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‘The Business of Ethics and Gender’

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Abstract

Unethical decision-making behavior within organizations has received increasing attention over the past ten years. As a result, a plethora of studies have examined the relationship between gender and business ethics. However, these studies report conflicting results as to whether or not men and women differ with regards to business ethics. In this article, we propose that gender identity theory [Spence: 1993, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64, 624–635], provides both the theory and empirical measures to explore the influence of psychological gender traits and gender-role attitudes on ethical perceptions of workplace behaviors. Statistical analyses of the data reveal that based on sex alone, no differences occur between men and women in their ethical perceptions. Yet, when a multidimensional approach to gender is applied, results show that expressive traits and egalitarian gender-role attitudes contribute to both men’s and women’s propensity to perceive unethical workplace behaviors as unethical. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are presented.

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Abbreviations

GRA:

gender-role attitudes

MFRQ:

male–female relations questionnaire

PAQ:

personal attributes questionnaire

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sawyer School of Management Marketing Department, Suffolk University, 8 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA, 02108-2770, U.S.A.

    A. Catherine McCabe

  2. D. Abbott Turner College of Business, Business Administration Department, Columbus State University, 4225 University Avenue, Columbus, GA, 31907, U.S.A.

    Rhea Ingram

  3. Department of Management & Marketing, Northern Kentucky University, Nunn Drive, BEP 418, Highland Heights, KY, 41099, U.S.A.

    Mary Conway Dato-on

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  1. A. Catherine McCabe
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  2. Rhea Ingram
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  3. Mary Conway Dato-on
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Correspondence to A. Catherine McCabe.

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McCabe, A.C., Ingram, R. & Dato-on, M.C. ‘The Business of Ethics and Gender’. J Bus Ethics 64, 101–116 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-3327-x

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