Arquitectura desde el punto de vista de los casos de uso

In current business ethics literature, organisational ethical schemas permit at least two dimensions: ethical climate (e.g., Victor & Cullen, 1987; 1988; Woodbine, 2006) and

corporate ethical values (e.g., Hunt et al., 1989; Fan, Woodbine, & Scully, 2012b;

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prevailing perceptions of typical organisational practices and procedures that have ethical content” (p. 101). They also identify nine possible configurations of ethical

climate based on two dimensions: ethical criterion (i.e., egoism, benevolence and

principle) and loci of analysis (i.e., individual, local and composition). These nine configurations are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Theoretical bases for ethical climate types

Note: Adapted from Victor and Cullen (1988)

Based on these constructs, only six of these nine types (professionalism, caring, rules, instrumentalism, efficiency and independence) are identified in both Victor and Cullen’s (1987) and Fritzsche’s (2000) studies. These ethical climate types and their theoretical bases are presented in Table 16.

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Table 16: Ethical climate types

Ethical climate types Theoretical bases

Professionalism Laws and professional code

Caring Friendship and team interest

Rules Rules and procedures

Instrumentalism Self-interest

Efficiency Efficiency

Independence Personal morality

Note: Adapted from Woodbine (2006)

The association between the ethical climate types and subjective norms is also explored by prior studies (e.g., Barnett & Vaicys, 2000, Buchan, 2005, Woodbine, 2006). The results are somewhat mixed. Wimbush and Shepard (1994) indicate that a relationship exists between ethical climate and individual behaviour, since ethical

climate had an influence on the norms in the workplace (cited in Woodbine, 2006).

Barnett and Vaicys (2000) also indicate that ethical climate could affect organisational norms and practices. Moreover, Woodbine (2006) further examines the influence of specific types of ethical climate on subjective norms in the Chinese financial sector. The results indicate that a “rules” climate positively affects the norms in these organisations, while an “independence” climate is negatively associated with organisational norms. Victor and Cullen (1988) also indicate that “caring” climates are positively associated with social norms in organisations, and Buchan (2005) finds that “instrumental” climates can negatively affect the individual’s intentions, indicating a negative relationship between “instrumental” climate and subjective norms. Similarly, “professionalism” climates can be postulated to be positively associated with organisational norms (Victor & Cullen, 1988), as the dominant climate type. Woodbine (2006) further suggests the “efficiency” climate negatively affected organisational norms, because “efficiency” is similar to the factor “independence” in his study. According to the results of these studies, it can be assumed that ethical

climate could significantly affect subjective norms, though results are mixed.

However, as Woodbine (2006) suggested, Chinese organisations are featured with an “instrumental” ethical climate. Considering that Buchan (2005) indicates that an “instrumental” ethical climate has a negative influence on subjective norms, the

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hypothesis about the relationship between subjective norms and ethical climate is developed as follows:

H6: Within Chinese audit firms, perceived ethical climate is negatively associated with subjective norms.

Corporate ethical values is another important aspect of ethical conduct within

organisations. Trevino, Prince, and Hubbard (1998) define corporate ethical values as a subset of formal and informal behaviour control systems including culture, beliefs and norms within an organisation. They further indicate that corporate ethical values would influence an employee’s ethical decision-making process, since it affects thoughts and feelings, and guides behaviour. Trevino et al. (1998) and Hunt et al. (1989) further summarise corporate ethical values into two dimensions: manager’s

unethical behaviour and rewards and punishments. The first dimension refers to the

manager’s attitudes towards the unethical behaviour existing in their work places. The second dimension is concerned with the measures for top managers coping with unethical behaviour. A large number of studies has explored the influences of the

corporate ethical values on an individual’s ethical decision-making process, though a

few of them refer to the relationships between corporate ethical values and subjective

norms. For example, Valentine et al. (2011) find that the perceived ethical values are

associated with the “work environment”. Therefore, subjective norms are expected to be influenced by the individuals’ perception of corporate ethical values. Similarly, Fan et al. (2012b) find that rewards and punishments could positively affect a manager’s attitudes towards the application of codes of ethics in the firm; meanwhile,

manager’s unethical behaviour has the opposite effect on manager’s ethical attitudes.

This result indicates that rewards and punishments could positively affect subjective

norms and manager’s unethical behaviour could negatively affect subjective norms.

Woodbine et al. (2012) also examine the influence of manager’s unethical behaviour and rewards and punishments on Chinese auditor’s ethical orientations. Results are consistent with Fan et al. (2012b) and See, Fan, and Woodbine (2014) in that rewards

and punishments has a positive influence and manager’s unethical behaviour has a

negative influence on attitudes of senior auditors, who demonstrate significant influence in the firms. Given the anticipated multidimensional nature of the

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relationships at this juncture, the following generalised hypotheses are presented subject to further interpretation:

H7-1: Within Chinese audit firms, perceived rewards and punishments is positively

associated with subjective norms.

H7-2: Within Chinese audit firms, perceived manager’s unethical behaviour is

negatively associated with subjective norms.