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Effects of Ethical Climate on the Organizational Citizenship
Perceptions and Performance of Employees
Meral ERDİRENÇELEBİ,
Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey.
E-mail: [email protected]
Ahmet Tayfur AKCAN,
Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey.
E-mail: [email protected]
___________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract
This study aims to reveal whether bank employees' assessments on the ethical climate affect
their organizational citizenship and performance. To this end, four hypotheses were developed.
The study included the employees of two state banks operating in the central district of Konya
with the highest number of branch banks. The first of these banks has 20 branches in the central
districts of Konya, whereas the other has 13 branches. The total number of "white-collar"
employees in these branches is 310. The questionnaire was distributed to all employees.
However, the number of questionnaires returned was 214. The return rate of the questionnaire
was 69%. The demographic characteristics of the participants were determined using the
descriptive statistics. In order to test the reliability of the scales used in the study, their total
item correlations were found, Cronbach's Alpha coefficients were calculated and an
exploratory factor analysis was performed. In addition, correlation analysis and confirmatory
factor analysis were utilized to identify the relationships between variables. Finally, the
accuracy of the model generated was tested in SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). All of the
hypothesis developed at the beginning of the research were accepted.
___________________________________________________________________________
Key Words: Ethical climate, organizational citizenship and employee performance
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1. Introduction
In today's competitive environment, the businesses need to attach importance to their
internal stakeholders for success. The business should also place emphasis on the ethical
climate in order to enhance employee satisfaction. Creating a positive ethical climate is
significant in terms of combating the unethical behaviors in the business. On the other hand,
the organizational citizenship which refers to all behaviors exhibited based on a voluntary basis
without any instructions offers great benefits for both the employees and the business.
Ensuring the ethical climate in a business would create the organizational citizenship and
the performance of the employees, who feel peaceful, safe and happy, would be high. Thus,
both the employees and the business would gain. In this context, this study was conducted to
examine the relationships between the ethical climate, employee performance and
organizational citizenship.
2. Conceptual Framework
2.1 Ethical Climate
The ethical climate is a part of the overall organizational climate. Creating a favorable
ethical climate in businesses is of importance for combating unethical behaviors (Günel et al.,
2015: 255). The concept of ethical climate, which was first studied by Victor and Cullen, is
typically composed of organizational practices and procedures. According to Victor and Cullen,
the ethical climate is a set of definitions about the proper behaviors perceived in terms of an
organization's image about how a problem can be overcome when faced with a problem (Victor
and Cullen, 1988: 101). In other words, the ethical climate is the institutionalized organizational
practices and processes that reveal those taken as truth and those found wrong in organizations
or that help to explain the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors (Parboteeah et al. 2005: 461).
The ethical climate may be defined as a shared perception on how the issues that could create
controversy in moral terms can be resolved and what a proper behavior is in ethical terms
(Deshpande, 1996: 655). In other words, the ethical climate is a judgment on "what constitutes
a proper behavior" and becomes a psychological mechanism where ethical issues are addressed
(Martin and Cullen, 2006:177).
By crossing the three levels of ethical criteria with the three loci of analysis, Victor and
Cullen (1987) derived nine different types of ethical climate: self-interest, company profit,
efficiency, friendship, team interest, social responsibility, personal morality, company rules and
procedures, and laws and professional codes. Victor and Cullen (1988) used this typology of
nine possible types of ethical climates to develop an ethical climate questionnaire and to collect
empirical data to validate the typology. They found that there were only five ethical climate
types existing in their data. These five types of climates are designated as instrumental (focus
on the maximization of self interest), caring (concern for the well being of others),
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independence (concern for adhering to one’s personal ethical beliefs), rules (expectation for
adhering to company’s policies and procedures), and law and code (expectation for complying
with the law and professional standards) (Wang and Hsieh, 2012: 116-117).
Researchers believe that when employees know that their actions are guided by rules and
procedures, they perceive an absence of conflict within themselves, find work more
meaningful, and display positive attitudes and behaviors in the organization (Martin & Cullen,
2006; Weeks, et al., 2006).
2.2 Organizational Citizenship
The term organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was used many years ago by Barnard
(1938), who defined the concept as an employee’s willingness to cooperate in implementing
decisions. Katz (1964) showed the importance of employee behavior in organizational
effectiveness when employee behavior should go beyond the call of duty (Zehir, etc, 2014:
1367).
