The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment

William A. Weeks Carlos W. Moore Joseph A. McKinney Justin G. Longenecker

ABSTRACT. This article reports the findings of a survey examining if there are gender and career stage differences between male and female practitioners regarding ethical judgment. The results show that, on average, females adopted a more strict ethical stance than their male counterparts on 7 out of 19 vignettes. Males on the other hand, demonstrated a more ethical stance than their female counterparts on

2 out of 19 vignettes. The results furthermore indicate there is a significant difference in ethical judgment across career stages. Overall, it appears that practitioners in later career stages display higher ethical judgment than practitoners in lower career stages. Implications are provided for both practitioners and academicians.

Introduction
William A. Weeks is Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Center for Professional Selling at Baylor University. He has published in various marketing publications including the Journal of Business Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Business Ethics, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology and Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Professional Services Marketing, Gestion and NAMA Journal. His research, teaching and consulting concentrate on professional selling, sales management, and national account management issues. Carlos W. Moore is the Edwin W. Streetman Professor of Marketing at Baylor University, where he has been an instructor for more than 20 years. He has been honored as a Distinguished Professor by the Hankamer School of Business, where he teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. Dr. Moore has authored articles in such journals as Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Organizational Dynamics, Accounting Horizons, and Journal of Accountancy. He is co-author of Small Business Management which is in its tenth edition. Dr. Moore received an Associate Arts degree from Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, Texas, where he was later named Ex-Student of the Year. Besides his academic experience, Dr. Moore has business experience as co-owner of a small ranch and as a partner in a small business consulting firm.

Ethical judgment and behavior in business is a timely and controversial topic in the American and International marketplace. The publics declining positive attitudes about American business in recent years can be attributed to
Joseph A. McKinney is Ben H. Williams Professor of International Economics at Baylor University. He previously was on the faculty of the University of Virginia, and has served as visiting professor to universities in Japan, France and the United Kingdom (Fulbright). His research interests include business ethics, international trade policy, and regional economic integration. Justin G. Longeneckers authorship of Small Business Management: An Entrepreneurial Emphasis began with the first edition of this book and continues with an active, extensive involvement in the preparation of the present edition. He has authored a number of books and numerous articles in such journals as Journal of Small Business Management, Academy of Management Review, Business Horizons, and Journal of Business Ethics. Active in a number of professional organizations, he has served as president of the International Council for Small Business. Dr. Longenecker attended Central College, a two-year college in McPherson, Kansas. He earned his bachelors degree in Political Science from Seattle Pacific University, his M.B.A. from Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Journal of Business Ethics 20: 301313, 1999. 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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W. A. Weeks et al. all occupations combined, the percentage of women in the workforce has rapidly grown and is expected to rise even more (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1993). While women currently form about half of the entire workforce in industrialized societies (Coolsen, 1990; Jacobson, 1994; Moore, 1992), according to Peder (1989), females are expected to outnumber men in the workplace by the 21st century. This increase of women in the workforce is most noticeable among working mothers (Bridges and Orza, 1992; Etaugh and Poertner, 1991). Furthermore, the proportion of females entering full time and/or traditionallymale dominated occupations has increased in recent years (Goh, 1991; Jacobson, 1994). Given that managers, both male and female, are more often encountering the need to supervise a mixed gender workforce, gender becomes an important variable to include when studying employee behavior, as contended in previous research (c.f., Skolnik, 1985). As workforces become more fully integrated, one might suspect that many of the traditional stereotypical views regarding female employees need to be reevaluated. If significant differences are discovered between men and women regarding such issues as ethical judgment, appropriate managerial programs will need to be developed. If no gender differences are found in ethical judgment, managers need to issue consistent treatment across the workforce regardless of gender to avoid creating such differences. Hence, with the above noted trends and potential managerial implications, one might argue that it is essential that research investigating the work experiences of women workers is essential and that researchers should continue to examine gender differences in the workplace.

