Business ethics is a fragmented and well covered scientific field. This Master thesis study concerns two type of organizations, namely family businesses (FB’s) and venture capital firms (VCF’s), in relation to the ethical decision-making process, which is a relatively undiscovered field. The study is conducted in the way it sheds a light on the influences on a manager when taking decisions concerning ethical considerations. Important scholars such as Colby and Kohlberg (1987) and Rest et al. (1999) framed the field of moral development of individuals, and what makes managers unaware of their unethical decisions (Bazerman, 2008). However, a manager’s possibility to take decisions is also influenced by organizational factors and actors. The type of management and ownership structure, and the expectations these actors have with regard to profits, as well as situational factors such as business strategy, maturity of the company, human and financial resources and market position are shaping the environment and possibility for managers to pursue ethical behavior because they affect the decision-making process.The purpose of this study is to understand how managers in FB’s and VCF’s manage ethical considerations. The creating of the conceptual framework was used as a foundation to visualize how ethical behavior is constructed, while the focus laid on the influences and possibility to take decisions including ethical considerations and content. While performing this research, we have conducted eight semi-structured interviews with managers in three VCF’s and two FB’s in Sweden. The respondent companies and interviewees remain anonymous. We did that to increase the chance of honest and unbiased answers since we saw a risk to receive adjusted and image improving responses.The empirical findings show that the VCF’s do not pay attention to ethical considerations in the same extent as FB’s do. Discovered reasons were lack of time and know-how, financial and human resources, business maturity and the fact that they were to generate a high ROI to the venture capitalist. Such a relationship makes the managers focus on profit maximization and short term objectives rather than ethical considerations. The two FB’s did have an ethical code of conduct with the employees and was constructed in order to fulfill acceptance, integration and efficiency with this management tool. The ethical codes of conduct were created with the goal to steer behavior and ensure ethical commitment in certain areas of interest. The major finding is that situational factors either suffocate or give room for ethical considerations in companies when taking decisions.In particular, this research contributes to the field of business ethics and VCF’s in general, but also with regard to FB’s. The results of this thesis are constructed in the decision-making model which is different than the ethical decision-making model we constructed based on the theoretical research. However, reality did not allow us to recognize the fragmented patterns we interpreted from the theory. We therefore created a new top-down model which takes the need for a decision in companies into account, the actors and factors in the organization, the situational factors that influence the happenings in the organization and the outcome of the decision, which possibly contains ethical considerations and content. With the improved model we visualize the decision-making process while taking influences towards ethical decision-making into consideration and visualize organizational reality as we discovered it.Key words: business ethics, ethical considerations, ethical code of conduct, moral awareness, ethical decision-making, ethical behavior, family business, venture capital firm, profit maximization, shareholder preferences.

How does authentic leadership influence subordinate outcomes? It depends on whom you ask. Using Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, and Peterson’s (2008) theory-based measure of authentic leadership, this dissertation research advances the authentic leadership literature by: 1) examining relations between managers’ self-reported and subordinates’ ratings of authentic leadership and subordinate outcomes; 2) testing the theoretical proposition that more authentic leaders are inherently more ethical both in the values they subscribe to and in their behavior when compared to less authentic leaders; and 3) examining the mediating mechanisms that account for relations between authentic leadership and subordinate outcomes. Using a field sample of 188 managers and 75 subordinates, results revealed that subordinates and their managers do not see eye to eye in their perceptions of managers’ authentic leadership as the correlation between their ratings was only marginally significant. General support was found for the notion that more authentic leaders subscribe more to self-transcendent values and less to self-enhancement values when compared to less authentic leaders; they also engage in more ethical decision making. Furthermore, results showed that authentic leadership is associated with a broad range of subordinate outcomes, including leader-member exchange, affective organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and job performance. However, these relations were found only within source. Mediation analyses revealed that subordinates’ trust in their manager partially mediated the relation between subordinate-rated authentic leadership and subordinates’ perceptions of the quality of their relationship with their manager (LMX). Mediation analyses also revealed that subordinates’ trust in their manager and their sense of psychological empowerment each mediated relations between subordinate-rated authentic leadership and subordinates’ affective organizational commitment. In addition, managers’ self-reported empowering leader behavior mediated the relation between managers’ self-rated authentic leadership and their ratings of their subordinates’ organizational citizenship behavior. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