In the beginning, the concept of organizational citizenship was defined as self-evolving
manners involving helpful (collaborative) acts for, rather, maintaining a system (Katz and
Kahn, 1966; Organ and Konovsky, 1989). The behaviors included in this class were then named
as prosocial behaviors (Brief and Motowidlo, 1986), contextual performance (Borman and
Motowidlo, 1993) and beyond-the-task behaviors (Van Dyne, Cummings and Parks, 1995).
Organ (1988), however, gave the name "organizational citizenship behavior" to the whole of
the behaviors in this class.
Organ (1988: 4) defined the organizational citizenship behavior as voluntary individual
behaviors not included, directly or indirectly, in the formal reward system of the organization
and allowing, as a whole, the organization to function effectively. He named this behaviour as
"good soldier syndrome" (Bitmiş et al., 2014: 3).
Basically, the organizational citizenship behavior takes place with the voluntary
participation of the members of organization, signifies beyond the expected behavior and is
mainly divided into two (Baron, 2000). The first-type organizational citizenship behavior takes
place in the form of an active participation and contribution in the organizational structure,
practices and goals. The second type, however, reveals itself as staying away from any kind of
behaviors that may damage applications and goals (Basım and Şeşen: 85).
Organ (1988) and Podsakoff et al. (1990) studied the organizational citizenship behavior in
five main categories, namely altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, gentlemanliness
(sportsmanship) and civic virtue.
The first dimension of altruism describes an individual’s helping behavior that assists
colleagues in completing an organizationally relevant task or problem. This behavior is
intended to help a specific person directly in face-to-face situations, for example, by supporting
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colleagues and assisting newcomers. The dimension of conscientiousness refers to
discretionary behavior that goes beyond the personality trait of being thorough, careful, or
vigilant. It involves impersonal behavior such as compliance with norms that define a good
worker (BabcockRoberson & Strickland, 2010). The dimension of sportsmanship is the
willingness of the employee to tolerate less than ideal circumstances without, for example,
complaining about trivial matters. The dimension courtesy refers to “discretionary behavior on
the part of an individual aimed at preventing work-related problems with others from
occurring,” for example, consulting others before taking action. The dimension of civic virtue
represents an employee’s willingness to attend voluntarily, and participate actively, in team
meetings (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990; Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, &
Bachrach, 2000).
The organizational citizenship behaviors are generally considered as "above and beyond"
business behaviors. These behaviors are neither a necessity nor an order; however, they are of
great significance for the functioning of the organization (Chen et al., 2002; Podsakoff and
Mackenzie, 1994; Podsakoff et al., 1997). Some researchers who put emphasis on this topic
state that organizational citizenship behaviors do not constitute the primary task of an
individual, but rather, they contribute to organizational effectiveness since they shape the
organizational and social environment, just being supportive of functional activities (Bormani
and Motowidlo, 1997: 67).
2.3 Relationship of Ethical Climate and Organizational Citizenship with Employee
Performance
"Performance" is the financial service or thought resulting from the effort to fulfill a task in
a way to meet predetermined criteria and to achieve the goal (Bedük, 2012: 194). In other
words, based on certain conditions, the level of performance (fulfilment) of a work or the way
of behavior of the performer is called performance (Bingöl, 2003: 273).
In studies where the relationship between the ethical climate perceptions and the satisfaction
and commitment of the performers are examined, it was concluded that the positive perceptions
of ethical climate enhance the satisfaction of the performer (Koh and Boo, 2001; Okpara and
Wynn, 2008; Schwepker, 2001; Elçi and Alpkan, 2009; Sims and Kroeck, 1994). As a result,
however, the employee performance is increased and, as the employee perceives the
organization as a secure environment, this increases the organization's effectiveness and
efficiency. The positive ethical climate helps the employee to exhibit a good performance. In
line with this strategy, the positive ethical climate would have a positive effect on the
performance. A positive ethical climate would increase profitability through reducing the costs
and ensure affiliation of good sellers to the company (Weeks et al., 2004: 203). In their studies,
Jaramillo et al. (2006: 277-278) showed that the ethical climate has positive effects on the
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salespersons' business behaviors and leads to an improvement in performance causing a
lowering of work stress due to the intention to leave the job.
The ethical climate relationship to organizational citizenship behavior (Podsakoff et al.
2000; LePine et al. 2002). OCB is especially interesting variable to study in relation to
organizational ethics, because, given its discretionary nature, it is more likely to vary across
employees than task performance (Kacmar et al. 2011).