widespread media accounts of insider trading on the stock market (Fortune, 1986; Time, 1987), money laundering, bribery of employees, deceptive advertising, tax fraud (David, 1989), defense contractor overcharges (Whipple and Wolf, 1991), treatment of customers, such as overcharging or fraud, and product quality and safety (Whipple and Swords, 1992). These criticisms have fostered considerable research regarding ethical values of todays managers (Harris, 1990). However, the number of empirical studies is distressingly small (Ford and Richardson, 1994). Most of this empirical ethics research has focused on two dependent measures, ethical judgment and behavioral intentions. However, with lesser emphasis, others have studied such dependent variables as business philosophy (c.f., Arlow, 1991), ethical concerns (c.f., Beltramini, Peterson, and Kozmetsky, 1984), and moral reasoning (c.f., Galbraith and Stephenson, 1993). Potential gender differences have received growing attention as an antecedent variable to ethical judgment, however producing inconclusive findings (c.f., Akaah, 1989; David et al., 1994; Davis and Welton, 1991; Poorsoltan et al., 1991). To a lesser extent, age has been examined as another antecedent variable to ethical judgment (c.f., Poorsoltan et al., 1991; Ruegger and King, 1992), but once again, with inconclusive results. The purpose of this study is to better understand the male and female roles in the workforce by examining potential gender differences in ethical judgment while controlling for career stage effects, as well as investigating the potential impact of career stage (operationalized by age) on ethical judgment. Ethical judgment is operationalized as respondents attitude toward the acceptability of certain ethical situations. This focus becomes more relevant when one recognizes the increasing number of women entering the workforce and the continued graying of the nations population.

Prior ethical judgment gender research As previously noted, ethical judgment is the dependent variable used in this study. This measure was selected for two reasons. First, several empirical studies have examined this important variable. Secondly, this measure has often been represented as a key component of ethical decision making models (c.f., Ferrell,

Trends of women in the workforce In the past decade, women have continued to gain prominence in the business community. For

The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment Gresham, and Fraedrich, 1989; Hunt and Vitell, 1986; Jones, 1991; Reidenbach, Robin, and Dawson, 1995; Rest, 1986). Table I presents an overview of gender studies that have investigated ethical judgment. Notice that out of 14 studies, only six have focused strictly on a practitioner sample, with the remaining eight using student respondents. The sample sizes range from 100 to 420 for practitioners and 86 to 2,196 for students. Overall, there are inconclusive findings regarding gender differences and ethical judgment. However, when differences have been found, typically females appeared to be more ethical. Betz, OConnell, and Shepard (1989) have argued the lack of gender differences may be explained by the possibility that women might become more like men under similar occupational conditions. Another possible explanation is that respondents may indicate decisions they believe to be socially desirable, or perhaps politically correct (Dawson, 1995). Furthermore, a lack of gender differences may be due to a variety of measures being used, as well as, the fact that variables such as age have not been controlled for. In light of the above inconclusive findings, a theoretical argument still exists for gender differences concerning ethical judgment.

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extended Gender Socialization Theory and contends that men and women differ in how they solve moral dilemmas. She contends that men are more likely to consider moral issues in terms of justice, rules, and individual rights. On the other hand, she believes that women tend to consider such issues in terms of relationships, caring, and compassion (Gilligan, 1982). While this literature indicates that gender differences in ethical judgment may exist (and for our purposes in the workforce), it does not take into consideration whether this may be the case at all points of an individuals career.

Age and career stage concept The ethics literature has recognized the importance of incorporating the age dimension into related ethics research. For example, Serwinek (1992) has argued unless age is considered in design, the experiential results obtained will probably be misleading. This becomes even more of an issue when one takes into consideration the continued graying of the nations population. It is projected that the number of workers age 35 and older will increase by approximately 70 million by the year 2000 (Schachter, 1985). Even so, there is a paucity of ethical judgment studies that have investigated age of the respondents, and when they did, there was limited theoretical explanation regarding why one would expect such judgment to vary by age. Ruegger and King (1992) observed that older students tended to make more ethical decisions than younger ones. In another study, when comparing age groups of 2140 years old to 5170 years old business people, Longenecker et al. (1989b) concluded that the older group of individuals displayed a less permissive ethical view. Serwinek (1992) found that as age increases respondents display more conservative ethical tendencies and are more apt to evince more strict and less compromising interpretations of what is to be viewed as ethical. On the other hand, Burton and Casey (1980) did not find a relation between age and moral conduct, nor did Poorsoltan et al. (1991) find an association between age and expressions of ethical attitudes.

