to perceive unethical workplace behaviors as unethical. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are presented.

Women and Employee-Elected Board Members, and Their Contributions to Board Control Tasks

“…(Arfken, Bellar and Helms, 2004;McCabe, Ingram and Dato-on, 2006). Our main argument is that diversity in backgrounds in board members leads to improved decisionmaking (Ruigrok, Peck and Tacheva, 2007).…”

“…It is important to better understand how gender diversity contributes to variations in board tasks. However, the argument about gender diversity has in some of the literature been disputed as there may be larger differences among women and among men than the differences between men and women (Arfken, et al, 2004;McCabe, et al, 2006;Ruigrok, et al, 2007).…”

Gender differences in customer expectations and perceptions of corporate social responsibility

“…However, while the literature provides numerous studies on this issue, the results are often contrasting, and there is as yet no full agreement on the significance of gender differences in consumer expectations and perceptions of responsible corporate conduct (e.g. Collins, 2000;McCabe et al 2006). Moreover, the existing literature on gender differences in business ethics, CSR and sustainability is affected by an extensive confusion of statistical significance with substantive significance.…”

Misconduct in Financial Services: Differences across Organizations

“…According to SEC research, many customers are unaware of the di §ering standards and believe that both advisors operate under the higher standard of conduct. 32 Our study can inform the policy debate. Brokers often work for large branded companies, whereas registered investment advisors are often independent.…”