Abstract

Non-ethical behavior is considered as one of the main reasons of distress any organization could be exposed to. The existence of un-ethical climates, within an organization, may result in several negative behaviors towards this organization and its members. Although previous studies asserted the role of ethical climate in both organizational and individual levels, limited studies considered the role of ethical climate from the multidimensional view. This is besides examining its impact on both the in-role and volunteer behaviours. Moreover, the inconsistency of the previous research findings recall the need to address these relations in different industries. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of ethical climate from a multi-dimensional view, i.e. testing the five dimensions of ethical climate ( Law and code, Rules, Instrumental, Independence and Caring) in predicting both the in-role behavior and organizational citizenship behaviors (organizational citizenship behaviors towards individuals and towards organizations). Based on the cross-sectional study, a survey data from faculty members were collected and analyzed using structure equation modeling. The findings suggested that ethical climate predicts both behaviors. It, also, revealed that the Independence and Rules dimensions are the most influencing climate dimensions in developing the in-role behavior whereas Caring, rules and Instrumental are positively related to the citizenship behaviors. This study is one of the limited studies that considered the role of ethical climate - from a multidimensional view- in predicting both organizational citizenship behaviors and in-role behavior. In addition, it is one of the earliest studies in the Arab region which tackles such a relationship.

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