Gender Socialization Theory Gender Socialization Theory which can be traced back to Freuds work, holds that gender identity, the core of personality, becomes established as early as age three through the motherchild relationship and is thereafter irreversible and unchanging. It is believed that sex differences at infancy are reinforced through the pattern of childhood games which are the crucible of social development. While traditional boys games teach respect for rules and fairness, traditional girls games teach respect for inclusion and avoiding hurt. Thus, Gender Socialization Theory predicts that as adults the sexes will bring different ethical values to their work roles which will differentially shape their work-related decisions (Dawson, 1995). Carol Gilligan, a Harvard psychologist, has

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TABLE I Empirical research for gender differences in ethical judgment

Study Akaah (1989)

Sample Marketing professionals nM = 260 nF = 160 Accountants nM = 108 nF = 53 Undergraduate and graduate business students nM = 208 nF = 175 Managers and line personnel of a firm nM = 79 nF = 33 Accountants nM = 181 nF = 67 Undergraduate and graduate business students nM = 69 nF = 65 Managers nM = 50 nF = 50 Undergraduate students nM =531 nF = 598 Undergraduate business students nM = 132 nF = 117 Undergraduate business students nM = 1154 nF = 1042 Insurance employees nM = 149 nF = 266 Undergraduate business students nM = 91 nF = 84 Undergraduate and graduate business students nM = 172 nF = 147 Undergraduate business students nM = 114 nF = 82

Results Females more ethical for 3 of 11 scenarios. Males rated 3 of 12 components of AICPAs Code of Professional Ethics as more important than did females. No gender differences regarding 17 situations.

David et al. (1994)

Davis and Welton (1991)

Harris (1990)

Females more ethical for 1 of 5 dilemmas. Gender not significant variable regarding appropriateness of 14 ethical conducts for 5 ethical situations in full sample. Females more ethical for 3 of 7 MIS scenarios.

Jones and Hiltebeital (1995) Khazanchi (1995)

Kidwell et al. (1987)

Females more ethical for 1 of 17 situations. No significant differences in 10 situations.

McNichols and Zimmerer (1985) Poorsoltan et al. (1991) Ruegger and King (1992) Serwinek (1992)

Greater percentage of females than males disagree or strongly disagree with 11 of 12 unethical situations. Females rated behavior as more unacceptable for 6 of 10 situations. Gender significant predictor of 1 of 4 factors with females more ethical. For 1 of 4 scenarios, males more ethical for 3 of 30 items, and females more ethical for 9 of 30 items. Females more ethical for 5 of 11 scenarios.

Tsalikis and OrtizBuonafina (1990) Whipple and Swords (1992)

Whipple and Wolf (1991)

Females more ethical for 3 of 11 scenarios.

Source: Adapted From Robin, Donald P. and Laurie Babin (1996), The Relationship Between Gender and Business Ethics Revisited, (Working Paper).

The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment Thus, the limited studies that have looked at the age issue and ethical judgment have produced inconsistent findings. Given that past studies have offered limited justification for a potential relationship between age and ethical judgment, we would like to extend this focus of research by offering another framework, namely, the Career Concept (which can be operationalized by age), for studying this association. Cron (1984) introduced a career development framework as a first step in organizing ideas about how the workforce can change over time. The theory underlying Crons work was initially developed by Super (1957) and extended by others (Erikson, 1968; Gould, 1978; Schein, 1971; Super and Bohn, 1970). Career researchers contend that individuals normally experience four career stages: Exploration, Establishment, Maintenance, and Disengagement. A brief description of each stage is provided in Exhibit I, while a more detailed discussion of each stage can be found in Cron (1984). That attitudes toward ethical issues might vary according to a persons career stage seems to us plausible. Cron characterizes the worker in the Exploration Stage as highly concerned about peer acceptance. If within the organization great
EXHIBIT I Career stages Exploration. During this stage (2030 years old), the individuals focus is on finding an occupation in which he or she can succeed and grow. Establishment. The Establishment stage (3045 years old) is comprised of individuals who are making a conscious commitment to a particular occupational field. Maintenance. Generally, during this stage (4565 years old), most individuals are attempting to hold their own and maintain what they have already accomplished. Their interest in competition and career changes is not very strong. Disengagement. The Disengagement stage (approximately 66 years old and older) is comprised of individuals who must cope with the transition from working to retirement. Source: Adapted from Cron (1984).

