The development of computer ethics: Contributions from business ethics and medical ethics

In this essay, we demonstrate that the field of computer ethics shares many core similarities with two other areas of applied ethics, Academicians writing and teaching in the area of computer ethics, along with practitioners, must address ethical issues that are qualitatively similar in nature to those raised in medicine and business. In addition, as academic disciplines, these three fields also share some similar concerns. For example, all face the difficult challenge of maintaining a credible dialogue with diverse constituents such as academicians of various disciplines, professionals, policymakers, and the general public, Given these similarities, the fields of bioethics and business ethics can serve as useful models for the development of computer ethics. A version of this paper was presented at ETHICOMP98, the Fourth International Conference on Ethical Issues of Information Technology, March 25–27, 1998, Erasmus University, the Netherlands. Kenman Wong, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Business Ethics; Gerhard Steinke, Ph.D., is Professor of Management and Information Systems. Both authors are at Seattle Pacific University's School of Business and Economics.     

The University and the Moral Imperative of Fair Trade Coffee

This paper examines the relationship between the university and fair trade coffee campaigns in North America. In recent years, fair trade coffee sales internationally have increased substantially but have still not grown large enough to meet the needs of fair trade producers in the South. In consequence, fair trade activists have sought to expand the market by pressuring public institutions to adopt fair trade purchasing policies. In North America, the university has emerged as a central focus of fair trade coffee campaigns. Thus far, university administrators have been reluctant to support fair trade. This paper explores this reluctance and asserts that the university has a moral responsibility to support fair trade. However, it also argues that the potential exists for administrators to employ fair trade as an ethical fig leaf to mask the growing corporatization of the university under the weight of neoliberal reforms. This has become a common strategy of many neoliberal institutions in the North. Contrary to the assumptions of much of the emerging literature, it cannot be assumed that the impact of fair trade will necessarily be beneficial in the North unless activists work to ensure fair trade does not become employed as an ethical fig leaf.     

The Dynamics of Families in Business: How Therapists can Help in Ways Consultants Don't

Family-owned businesses comprise 80–90% of companies in the United States of America and employ almost one-half of the US work force. Only 70% of these companies will make the transition into the family's second generation of leadership, however, sometimes partly because families work differently and toward different goals than do businesses. Interpersonal family dynamics—spousal, parental, father-son, father-daughter, sibling and in-law—can be a major factor in the failure to thrive. Exploring family systems theory, this article explains why these troubled families in business together need therapeutic practitioners' unique experience—experience consultants usually do not possess.     

Creative Potential and Multicultural Experiences: The Mediating Role of Creative Self-Efficacy

In two studies, one in Mexico and another one in Germany, we examined the indirect influence of self-reported multicultural experience on creative potential, through its influence on creative self-efficacy, and its direct influence on creative personal identity. In both studies, business students from Mexico and Germany completed a battery of questionnaires assessing creative self-efficacy (with two different operationalizations), creative personal identity, multicultural experiences, and a divergent thinking task designed to generate ideas to solve two different business problems. Structural equation modeling was used to test our hypotheses. Results from both studies found a positive relationship between self-reported multicultural experiences and creative personal identity. Similarly, multicultural experiences had an indirect, positive relationship with originality scores from a divergent thinking task, through its influence on creative self-efficacy. Hence, the positive influence of multicultural experience on creative potential, through creative self-efficacy, was established in two countries and with different operationalizations, trait like versus state like, of creative self-efficacy. The implications of the results were discussed.     

A multiplex view of leadership structure in management teams

In the hope of complementing the structural perspective in upper echelon research and advancing a fine-grained understanding of dyadic leadership influence in management teams, the current study combines two types of intrateam structures—leadership network and friendship network—to create a multidimensional conceptualization of leadership structure in management teams. Specifically, we propose that management teams with a denser singular leadership network (i.e., a network consisting of many leadership ties that are not coupled with friendship ties) should have lower management team cohesion, which subsequently renders worse business unit performance. To contrast, management teams with a denser multiplex network (i.e., a network consisting of many leadership ties that are coupled with friendship ties) should have higher management team cohesion, which subsequently renders better business unit performance. Guided by structural contingency perspective, we further propose that management team task interdependence will strengthen team cohesion's positive impact on business unit performance. To test the hypothesized model, we collected team-level social network data and multiple-wave survey data from 697 managers nested in 148 hotels (i.e., 148 management teams) owned by a large hospitality company. We also obtained objective performance data for each hotel (i.e., occupancy percentage rate and revenue per available room per day) as the criterion measure. The data supported our hypotheses. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