In view of the latest corporate collapses globally, the purpose of this thesis is an attempt to investigate and to theorise how managers make decisions when faced with an ethical dilemma.Philosophers over the years have proposed different moral theories. For example, Kantian’s Categorical Imperative (O’Neil 2001, Peters, 1971) suggests that there are laws that should apply universally. However, its principles are too abstract to guide action, in that it does not provide a detailed set of instructions for following them. Others such as Baier, (2001) suggest that people behave to satisfy their own self-interest. The literature review shows that there is no consensus to define what constitutes ethical behaviour. Kohlberg (1981) divides childhood moral development into six stages. He theorises that greater moral development will be related to the highest social responsibility of an individual. Lagon (2000), Seabright and Moberg (1998), Logsdon and Yuthas (1997) extrapolate Kohlberg’s model to incorporate into organisational and individual moral development.Based on the literature review, research questions were developed. The research methodology is qualitative, based on the realism paradigm using a case research design (Yin 1994). Face to face interviews were conducted with fourteen participants using critical incidents and the findings were triangulated using a semi-structured focus group.The research data analysis is based on grounded theory proposed by Glaser and Strauss (1967). The findings confirm that there is no single theory or approach to business ethics. The findings indicate that a person’s ethical behaviour changes when his/her self-interest is affected. Whilst participants believed that business and ethics can be reconciled, most agreed that they can only be reconciled if the individual’s interest or business profit is not affected. Based on the findings, a new model is proposed in an attempt to theorise an individual’s business ethical behaviour and his/her ethical decision making process.This research also identifies important areas that require further research. These are:• Conflicts between personal values and business values• Should ethics be taught? And if so how?• Should an ethical programme be developed and incorporated in a company’s strategic plan?

In view of the latest corporate collapses globally, the purpose of this thesis is an attempt to investigate and to theorise how managers make decisions when faced with an ethical dilemma.Philosophers over the years have proposed different moral theories. For example, Kantian’s Categorical Imperative (O’Neil 2001, Peters, 1971) suggests that there are laws that should apply universally. However, its principles are too abstract to guide action, in that it does not provide a detailed set of instructions for following them. Others such as Baier, (2001) suggest that people behave to satisfy their own self-interest. The literature review shows that there is no consensus to define what constitutes ethical behaviour. Kohlberg (1981) divides childhood moral development into six stages. He theorises that greater moral development will be related to the highest social responsibility of an individual. Lagon (2000), Seabright and Moberg (1998), Logsdon and Yuthas (1997) extrapolate Kohlberg’s model to incorporate into organisational and individual moral development.Based on the literature review, research questions were developed. The research methodology is qualitative, based on the realism paradigm using a case research design (Yin 1994). Face to face interviews were conducted with fourteen participants using critical incidents and the findings were triangulated using a semi-structured focus group.The research data analysis is based on grounded theory proposed by Glaser and Strauss (1967). The findings confirm that there is no single theory or approach to business ethics. The findings indicate that a person’s ethical behaviour changes when his/her self-interest is affected. Whilst participants believed that business and ethics can be reconciled, most agreed that they can only be reconciled if the individual’s interest or business profit is not affected. Based on the findings, a new model is proposed in an attempt to theorise an individual’s business ethical behaviour and his/her ethical decision making process.This research also identifies important areas that require further research. These are:• Conflicts between personal values and business values• Should ethics be taught? And if so how?• Should an ethical programme be developed and incorporated in a company’s strategic plan?