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emphasis is placed upon attaining certain goals or standards of performance, the desire for peer acceptance could lead to shortcuts or ethically questionable actions in pursuit of those goals. This stage is also, according to Cron, one in which the superior/subordinate relationship is particularly important. If the superior pushes the subordinate to attain certain standards of performance, the subordinate may be tempted to compromise on ethical issues. This is more likely in cases where the superior is not modeling high ethical standards. Likewise, in the Establishment Stage pressures may exist for ethical compromise. By this stage the individual has likely committed to a particular occupation and is attempting to progress in it. During this stage, according to Cron, promotion is of primary concern . . . in situations where it is customarily associated with superior performance. This is a competitive stage with high payoffs for superior performance. While the pressure may be more internal than from a superior at this stage, the high need for achievement may be conducive to ethical compromise. The Maintenance Stage, by way of contrast, is characterized by reduced competitiveness; security; helping younger colleagues. The higher degree of job security and the self-esteem arising from past achievements decrease the need to prove oneself. Likewise, the temptation to compromise ethical values in pursuit of achieving career goals might be lessened since many of the goals have by this time been achieved. This would be even more the case in the Disengagement Stage in which the individual is gradually becoming detached from the organization and organizational life. Researchers have begun to investigate the influence of career stage from several perspectives. To date, however, the samples in reported studies of career stages have been almost entirely comprised of men. For this reason, Cron et al. (1988) called for future research regarding career stage issues for both male and female viewpoints. In relationship to subsequent research, Dawson (1992) has asked for more cross-sectional studies that examine differences in ethical perceptions or behavior of males and females at different ages or career stages.

306 Hypotheses and research question

W. A. Weeks et al.
TABLE II Profile of the sample n Gender Male Female Age 30 31 51 61 years years years years old or younger old to 50 old to 60 and older Percentage

While the Gender Socialization Theory and Gilligans work can be used as justification for expecting to find gender differences in ethical judgment, the results of past empirical studies remain inconclusive. Similarly, even though the career stage concept might be used to support differences in ethical judgment, once again previous research has provided inconsistent findings. Therefore, our hypotheses are stated in null form as: H1: There is no difference in ethical judgment between males and females. H2: There is no difference in ethical judgment across career stages. Given the exploratory nature of our study regarding career stages and their unknown gender association, we offer the following research question: R1: Does the association between gender and ethical judgment vary across career stages?

1,559 0,272 0,196 1,215 0,346 0,127 0,524 0,561 0,274 0,236 0,387 0,461 0,291 0,290 0,118 0,386 0,323

85.1% 14.9% 10.4% 64.5% 17.5% 06.7% 26.4% 28.3% 13.8% 11.9% 19.6% 24.7% 15.5% 15.5% 06.4% 20.7% 17.3%

Employment status Top management Middle management Lower management Non-management Not classified Size of firm (no. of employees) Under 20 2099 100499 500999 1,00010,000 Over 10,000

Methodology Sample The database for this paper was created from a 1993 mail survey of business people residing in the United States. Specifically, questionnaires were sent to a randomly selected sample of ten thousand individuals identified as business professionals by a publisher of major business periodicals. A total of 1,875 usable surveys were returned for an overall response rate of 19.8 percent. A brief profile of respondents is provided in Table II. Notice that 85.1% of the sample (n = 1,559) is male and 14.9% (n = 272) is female. in a one-to-three sentence statement. The vignettes dealt with a variety of business situations designed to address ethical dilemmas in different functional business areas. The use of scenarios or vignettes, according to Fritzsche and Becker (1982), permits one to inject more background information and detail into an ethically questionable issue. A questionnaire incorporating vignettes into its design, therefore, is thought to elicit a higher quality of data in this type of research than is possible from simple questions (Alexander and Becker, 1978). The potential for systematic bias was minimized by having knowledgeable individuals assess the content validity of the vignettes prior to their inclusion in the questionnaire. Similar vignettes have been used in other studies (Hornsby et al., 1994; Longenecker et al., 1988a,b, 1989a,b; Wood et al., 1988). Respondents were asked to indicate the acceptability, on the basis of their own personal

Measure of ethical judgments In the current study, the questionnaire contained nineteen vignettes, each of which was described

The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment values, of the behavior described in the vignettes by selecting one point on a seven-point scale. The scale ranged from 1, never acceptable, to 4, sometimes acceptable, to 7, always acceptable. The nineteen vignettes are presented in Table III. Additional questions classified respondents according to age, gender, employment level, and other standard survey classification variables.

