The role of ethics in employee behavior

Past research has related the perceived ethical norms of the work environment to certain employee behaviors. The present study focuses on two general types of employee behaviors: organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). It was hypothesized that ethical relativism moderates these two relationships. Self-report data was collected among 108 employees of a southeastern manufacturing company through a series of surveys. Correlational and moderated regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Results did not support that ethical norms affect employee behavior. Future research directions and implications for organizational settings are addressed