The Result Of Accounting Malfeasance In The Workplace: An Examination Of The Costs And Benefits Related To Job Satisfaction And Actively Managing The Organizational Ethical Work Climate

Abstract

Many years of public airing of accounting ethical scandals resulted in organizations realizing the need to pro-actively engage available resources to influence the corporate ethical environment.  Research attempting to measure the benefit of influencing and managing organizational ethics is important because establishing ethical programs in the workplace is time consuming and expensive.  One such potential benefit is increased job satisfaction, which research has linked to reduced voluntary employee turnover.  This type of turnover is generally considered undesirable and costly for organizations because of increased hiring and training expenses, and reduced customer satisfaction.  Several prior studies have explored the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational ethical constructs.  The study presented in this paper expands on this prior research, and found statistical evidence that managers can influence employee job satisfaction based on the ethical policies they choose to implement.