Eettinen organisaatiokulttuuri : yhteydet työhyvinvointiin ja työpaikan vaihtoihin

Abstract

The research investigated the associations between ethical organizational cul ture, ethical strain (stress caused by ethical dilemmas) and job turnover. The first study investigated differences in employees’ ethical strain and their evalua tions of the ethical culture of their organizations between a public sector city organization (n = 3,123), an engineering firm (n = 287) and a bank (n = 187). In the second study, the connections between resources and personal authority for ethical actions (one dimension of the ethical culture of an organization) and eth ical strain in social affairs and health services in a public sector city organization were analyzed at the work-unit (n = 142) level as well as at the employee (n = 1,243) level. In the third study, profiles of employees’ ethical dilemmas in a public sector city organization (n = 2,470) were identified and differences in job burnout in these profiles were examined. The fourth study examined the asso ciations between ethical organizational culture and managers’ (n = 453) job turnover. The findings showed that the organizations differed in their ethical culture and employees´ ethical strain. In all organizations, a high ethical culture was associated with employees’ low ethical strain. In those social affairs and health work units where the resources and personal authority were considered low, the ethical strain was higher than it was in other work units. Furthermore, the weaker the evaluations of possibilities to act ethically were, the more often ethical dilemmas were faced and the more stress was experienced. The third study, which was based on a person-oriented approach, showed that for the profile in which ethical dilemmas were faced weekly, employees reported sig nificantly more job burnout symptoms than employees in other profiles did. The study concerning managers indicated that the more weakly the managers evaluated the congruency of their supervisors’ and upper managements’ ethical role modelling, the greater the probability of manager turnover was. Overall, the results showed that ethical organizational culture has a significant role in promoting occupational well-being and in remaining in the same workplace.