Organizational citizenship behaviors affect the employee performance in many ways. For
instance, they may facilitate the achievement of the objectives which are more efficient for the
organization, may allow the managers to save energy and time that they will spend for the
activities ensuring the continuity of the organization (creating the team spirit, morale etc.), may
ensure an effective coordination of the team members, may enhance the organization's ability
to adapt to changing and emerging technologies and may make the organization a more
attractive place for the employees (Podsakoff et al., 2000: 513-566; Cohen and Vigoda, 2000:
596-625).
Shore, Barksdale, and Shore (1995) have noted that because OCBs are somewhat more
volitional than task performance, managers may use them as indicators of how motivated
employees are to make the organization effective. As a result, OCBs may serve as behavioral
cues of an employee’s commitment to the success of the organization that managers incorporate
in their assessments of employee job performance (Podsakoff, et al, 2009: 124).
Employee performance is increasingly being seen to encompass constructs such as
organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).Workers, who go above and beyond the minimum
requirements of their employee description, by suggesting improvements, affect performance
and result with enhanced workgroup efficiency (Chelagat, et al., 2015: 55).
Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) are discretionary behaviors that contribute to
organizational effectiveness yet are not explicitly rewarded (Organ, 1988). Examples of OCB
are helping coworkers, promoting the organization outside of work, and volunteering for
extrajob activities (Organ and Ryan, 1995). Some of the predictors of OCB include
organizational commitment, fairness, and job satisfaction (Organ and Ryan, 1995). Turnipseed
(2002) found that individuals who scored higher with regard to ethicality also exhibited more
OCB. It was his conclusion that OCB could be considered the manifestation of ethical behavior
in the workplace.
But, the OCBs, ethical climate and employee performance in banking sector are not well
documented and represent a significant gap in the literature.
3. Methodology
3.1 Aim, Hypotheses and Sample of the Study
This study aims to reveal the effect of ethical climate perceptions of the business employees
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on the organizational citizenship and employee performance.
To this end, the hypotheses developed within the study are as follows:
H1= The ethical climate perception of employees has a positive effect on organizational
citizenship.
H2= The ethical climate perception of employees has a positive effect on their
performances.
H3= The organizational citizenship understanding of employees has a positive effect on
their performances.
H4= The ethical climate perception of employees has a positive effect on their
performances through their organizational citizenship.
Figure 1: Research Model
H1
H4
H2 H3
In line with the aim of the study, the state banks within the service industry were taken as
the basis. In order to set limitations with regards to the banks, the two state banks operating in
the central district of Konya with the highest number of branch banks were identified as the
universe. The first of these banks has 20 branches in the central districts of Konya, whereas the
other has 13 branches. The total number of "white-collar" employees in these branches is 310.
The questionnaire was distributed to all employees. However, the number of questionnaires
returned was 214. The return rate of the questionnaire was 69%.
3.2 Scales Used in the Research and Data Collection
As the data collection method, a questionnaire of four sections and a total of 38 expressions
were used. The first section consisted of questions (6 question) on the demographic
characteristics of the participants. In the second section, the assumptions on the ethical climate
included in the questionnaire used by Schwepker (2001) to measure the organizational ethical
climate and the studies of Biçer (2005) who based his study on this questionnaire and adapted
it to his study translating it into Turkish and that of Çevirgen and Üngüren (2009) were utilized.
In this way, in order to measure the organizational ethical climate, a total of 7 expressions were
Ethical Climate Organizational
Citizenship
Employee
Performance
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produced on the existence of ethical principles and policies of the organization, their
implementation and the support of the top management for the ethical behaviors. In the third
section, the studies of Basım and Şeşen (2006), who adapted the scale used by Organ (1988)
and developed by Podsakoff et al. (2000) to measure five dimensions of OCB (Organ, 1988),
to measure the organizational citizenship by translating it into Turkish, were utilized. It consists
of a total of 19 expressions (-item scale namely altruism, courtesy, conscientiousness, civic
virtue and sportsmanship).
In the last section, the scale, consisting of 6 statement which was developed by Tayfun and
Çatır (2013) from the studies of Kirkman and Rosen (1999) and Fuentes et al. (2004) to measure
the employee performance, was used. Sigler and Pearson’s model (2000) is consistent with
previous research on empowerment that has examined both antecedents and consequences of
perceptions of empowerment. In these models, perceptions of empowerment are shown to
mediate the relationship between the hypothesized antecedents and the consequences. For
example, Spreitzer (1996) proposes a theoretical model where aspects of the social structure
are antecedent to the psychological sense of empowerment with consequences hypothesized as
innovation and effectiveness. Kirkman and Rosen (1999) tested the hypothesis that perceptions
of team empowerment would mediate the relationships between characteristics of job and
organization and team effectiveness outcomes and found that team empowerment fully
mediated seven of eight relationships.
