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Organizational Ethics in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis

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Abstract

Relationships with one’s employees, co-workers, or superiors create ethical dilemmas. Employees’ judgments and ethical perceptions have been extensively studied in Western cultures, but not in developing countries. The purpose of this investigation is to examine employees’ self-reported work-related ethics and compare them to their perceptions of co-workers’ and top managements’ along various morally challenging situations in three developing countries’ organizations. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, known as the Gulf countries, were selected as the research setting – and provided the sampling frame – for this study. The results suggest that respondents perceived all ethically challenging situations as unethical and had significant differences among themselves regarding the ethical perceptions of self, as compared to perceptions of peers’, and top managements’. Discussion of the results and implications are provided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, College of Business, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, 55105, USA

    Jamal A. Al-Khatib

  2. Department of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, 50614-0126, U.S.A

    Mohammed Y. A. Rawwas

  3. Department of Marketing, College of Business, University of Mississippi, MS, 38677, U.S.A

    Scott J. Vitell

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  1. Jamal A. Al-Khatib
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  2. Mohammed Y. A. Rawwas
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  3. Scott J. Vitell
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Correspondence to Jamal A. Al-Khatib.

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Al-Khatib, J.A., Rawwas, M.Y.A. & Vitell, S.J. Organizational Ethics in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis. J Bus Ethics 55, 307–320 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-004-1525-6

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