The role of career adaptability in predicting entrepreneurial intentions: A moderated mediation model

Guided by the Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2013), we view entrepreneurship as an adaptive vocational behavior driven by an individual's self-regulatory capacity to thrive in a complex entrepreneurial career context. Our research model posited that individuals rely on their adaptive resources and entrepreneurial self-efficacy as they form entrepreneurial intentions. Career adaptability, as self-regulatory competencies, is further strengthened by prior exposure to family business. We collected data over three measurement periods from Serbian business students (n = 380) and validated the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS). The moderated mediation model was supported and as predicted: (a) career adaptability was positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions and (b) the mediated relationship between career adaptability and entrepreneurial intentions via entrepreneurial self-efficacy was stronger for individuals with prior exposure to family business. In addition, we provide evidence for the psychometric properties of CAAS by examining its internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and factor structure. Taken together, our study offers the groundwork for understanding successful adaptation in the entrepreneurial career context and supports the cross-national measurement equivalence and utility of CAAS in a developing economy.     

JPSSM since the beginning: intellectual cornerstones,knowledge structure,and thematic developments

Bibliometric analyses are applied to 35,975 citations from 721 articles published in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, spanning the journal’s first 35 years of existence (1980–2015). For each of three time periods (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s), the sales literature’s most influential article publications are objectively identified. Multidimensional scaling is then used to identify key intellectual themes across time. Based on the citation data, historical developments in the literature regarding (1) relationship marketing, (2) sales force technology, (3) sales force control systems, and (4) salesperson role stress are traced and briefly explored in some article-level depth. Co-citation trends and recently influential papers are used to identify opportunities for future research. Altogether, this paper presents a first-of-its-kind view of sales literature’s intellectual cornerstones, knowledge structure, and thematic developments over 35 years.     

An Exploration of the Dishonest Side of Self‐Monitoring: Links to Moral Disengagement and Unethical Business Decision Making

The majority of research on self‐monitoring has focused on the positive aspects of this personality trait. The goal of the present research was to shed some light on the potential negative side of self‐monitoring and resulting consequences in two independent studies. Study 1 demonstrated that, in addition to being higher on Extraversion, high self‐monitors are also more likely to be low on Honesty‐Humility, which is characterized by a tendency to be dishonest and driven by self‐gain. Study 2 was designed to investigate the consequences of this dishonest side of self‐monitoring using two previously unexamined outcomes: moral disengagement and unethical business decision making. Results showed that high self‐monitors are more likely to engage in unethical business decision making and that this relationship is mediated by the propensity to engage in moral disengagement. In addition, these negative effects of self‐monitoring were found to be due to its low Honesty‐Humility aspect, rather than its high Extraversion side. Further investigation showed similar effects for the Other‐Directedness and Acting (but not Extraversion) self‐monitoring subscales. These findings provide valuable insight into previously unexamined negative consequences of self‐monitoring and suggest important directions for future research on self‐monitoring. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology     

To Cheat or Not to Cheat?: The Role of Personality in Academic and Business Ethics

Past research (Lawson, 2004 Lawson, R. A. 2004. Is classroom cheating related to business students’ propensity to cheat in the "real world"?. Journal of Business Ethics, 49: 189–199. doi:10.1023/B: BUSI.0000015784.34148.cb[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Nonis &; Swift, 2001 Nonis, S. and Swift, C. O. 2001. An examination of the relationship between academic dishonesty and workplace dishonesty: A multicampus investigation. Journal of Education for Business, 77: 69–77. doi:10.1080/08832320109599052[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) has revealed a correlation between academic and business ethics. Using a sample survey, this study extends this inquiry by examining the role of dispositional variables (neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness) and academic honesty on business ethics perceptions. Results indicate that (1) neuroticism and conscientiousness were positively related to more ethical perceptions in a work context, and (2) academic honesty partially mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and business ethics. Implications to business practitioners and educators are discussed as well as directions for future research.     

Mapping Ethical Consumer Behavior: Integrating the Empirical Research and Identifying Future Directions

The concept of “ethical consumer behavior” has gained significant attention among practitioners and academic researchers, generating increasing but disjointed knowledge on the topic. By analyzing the empirical research on ethical consumer behavior, this article provides researchers with a map to guide future research. In total, we review 80 studies. The main contributions of the article include the identification of the main trends in the ethical consumer literature and the conceptualization of ethical consumer behavior. In addition, several areas for future research are proposed and discussed.