In order to identify the demographic characteristics of the participants, descriptive statistics
were utilized. In order to test the reliability of the scales used in the study, their total item
correlations were found, Cronbach's Alpha coefficients were calculated and an exploratory
factor analysis was performed. In addition, correlation analysis and confirmatory factor analysis
were utilized to identify the relationships between variables and, lastly, LISREL 8.70 was
utilized in the SEM to test the accuracy of the generated models.
4. Findings
4.1 Demographic Findings
The demographic characteristics of 214 people surveyed who work in the businesses within
the study, are shown in Table 1.
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Table 1: Frequency Distribution on the Demographic Characteristics of Participants
Parameters Frequency Percentage Parameters Frequency Percentage
Age
20-29 82 38,3 Title
Manager 27 12,6
30-39 94 44,0
“White-Collar”
Employee
187 87,4
40-49 31 14,4
Work
Experience
1-5 years 55 25,7
50+ 7 3,3 6-10 years 69 32,2
Sex
Female 106 49,5 11-15 years 49 22,8
Male 108 50,5 16-20 years 35 16,4
Marital
Status
Married 118 55,2 20+ 6 2,8
Single 96 44,8
Educational
Background
High School 14 6,6
Bachelor’s
Degree
(Undergraduate)
183 85,5
Total 214 100,00 Master’s Degree
(Graduate)
17 7,9
Total 214 100,00
As seen in Table 1, the respondents were of 30 to 39 age group by (44%), male employees
by (50,5%), married by (55,2%), “White-Collar” Employee by (87,4%), had a work experience
of 6 to 10 years by (32,2%) and held a Bachelor's Degree by (85,5%).
4.2 Reliability and Validity of Data Collection Tool
In the assessment of the reliability of the scales included in the questionnaire (the internal
consistency), the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was utilized. Table 2 shows the Cronbach's
alpha coefficients of the scales using the total score (total score of the items constituting the
questionnaire) calculated during the analysis of the data. The values indicate a very high internal
consistency.
Table 2: Reliability Coefficients of the Scales
Scale Measurement Interval Item Number Cronbach Alfa
Coefficient
Ethical Climate 5 Scale (Between 1-5) 7 ,920
Organizational Citizenship 5 Scale (Between 1-5) 19 ,865
Employee Performance 5 Scale (Between 1-5) 6 ,798
Before making the exploratory factor analysis, the level of correlation of the data matrix was
examined. In this regard, the level of mutual correlation between variables and its suitability
for the factor analysis was evaluated with the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test. The data set
was found suitable for the exploratory factor analysis since all of the KMO values of the basic
scales used in the study were higher than 0,60 and the Barlett values were found to be significant
with a severity of 0,05.
In order to identify the sub-dimensions of the scales including the main variables of this
study, the exploratory factor analysis was utilized. The values were observed to be high. The
factor analysis resulted in a single factor with a total variance of 72,501% on the ethical climate
scale, a factor with a total variance of 85,990% on the organizational citizenship scale and a
single factor with a total variance of 65,030% on employee performance.
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4.3 Correlation Analysis
In order to examine the relationships between the sub-factors of ethical climate, employee
performance and organizational citizenship variables, the Pearson correlation analysis was
performed. The results of the analysis made using one-sided tail test are shown in the following
table. The results were found to be within 95% confidence interval and at p <0.01 level.
Table 3: Correlation Analysis
Ethical
Climate
Civic
Virtue Altruism Conscientiousness Courtesy and
Gentlemanliness
Employee
Performan
Ethical Climate r 1
Civic Virtue r ,386** 1
Altruism r ,301** ,394** 1
Conscientiousness r ,365** ,405** ,411** 1
Courtesy and
Gentlemanliness
r ,357**
,360** ,408** ,416** 1
Employee
Performance r ,304* ,207** ,265* ,236* ,255** 1
**Correlation significant at the 0.01 level
*Correlation significant at the 0.05 level
Examining the results on Table 3, it is seen that each subscale of the ethical climate and
organizational citizenship is in a positive and meaningful relationships with each other. Given
the relationship between ethical climate and employee performance, a positive relationship is
evident. Besides, there is a positive relationship between the sub-dimensions of organizational
citizenship and the employee performance.