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Measure of career stage In this study, career stage is represented by age, similar to what others have done when testing for age as in Supers (Super, 1957) model (Gould, 1979; Slocum and Cron 1985; Weeks and Kahle, 1990). Since age can be measured quite accurately, it can be argued this measure has adequate reliability and objectivity when compared to other measures of career stage. The sample was broken down for analysis with respondents in the Exploration Stage being equal to or less than 30 years old, those in the Establishment Stage of their career being 31 through 50 years old, respondents in the Maintenance Stage of their career being 51 through 60 years old, and the remainder of the sample in the Decline Stage of their career being 61 and older. While Slocum and Cron (1985) looked at only the first three stages and used a slightly different age categorization scheme (Exploration less than 30; Establishment 3044; Maintenance 4565), we consider our modification acceptable due to the exploratory nature of the study. The percentage and number of individuals in the Exploration, Establishment, Maintenance, and Disengagement stages were 10.4% (n = 196), 64.5% (1,215), 17.5% (n = 346), and 6.7% (n = 127), respectively.

Results To properly evaluate the two hypotheses in this study, it was first necessary to explore possible covariate effects. Analysis of Covariance was performed using ethical judgment as the dependent variable and gender as the independent

measure controlling for employment status (which reflects organizational level, as studied by Harris, 1990) and number of employees. A similar analysis was conducted using career stage as an independent variable. Both these analyses showed a majority of the vignettes had statistically significant differences after adjusting for covariates. Hypothesis 1 stated There is no difference in ethical judgment between males and females. A multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was run using gender as the independent variable and the nineteen ethical judgments as dependent measures in order to test this hypothesis. The results of the MANOVA produced a significant (p = 0.000) Wilks Lambda of 0.908 indicating that there is a difference between males and females regarding ethical judgment. Therefore, Hypothesis 1 was rejected. According to Stevens (1972), in such cases where one has multiple dependent variables it is advisable to determine which measures contribute to the overall significance. A series of T-tests were conducted on the individual dependent variables. Out of nineteen variables, there is a significant (p < 0.01) difference between males and females on 9 ethical judgment items. Of these 9 items, females adopted a more strict ethical stance than their male counterparts on 7 vignettes (see Table IV). Females appear to possess higher ethical judgment regarding violating environmental pollution standards, bribing foreign customers, corporate espionage, impartial promotion practices, ignoring product safety issues, hiring less qualified male applicants, and unacceptable CEO compensation increases. On the other hand, males appear to adopt a more strict ethical stance than females regarding collusion in construction bidding situations and illegally copying computer software. Hypothesis 2 stated There is no difference in ethical judgment across career stages. A multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was run using career stages as our independent variable and the nineteen ethical judgments as dependent measures in order to test this hypothesis. After conducting a MANOVA procedure we found a significant (p = 0.000) Wilks Lambda 0.861 indicating there is a difference in ethical

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TABLE III Ethical judgment vignettes

A. B. C. D. E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J. K.

L. M. N. O. P. Q. R.

S.

