The nature, measurement, and stability of ethical judgments in the workplace

A basic interest in the rightness and wrongness of actions predates philosophy, and the literature of organizational psychology indicates an increased interest in ethical and unethical decision-making in the workplace. Although several conceptual models of workplace ethical behavior have been offered, researchers have little guidance and few appropriate constructs for measuring a key component of these models. This paper focuses on the historical results of the Multidimensional Ethics Scale and construct of an ethical judgment and provides an exhaustive conceptual and empirical treatment of it. This analysis offers evidence for a three-dimensional structure underlying ethical judgments common to the workplace. The structure of the Multidimensional Ethics Scale is supported through an iterative approach which involves widely varying contexts and samples. Results have potential implications for developing theories of organizational ethics as well as for employees' psychological well-being.