Organizational Ethical Work Climate: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Organizational ethical work climate is an important area of research in the domain of organizational environment and ethics. The pioneering empirical research on organizational ethical work climate was first published in the year 1988 by Bart Victor and John B. Cullen. Over the past 30 years, numerous research works have contributed to a wide list of consequences of ethical climate, both at individual and organizational level. This paper consolidates the state of empirical research on ethical work climate, published since the year 1988. It also synthesizes various research perspectives into a comprehensive framework and presents the nomological network of ethical work climate. The paper highlights important contradictions and gaps at the conceptual, methodological, and on the contextual fronts. The article discusses the future research agenda based on a comprehensive understanding of the review.

Keywords: ethical work climate, organizational ethics, ethical work environment, systematic literature review