An executive earning $100,000 a year padded his expense account by about $3,000 a year. In order to increase profits, a general manager used a production process which exceeded legal limits for environmental pollution. Because of pressure from his brokerage firm, s stockbroker recommended a type of bond which he did not consider to be a good investment. A small business received one-fourth of its gross revenue in the form of cash. The owner reported only one-half of the cash receipts for income tax purposes. A company paid a $350,000 consulting fee to an official of a foreign country. In return, the official promised assistance in obtaining a contract which should produce $10 million profit for the contracting company. A company president found that a competitor had made an important scientific discovery which would sharply reduce the profits of his own company. He then hired a key employee of the competitor in an attempt to learn the details of the discovery. A highway building contractor deplored the chaotic bidding situation and cutthroat competition. He therefore, reached an understanding with other major contractors to permit bidding which would provide a reasonable profit. A company president recognized that sending expensive Christmas gifts to purchasing agents might compromise their positions. However, he continued the policy since it was common practice and changing it might result in loss of business. A corporate director learned that his company intended to announce a stock split and increase its dividend. On the basis of this information, he bought additional shares and sold them at a gain following the announcement. A corporate executive promoted a loyal friend and competent manager to the position of divisional vice president in preference to a better-qualified manager with whom he had no close ties. An engineer discovered what he perceived to be a product design flaw which constituted a safety hazard. His company declined to correct the flaw. The engineer decided to keep quiet, rather than taking his complaint outside the company. A comptroller selected a legal method of financial reporting which concealed some embarrassing financial facts which would otherwise have become public knowledge. An employer received applications for a supervisors position from two equally qualified applicants but hired the male applicant because he thought that some employees might resent being supervised by a female. As part of the marketing strategy for a product, the producer changed its color and marketed it as new and improved, even though its other characteristics were unchanged. A cigarette manufacturer launched a publicity campaign challenging new evidence from the Surgeon Generals office that cigarette smoking is harmful to the smokers health. An owner of a small business firm obtained a free copy of a copyrighted computer software program from a business friend rather than spending $500 to obtain his own program from the software dealer. In order to win a tax engagement, a CPA proposed that the fee be based on savings achieved by the CPAs tax work for the client firm. Rather than charging an hourly fee, a CPA offered personal financial planning services on a commission basis. Therefore, the CPAs income could be enhanced by the amount and the type of new investments recommended to the client. A corporation increased the annual compensation of its CEO from $5 million to $9 million over a fouryear period in which profits declined and the dividend was cut.

The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment

TABLE IV T-test comparisons of male and female responses to ethical vignettes Vignette Significance value Significant difference Male A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S
1 2

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Means1 Female 1.347 1.309 1.645 1.805 2.535 3.041 3.087 3.152 1.861 2.852 1.824 3.643 1.904 2.432 3.061 2.570 4.000 3.655 1.772

0.714 0.000 0.641 0.917 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.341 0.016 0.000 0.000 0.458 0.000 0.157 0.078 0.000 0.040 0.594 0.000

No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No 2 Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes 2 No Yes

1.366 1.493 1.612 1.814 3.028 3.489 2.355 3.042 1.628 3.469 2.190 3.734 2.892 2.583 3.297 2.159 4.285 3.727 2.088

Response scale runs from 1 never acceptable to 7 always acceptable. Was not significant at 0.05 level after incorporating covariates (number of employees, employment status, and age of respondent).

judgment across career stages. Therefore, Hypothesis 2 was rejected. Next, a series of Ftests were conducted using an ANOVA procedure on the individual judgment variable means, while adjusting for covariates (number of employees and employment status). This analysis indicated there are significant differences (p < 0.01) in 10 out of the nineteen vignettes across career stages. The ethical judgment means that proved to be significantly different across career stages are so noted in Table V. The LSD multiple range test was conducted to determine whether there is a pattern regarding ethical judgment across career stages. Overall, it appears that individuals in latter career stages display higher ethical judgment compared to people in lower stages. This supports findings from previous studies that looked at age and ethical issues (Longenecker et al., 1989b; Ruegger and King, 1992; Serwinek, 1992).

Individuals in the later career stages appear to possess higher ethical judgment regarding padding expense accounts, a stockbroker recommending an inferior investment opportunity, not reporting information for income tax purposes, hiring a competitors employee to access confidential information, and collusion in construction bidding. There was also a significant difference when it came to sending expensive Christmas gifts to clients to influence their decisions, buying stock based on insider information, promoting an individual based on friendship rather than job performance, a comptroller concealing embarrassing financial facts, and illegally copying computer software. Research Question 1 stated Does the association between gender and ethical judgment vary across career stages? A multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was run using gender and career stages as our independent variables and the

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TABLE V One-way ANOVA comparison of responses to ethical vignettes with career stage

Vignette

F-Prob.

