The study of behavioral ethics within organizations: A special issue introduction

Ethics has emerged as one of the most critical issues facing organizations. Given its importance, an extensive literature has evolved to understand the causes and consequences of (un)ethical decision making and behaviors in organizations. To date, much of this research has relied on research methods (e.g., experiments) that emphasize internal validity and control over external validity and generalizability. Although very informative, such studies frequently utilize samples that are not representative of working adults and their designs often fail to capture the contextual complexity that defines the day-to-day realities of organizational life. In this light, this special issue of Personnel Psychology encouraged scholars to investigate ethics within organizations and to offer rich theoretical explanations for why ethical failures and successes occur. The articles in this special issue address this important research agenda and make significant contributions to our understanding of ethics in organizations. Our introduction synthesizes these works, provides an overview of issues facing the broader behavioral ethics literature, and discusses areas for future research.     

Can animation compensate for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people?

This article addresses the issue of animation as an aid for temporal processing difficulties in deaf people learning the Highway Code. A decision-making task involving static or animated road situations was performed by 21 deaf and 24 hearing participants. They were confronted with four types of driving situations (overtaking, negotiating roundabouts, highways, and intersections) and had to decide whether or not to proceed. Participants were presented with two different formats (static vs. animated) and two levels of difficulty (simple vs. complex). Results showed that deaf participants had poorer performances in the static condition than hearing participants. Performance was better in the animated condition than in the static condition, especially in deaf participants. The benefits of animation were greater in complex situations for all participants. Decisions made on dynamic road situations were facilitated by the presence of spatiotemporal dimensions. These proved helpful to deaf candidates who have difficulties in this particular area.     

Socialized charismatic leadership, values congruence, and deviance in work groups

The authors conducted a field study to investigate the relationship between socialized charismatic leadership and deviance in work groups. Because socialized charismatic leaders are thought to play an ethical leadership role, the authors hypothesized that the socialized charismatic leadership style would be associated with reduced deviance in the leader's work group. This prediction was supported for both the interpersonal and the organizational dimensions of deviance. Next, the authors examined the mediating role of values congruence. The results were partially supportive of the values congruence mediating hypothesis. Implications for future research and for management are discussed.     

Validity of self-efficacy scale scores for a Spanish sample

This study analyzed the validity of the Sherer, et al. Self-efficacy Scale for a Spanish sample of 555 subjects, 257 men and 298 women. 415 were from the general population; 34 schizophrenics and 45 with eating disorders were from a clinic, plus 61 drug addicts from two centers. All met DSM-IV-R criteria. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Assertiveness Inventory, and the Self-control Questionnaire were administered. The reliability for total scores, general factor were high even when social self-efficacy was low. A bidimensional factor structure seemed more acceptable. The Self-efficacy scale scores correlated with those on the Self-control Questionnaire and the Assertiveness Inventory. Extraversion scores on the Sincerity dimension of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire correlated with scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Eysenck's Neuroticism and Psychoticism scales. Significant mean differences appeared between the general population group and the three clinical groups. These analyses support the usefulness of the scale for clinical practice and research with Spanish samples.     

Concordance of self-reported abstinence and measurement of expired air carbon monoxide in a self-help smoking cessation treatment

Some self-help programmes for smoking cessation obtain abstinence data entirely from participants' self-reports. This may lead to overestimation of efficacy. In the present study, the relationship between self-reported abstinence and expired-air carbon monoxide was evaluated at the 12-mo. follow-up in 200 smokers who had participated in a self-help programme for smoking cessation conducted by mail. Analysis indicated a close relationship between carbon monoxide levels and self-reports of smoking status; concordance was about 90%. Studies of the efficacy of self-help programmes for smoking cessation should include some sort of objective verification of self-reported abstinence.     

Mechanisms of predictive and diagnostic causal induction

In predictive causal inference, people reason from causes to effects, whereas in diagnostic inference, they reason from effects to causes. Independently of the causal structure of the events, the temporal structure of the information provided to a reasoner may vary (e.g., multiple events followed by a single event vs. a single event followed by multiple events). The authors report 5 experiments in which causal structure and temporal information were varied independently. Inferences were influenced by temporal structure but not by causal structure. The results are relevant to the evaluation of 2 current accounts of causal induction, the Rescorla-Wagner (R. A. Rescorla & A. R. Wagner, 1972) and causal model theories (M. R. Waldmann & K. J. Holyoak, 1992).     

Computer-adaptive testing: the impact of test characteristics on perceived performance and test takers' reactions

This study examined how specific features of adaptive tests are related to test takers' reactions. Participants took a computer-adaptive test in which 2 features, difficulty of the initial item and difficulty of subsequent items, were manipulated, then responded to questionnaires assessing their reactions to the test. The data show that the relationship between a test's objective difficulty, which was determined by the 2 manipulated test characteristics, and reactions was fully mediated by perceived performance. Additional analyses evaluated the impact of feedback on reactions to the adaptive test. In general, feedback that was consistent with perceptions of performance was positively related to reactions. The results suggest that minor changes to the design of an adaptive test may potentially enhance examinees' reactions.     

Factor structure of the Mini-Mental State Examination in adult psychiatric inpatients

The factor structure of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) has been examined primarily in geriatric populations using differing methodology and yielding inconsistent results. This study examined the MMSE in 339 adult inpatients at a nonforensic state psychiatric hospital. Data were analyzed in the form of 30 dichotomous variables (1 for each scored response). A 5-factor oblique solution was retained, comprising factors of Orientation, Attention-Working Memory, Verbal Recall, Comprehension-Praxis, and Naming. Higher order factors of Executive Functioning and Language-Praxis were also found. The results fit the traditional neurocognitive domains of a mental status examination and generally replicated findings from the 2 largest studies published to date despite differences in population, suggesting that the obtained factors are fairly robust.     

Political rhetoric,immigration attitudes,and contemporary prejudice: a Mexican American dilemma

The authors examined political candidates' social stereotypes of Mexican immigrants in mainstream media accounts. From those popular themes, they formed semantic differential scales, which they administered to participants (N = 201) with 1 of 4 scenarios describing an illegal immigrant: of Mexican vs. English Canadian descent and with vs. without several parking tickets. Consistent with contemporary theories of prejudice (J. F. Dovidio & S. L. Gaertner, 1996), the participants indicated the greatest agreement with the pejorative themes when the immigrant described was of Mexican descent and had accumulated parking tickets. Psychologically, the parking tickets served as a nonethnic rationale for discriminating against that ethnic group. The authors discuss the social and public policy implications of Mexican immigration as a political phenomenon.     

US patriotism and ideologies of group dominance: a tale of asymmetry

Using a random sample (N = 405) of White and Latino Americans from Los Angeles County, the authors explored whether there is an asymmetrical relationship between U.S. patriotism and two different dimensions of social dominance orientation: group antiegalitarianism and group dominance. Although there was no evidence of asymmetry in the relationship between U.S. patriotism and group antiegalitarianism, there was evidence of consistent asymmetry in the relationship between U.S. patriotism and group dominance. Among Whites (the dominant North American ethnic group) and depending on demographic variables such as age, education, income, and gender, the greater the respondents' tendency to subordinate "inferior groups," the greater their level of U.S. patriotism. In contrast, among Latino Americans (the major subordinate group in Southern California), the opposite trend was found. Here, higher levels of group dominance orientation were associated with lower levels of U.S. patriotism. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.