Can Formalisation Ensure Ethical Behaviour Among Teachers? The Mediating Role of Moral Efficacy

Malakkaran Johny Jino and Hima Elizabeth Mathew

Business Perspectives and Research, 2021, vol. 9, issue 2, 306-323

Abstract: Formalisation emerges as an important aspect of organisational structure, especially in the wake of disruption of organisational routines. Also, there is a growing recognition that, in recent decades, higher educational institutions started adapting several business-like managerial practices into their system. In this context, the present study aims to determine the likely effect of organisational formalisation on ethical and unethical behaviour among teachers/faculty members. In addition, the study assesses the mediating mechanism of moral efficacy in the aforementioned relationships. A survey-based method was utilised to collect data from the 689 faculty members affiliated with different higher educational institutions in southern India. Structural equation modelling results revealed that formalisation has a significant positive relation with faculty member’s ethical behaviour. However, the study did not provide evidence for the predicted negative relationship between formalisation and unethical behaviour. Further, the results suggested that moral efficacy plays a significant mediating role in both these relations. Results reinforce the underlying theoretical mechanism of social cognitive theory that human function is a reciprocal determinism between person, his/her environment, and behaviour. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Keywords: Formalisation; moral efficacy; moral potency; ethical behaviour; unethical behaviour; social cognitive theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:busper:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:306-323

DOI: 10.1177/2278533720963554

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