4.4 Confirmatory Factor Analysis
In this section, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed to see the accuracy of the factor
structures created as a result of the literature review and exploratory factor analysis. As a result
of the analysis, the E7 in the ethical climate scale was excluded from analysis due to not bearing
the required value (0,34). The values obtained are presented in Table 4.
Table 4: Results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the Scales Used in the Study
Ethical Climate Scale
Fit
Indices
Criterias Limits of Fit Values Sub-
Dimensions
Item Std.
Reg. of
weight
t
Value
𝝒𝟐 / df 0< χ²/df<2 Perfect Fit /
2< χ²/df<3 Good Fit
2,45 Good Fit
Factor
1:Ethical
Climate
E1 0,89
13,25
RMSEA ≤0.05= Perfect Fit ≤0,06-0,08= Good Fit
0,08 Good Fit E2 0,92
16,05
RMR ≤0.05= Perfect Fit ≤0,06-0,08= Good Fit
0,06 Good Fit E3 0,89
17,52
NFI ≥0,90= iyi uyum
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,95 Perfect Fit E4 0,91
20,45
NNFI ≥0,90= iyi uyum
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,95 Perfect Fit E5 0,88
19,28
CFI ≥0,90= iyi uyum
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,94 Good Fit E6 0,85
17,14
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RFI ≥0,90= iyi uyum
≥0,95= Perfect Fit 0,90 Good Fit
GFI ≥0,90= iyi uyum
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,86 Acceptable
AGFI ≥0,90= iyi uyum
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,85 Acceptable
IFI ≥0,90= iyi uyum
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,95 Perfect Fit
Organizational Citizenship Scale
𝝒𝟐 / df 0< χ²/df<2 Perfect Fit 1,45 Perfect Fit
Factor 1:
Civic Virtue
ÖV
12 0,84
10,39
RMSEA ≤0.05= Perfect Fit ≤0,06-0,08= Good Fit
0,05 Perfect Fit ÖV
13 0,83
11,23
RMR ≤0.05= Perfect Fit ≤0,06-0,08= Good Fit
0,05 Perfect Fit ÖV
17 0,87
15,12
NFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,96 Perfect Fit ÖV
18 0,82
12,01
NNFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,97 Perfect Fit ÖV
19 0,85
14,89
CFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,97 Perfect Fit
Factor 2:
Altruism
ÖV
1 0,80
13,03
RFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit 0,96 Perfect Fit
ÖV
2 0,69
8,55
GFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,91 Good Fit ÖV
3 0,79
10,19
AGFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,91 Good Fit ÖV
4 0,83
11,51
IFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,97 Perfect Fit ÖV
5 0,82
11,68
Factor 3:
Conscientious
ness
ÖV
6 0,76
10,45
ÖV
7 0,88
12,03
ÖV
8 0,82
11,65
ÖV
16 0,77
10,11
Factor 4:
Courtesy and
Gentlemanlin
ess
ÖV
9 0,83
13,83
ÖV
10 0,91
15,30
ÖV
11 0,90
14,04
ÖV
14 0,76
12,52
ÖV
15 0,71
10,23
Emplooye Performance Scale
𝝒𝟐 / df 0< χ²/df<2 Perfect Fit
2< χ²/df<3 Good Fit
2,12 Good Fit
Factor 1:
P1 0,81
20,02
RMSEA ≤0.05= Perfect Fit
≤0,06-0,08= Good Fit 0,06 Good Fit P2
0,81 19,87
RMR ≤0.05= Perfect Fit
≤0,06-0,08= Good Fit 0,06 Good Fit P3
0,82 18,23
NFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,95 Perfect Fit P4 0,77
14,89
NNFI ≥0,90= Good Fit 0,95 Perfect Fit P5 0,63 10,88
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≥0,95= Perfect Fit Employee
Performance
CFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,95 Perfect Fit P6 0,79
15,49
RFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit 0,95 Perfect Fit
GFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,90 Good Fit
AGFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,89 Acceptable
IFI ≥0,90= Good Fit
≥0,95= Perfect Fit
0,95 Perfect Fit
The fact that the fit indices in Table 4 are within the limits of perfect fit and acceptable fit
show that the data have statistically a good fit and are very consistent. All these indicators show
that the scales used in the study are statistically significant and valid. The Ethical Climate scale
consists of a single factor whereas the organizational citizenship scale and the employee
performance consist of respectively four factors and a single factor.