Text in English / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

[pt] Apesar da crescente consciência dos problemas éticos nas empresas, diariamente são divulgadas notícias de fraude e corrupção mostrando o quanto ainda é necessário ser feito para coibir o comportamento antiético. Esta pesquisa se propõe a contribuir na compreensão do processo de tomada de decisão ética por meio da adoção de múltiplos e simultâneos fatores (individuais e situacionais). Baseado em uma extensa revisão da literatura, este estudo propõe uma teoria integrada dos conceitos de auto monitoramento e orientação futura como fatores individuais e redes sociais no ambiente de trabalho para analisar sua influência em tomadas de decisões éticas. Um questionário e um experimento, ambos online, foram utilizados para descobrir fontes de intenção e comportamento antiético. A amostra foi composta, principalmente, por indivíduos em cargos de gestão de diferentes indústrias, incluindo um número considerável de mulheres em cargos corporativos de alto nível. Os dados foram analisados utilizando-se diferentes ferramentas quantitativas – modelagem de equações estruturais e análise de agrupamento – para fornecerem resultados complementares sobre a teoria. Este estudo encontrou evidências de que não só fatores individuais, especialmente auto monitoramento, mas também a estrutura fechada da rede social do indivíduo aumentam o risco de tomada de decisão antiética. Além disso, o gênero desempenha um papel diferenciado na estrutura de rede dos entrevistados. Um padrão invertido da estrutura da rede surgiu entre os entrevistados que escolheram as opções antiéticas, em comparação com a estrutura da rede dos entrevistados éticos. Os resultados forneceram evidências de que fatores individuais e a consequente criação de redes sociais interagem proporcionado risco mais elevado de decisões antiéticas. / [en] Despite the growing awareness of ethical problems in corporations, the daily news around the world is replete with cases of fraud and corruption, suggesting that much is still to be understood to curb unethical behavior. This research represents a step forward to our understanding of ethical decision-making through the adoption of multiple and simultaneous factors. Based on an extensive review of the literature, this study proposed an integrated theory of self-monitoring, temporal orientation as individual factors, and social networks influencing unethical options. A web survey and a web experiment were used to uncover sources of unethical intention and behavior. The sample consisted mostly of individuals from management positions in different industries, including a considerable number of women in high-level corporate positions. Data were analyzed using different quantitative analytical tools – structure equation modeling and cluster analysis –to provide supplemental results over theory. This study found evidence that individual factors, especially self-monitoring but also future orientation, increase the risk of unethical decision-making. Moreover, gender plays a role in the network structure, and the high self-monitors in network closure are the ones who increase the likelihood of unethical acts. An inverted pattern of the network structure emerged among respondents who chose the unethical options, compared to the network structure of the ethical respondents. The findings provided evidence about the different dynamics of how individual factors influence the creation of social networks, and how the connection of these two can pose a higher risk of unethical business decision-making.

The theoretical part of the dissertation is aimed at identifying and overcoming of dilemmas in social work. It deals with external and internal instruments that help to solve dilemmas, like ethical code, supervising and the personality of the worker. I discuss the starting points of work and the system of services in the drug field in the Czech Republic. The practical part contains an investigative probe focused on the perception of dilemmas in working experience in a facility dealing with lowthreshold services in the drug field. This part explores whether workers in this field feel the dilemma working with clients, how they overcome them and who or what can assist them during the process of overcoming these dilemmas. Furthermore, an investigative probe detects whether the dilemmas in the chosen facility are the same as the theoretically described dilemmas mentioned by L. Musil, a reputable expert in social work.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciano dos Santos Clemente.pdf: 1524766 bytes, checksum: be83ff8571ff3e9bf62e35fdf209d301 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-13 / The increasing of misuse and criminal of accounting technology to deceive the public inrelation to the book value of an organization demonstrates the importance of knowledge and understanding of the determinants factors of ethical behavior of accountans, since, by providing essential information of the organizations values, accounting plays an important role to society. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of individual and organizational factors and the caracteristics associated with ethical dilemmas in ethical decision making of Brazilian accountants. The factors analyzed were gender, age, religion, ethical ideology, corporate ethical values and moral intensity of ethical issues. The sample was composed of 129 Brazilian accountants who responded to a questionnaire containing 40 questions, including two scenarios that were analyzed by the respondens; the statistical tool used for data analysis was a multiple linear regression. The results suggest that only the moral intensity of ethical issues is statistically significant predictor of the Brazilian accountant s ethical decision process. In one of the scenarios used, the level of relativism was also statistically significant, however, for the entire sample randomly split into two groups with equal participants number, this statistical significance was not confirmed, preventing validation of this variable as a significant predictor of ethical judgement of Brazilian accountants. In summary, based on the results, it is considered that the most significant predictor of ethical judgment of Brazilian accountants is associated with the ethical issue itself and not to the individuals or organizations factos. The findings of this study contribute to organizations and financial entities to target their efforts in pursuit of an integrated professional class with professionals who perform their activities in an ethical and transparent posture. / O crescente uso inadequado e criminoso da tecnologia contábil para iludir a opinião de terceiros em relação ao valor patrimonial de uma organização demonstra a importância do conhecimento e da compreensão dos fatores determinantes do comportamento ético do profissional da Contabilidade, vez que, ao disponibilizar informações essenciais para a compreensão do patrimônio das organizações, a Contabilidade desempenha papel importante para a sociedade. O objetivo deste estudo foi o de conhecer a influência de fatores individuais e organizacionais, bem como das características da própria questão ética, no processo decisório ético dos profissionais da Contabilidade. Para tanto, os fatores analisados foram: sexo, idade, religiosidade, ideologia ética, valores éticos corporativos e intensidade moral da questão ética. A amostra utilizada foi composta por 129 profissionais da Contabilidade no Brasil, que responderam a um questionário com 40 questões, incluindo dois cenários que foram analisados pelos respondentes. A ferramenta estatística utilizada para análise dos dados foi a regressão linear múltipla. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que apenas a intensidade moral, constituída neste estudo pela magnitude das consequências e pelo consenso social, é estatisticamente significante no processo decisório ético dos profissionais da Contabilidade. Em um dos cenários utilizados, o nível de relativismo também se mostrou estatisticamente significante, todavia, ao subdividir aleatoriamente toda a amostra em dois grupos com quantidade iguais de participantes, esta significância estatística não foi confirmada, impossibilitando a validação desta variável como preditora significante do julgamento ético dos profissionais da Contabilidade no Brasil. Em síntese, com base nos resultados, considera-se que o fator estudado mais significante do julgamento ético dos profissionais da Contabilidade está associado à própria questão ética e não ao indivíduo ou à organização em que atua. Os achados deste estudo contribuem para que as organizações e as entidades contábeis direcionem seus esforços na busca de uma classe profissional íntegra, com profissionais que desempenhem suas atividades com uma postura ética e transparente, sem agir com dolo ou má fé.

The economic development in Sweden in recent years has led to increased financial savings in Swedish households. Financial savings have mostly increased on bank accounts with low interest rates, since private individuals generally have a more cautious position on stocks and stock trading. The reason for this passive position is believed to be due to the fact that decisions that benefit most economically often challenge the feeling of being in control. At the same time, cautious position that a particular individual possess is affected by the risk-tolerance. As a consequence, the risk tolerance of private individuals affects the investment decision and hence the development of the stock market. Savings and investment are two important factors that affect a nation's economic growth, which makes it important to study underlying factors to what affects an individual when making a financial decision. When talking about risk tolerance in everyday life, previous research has revealed that there are four different aspects that affect this complex concept, namely the economic aspect, physical aspect, social aspect and ethical aspect. As investment decisions are affected by financial risk tolerance and the four aspects in turn, affect risk tolerance, the issue becomes how these aspects affect a private investor's financial risk tolerance when investing in stocks. The purpose of this study has been to explain the four aspects of a person’s risk tolerance when investing in stocks. The study has been conducted using a quantitative method and deductive approach. The selection group that the study turned to is Swedish stock investors and the data collection has been done by a survey that was answered by 