Significant difference a

Group means1 b 1.36d 1.45 1.66d 1.89cd 2.98 3.50d 2.48 3.12cd 1.66 3.43ad 2.15 3.78d 2.67 2.52 3.27 2.19 4.24 3.77 2.10d c 1.33 1.56 1.50d 1.56 3.00 3.18d 2.27 2.63 1.49 3.47ad 2.10 3.50d 2.93 2.66 3.20 2.01 4.36 3.65 2.01d d 1.18 1.54 1.17 1.40 2.70 2.82 2.17 2.67 1.47 3.08 1.98 2.96 2.86 2.35 3.03 2.28 4.15 3.12 1.73

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S
1

0.0004 0.1889 0.0000 0.0000 0.3433 0.0000 0.0005 0.0000 0.0000 0.0056 0.3917 0.0000 0.0651 0.0899 0.3790 0.0000 0.6337 0.0040 0.0248

Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No 2 2

1.59bcd 1.42 1.87bcd 2.07cd 2.94 3.81cd 2.88bcd 3.74bcd 2.15bcd 3.07 2.24 4.22bcd 2.82 2.78 3.43 2.75bcd 4.14 3.91 1.92

Response scale runs from 1 never acceptable to 7 always acceptable. Each mean superscript indicates which other stage means are significantly different from the superscripted mean. LSD was used as multiple range test. 2 Was not significant (p < 0.05) after incorporating covariates (number of employees and employment status). Note: a = 30 years or younger; b = 3150; c = 5160; d = 61 and over.

nineteen ethical judgments as dependent measures in order to answer this research question. Results (p = 0.253) indicated there is no significant interaction among these variables. Therefore, it does not appear the association between gender and ethical judgment varies across career stages.

Discussion Based on our sample of respondents, we find that females demonstrate higher ethical judgment than their male counterparts in numerous situations. This finding contradicts those studies that have detected no gender differences regarding ethical judgment (c.f., Davis and Welton, 1991; Jones and Hiltebeital, 1995; Kidwell et al., 1987; McNichols and Zimmerer, 1985; Tsalikis and

Ortiz-Buonafina, 1990). However, our findings are consistent with other studies that have detected gender differences (c.f., Akaah, 1989; Poorsoltan et al., 1991; Ruegger and King, 1992; Whipple and Wolf, 1991) and strongly supports the contention of gender socialization theory that men and women bring different ethical standards to the work environment. Consequently, this studys findings argue against self-selection theory which holds that women who choose business careers manifest traits contrary to their gender stereotype and share the same values as men. The fact that females appear to demonstrate a greater sensitivity in ethical judgment suggests that practitioners might want to use this knowledge when developing corporate ethics policies, professional codes of conduct, and rewards/punishment systems for unethical conduct (Khazanchi, 1995). Given the perception that ethics in the

The Effects of Gender and Career Stage on Ethical Judgment business environment are declining, it appears that an influx of more females into the work force might improve the ethical environment based on how ethical problems are perceived and resolved. Business executives who are interested in improving the ethical climate in their firms should take steps to ensure that sensitivity to ethical concerns on the part of their employees, of either gender, is encouraged and rewarded. Otherwise, the ethical standards of the less sensitive may come to predominate, to the long term detriment of the firm and the business system as a whole. Since samples in reported career stage studies have traditionally been almost entirely comprised of males, Cron et al. (1988) called for future career stage research from both a male and female viewpoint. In the spirit of exploratory research, we have responded to this request by looking at whether career stage influences the relationship between gender and ethical judgment, as well as the direct impact of career stage on ethical judgment. While career stage does not appear to influence the relationship between gender and ethical judgment, we find that individuals in later career stages demonstrate higher ethical judgment than those in earlier levels. This finding runs counter to those which claim that age does not significantly affect ethical issues, given that we have operationalized the career stage concept with the age dimension (c.f., Poorsoltan et al., 1991). Even though the results of our study are interesting, we must demonstrate some restraint in stating the findings. First, respondents indicated their views regarding ethical judgment for hypothetical vignettes, which may or may not relate to their behavior in actual situations. Second, the current study did not address the issue of changes in ethical judgment or conduct of individuals over lifetimes. Finally, we must remember that career stage is a longitudinal concept and has been applied in a cross-sectional manner. There are several possible directions for future research that would help us better understand and explain gender differences in ethical judgment. First, one might want to study potential influences of regional differences in order to determine to what degree ethnicity influences ethical

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judgment. This can range from comparisons of groups within the U.S. to international groups. Second, it might be interesting to determine whether industrial affiliation has any impact on the relationship of gender and career stage to ethical judgment. Finally, it may be beneficial to replicate the current study when using a sample that is comprised of a larger proportion of females in relation to males.

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