4.5 Evaluation of Structural Equation Models
The measurement model, tested for validation and found to be within the required limits of
fit values, and the structural model were tested using path analysis. In order to determine
significant relationships, their t values (significance level: 5%, critical value: 1.96) were
examined (t>1,96). The research model, in fact, aimed to research the relationship between
latent variables. The evaluation of the hypotheses within the context of the research model
are presented in Table 5.
Table 5: Hypothesis Results within the Context of Research's Structural Equation Model
Hypothesis Estimate SE t P Result
H1= The ethical climate perception of employees has
a positive effect on organizational citizenship. 0,425 0,08 14,569 0,01 Accept
H2=The ethical climate perception of employees has
a positive effect on their performances. 0,369 0,03 12,236 0,00 Accept
H3=The organizational citizenship understanding of
employees has a positive effect on their
performances.
0,381 0,02 19,601 0,00 Accept
H4=The ethical climate perception of employees has
a positive effect on their performances through their
organizational citizenship.
0,154 0,06 14,002 0,00 Accept
5. Conclusion
Having been conducted on the bank employees operating in the service sector, the study has
strengthened expectation that the ethics codes and practices perceived determined by
management in such organizations where there is a one-to-one interaction with the customers
would contribute to the development of behaviors in conformity with the ethical climate. The
ethical climate environment is seen to eliminate the task ambiguity. The workplace
environment significantly affects the employee performance.
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The first hypothesis discussed in study was that the employees' perception of ethical climate
affects their organizational citizenship positively. The model outcomes showed that the bank
employees' perceptions of ethical climate have a positive impact on their organizational
citizenship (ß= 0,42 and p=0,01). Hence, as the employees' perceptions of ethical climate
increases, their understanding of organizational citizenship would also improve. The conclusion
derived from the model supports the literature (Shin, 2012; Huang et al., 2012; Ehrhart, 2004;
Çavuş and Develi, 2015; Walumbwa et al., 2010).
The second hypothesis discussed is that the employees' perception of ethical climate affect
their performances positively. According to the model outcomes obtained (see Table 4), the
hypothesis H2 (ß= 0,36 and p=0,00) was accepted. In the literature, the positive effect of ethical
climate on the employee performance was also discussed in certain researches (Deshpande,
1996; Schwepker, 2001; Jaramillo et al., 2006; Mulki et al., 2006; Koh and Boo, 2001; Martin
and Cullen, 2006; Sims and Kroeck, 1994; Eren and Hayatoğlu, 2011; Okpara and Wynn,
2008).
The third hypothesis discussed was that the employees' understanding of organizational
citizenship affects their performance positively. An improvement is attained in performance
through the increased cooperation and harmony within the organization. The model outcomes
indicated that the hypothesis was accepted (ß= 0,38 and p=0,00). The obtained result also
appears to support previous studies in the literature (Borman and Motowidlo, 1997; Williams
and Anderson, 1991; Cropanzano et al., 2003; Organ, 1988; Çelik and Çıra, 2013; Şehitoğlu
and Zehir, 2010; Ulufer, 2016; Nielsen et al., 2009).
The hypothesis H4 arguing that the perception of ethical climate positively affects their
performances through their organizational citizenship was accepted (ß= 0,15 and p=0,00). In
the literature, only a few publications were reached. Huang et al. (2012) and Chun et al. (2011)
also reached similar conclusions.
The ethical climate offers an environment that distinguishes right behavior from wrong
behavior. And, such an environment prevents the employees from facing adverse conditions
such as mobbing. In conclusion, an improvement is experienced in the quality of management,
organizational commitment, job satisfaction etc. and an understanding of organizational
citizenship is developed thanks to these improvements. On the other hand, a sense of belonging
and loyalty is developed once the understanding of organizational citizenship is adopted by the
employees. Each contribution made by the employees to the organization motivates them in
every sense and ensures an increased performance. The increase in employee performance also
increases the performance of the organization.
In addition; the support of senior management within the organization, managers' operation
within the framework of ethical rules like employees, the sanctions to be applied in case of
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
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failure to adhere to the ethics and awarding of the ethical behavior when necessary are examples
of the policies that need to be developed. Thanks to the human resources policies to be
developed, it will be easier to retain staff who adopts the ethical climate environment in labor-
intensive service-sector organizations where labor turnover rate is high and the production and
consumption take place simultaneously, such as banks.
This study is based only on the employees of two state banks located in the city center of
Konya. In a way to cover a wider sample in the future, it is recommended to conduct studies in
different cities and in a way to compare private and state-owned banks. In addition, it is
believed that conducting this study in different sectors would enrich the literature.
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