232 people. The underlying factors for the four aspects tested in the study are income, gender, age, education, marital status and ethical character. The study shows that all four aspects together have a combined impact on private individuals' financial risk tolerance. The study has also shown that all the four aspects, each one separately, are linked to financial risk tolerance, by the underlying factors, income level, gender, marital status and ethical character. / De senaste årens ekonomiska utveckling i Sverige har lett till ett ökat finansiellt sparande i de svenska hushållen. Detta sparande har mestadels ökat på bankkonton med låga räntor då privatpersoner i allmänhet har ett mer försiktigt ställningstagande till aktie och börshandel. Anledningen till detta passiva ställningstagande tros bero på att beslut som gynnar mest ekonomiskt ofta utmanar känslan av att ha kontroll. Samtidigt påverkas ställningstagandet av den risktoleransnivå som en viss individ besitter. Följden av detta blir att privatpersoners risktolerans påverkar investeringsbeslutet och därmed även utvecklingen av aktiemarknaden. Sparande och investering är två viktiga faktorer som påverkar en nations ekonomiska tillväxt vilket gör det viktigt att studera bakomliggande faktorer till vad som påverkar en privatperson när ett finansiellt beslut ska tas. När det pratas om risktolerans i vardagslivet har tidigare forskning delgett att det finns fyra olika aspekter som påverkar detta komplexa begrepp, nämligen den ekonomiska aspekten, fysiska aspekten, sociala aspekten och etiska aspekten. Då investeringsbeslut påverkas av den finansiella risktoleransen och risktoleransen i sin tur påverkas av de fyra aspekterna blir problemfrågan hur dessa aspekter påverkar en privatpersons finansiella risktolerans vid investering i aktier.  Syftet med denna studie har varit att förklara de fyra aspekterna för privatpersoners finansiella risktolerans vid aktieinvestering. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en kvantitativ metod och deduktiv ansats. Den urvalsgrupp som studien vänt sig till är svenska aktieinvesterare och datainsamlingen har gjorts med hjälp av en enkätundersökning som besvarats av 232 personer.  De bakomliggande faktorerna för de fyra aspekterna som har testats i studien är inkomst, kön, ålder, utbildning, civilstånd och etisk karaktär. Studien visar att alla fyra aspekter tillsammans har sammantagen påverkan på privatpersoners finansiella risktolerans. Studien har även visat att alla de fyra aspekterna har en koppling till den finansiella risktoleransen, var och en för sig, genom de underliggande faktorerna inkomstnivå, kön, civilstånd och etisk karaktär.

Safety is an important aspect of ethical, socially responsible logistics. Current U.S. motor carrier (MC) safety research topical coverage includes the effects of individual and environmental influences, carrier safety management, and regulatory compliance on carrier safety and driver fatigue/safety performance. Interestingly, little research on the subject of truck drivers' safety attitudes and behaviors exists and the underlying decision-making processes that guide drivers' safety-related behaviors have received little attention. Furthermore, researchers have not provided an integrated framework that explains individual, organizational, and regulatory factors' impact on drivers' safety decision-making and performance. Truck drivers' safety judgments, decisions, and actions must adhere to societal safety norms. To that end, ethical decision-making theory that draws from the deontological and teleological traditions in moral philosophy provides a theoretical foundation and integrated framework necessary to better understand drivers' safety decision-making processes. The current research sought to determine how drivers rely on safety norms and perceived consequences in forming safety judgments and behavioral intentions. Furthermore, the study was designed to explore how various factors (i.e., individual, organizational, and regulatory) influence drivers' safety decision-making processes. Specifically, the study sought to answer the broad question, "How do commercial motor vehicle drivers make safety-related decisions, and how do individual, organizational, and regulatory factors influence drivers' safety decision-making processes?" An experimental two-factor design (2×2) was used to manipulate safety norms (i.e., "deontologically unsafe situation" and "deontologically safe situation") and consequences (i.e., "positive consequences" and "negative consequences"). Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that drivers primarily rely on deontological evaluations in forming safety judgments. Furthermore, drivers primarily relied on safety judgments when forming behavioral intentions. Drivers' attitudes toward unsafe actions and the effectiveness of driver-related safety regulations were also influential to drivers' judgments and intentions, respectively. The empirical findings demonstrate to managers that communication and education of safety norms may be highly effective to improve safety in unique occupational contexts where employees are given high levels of responsibility with little physical supervision, and where judgment errors can have devastating consequences for multiple stakeholders.