Establishing Organizational Ethical Climates: How Do Managerial Practices Work?

Over the past two decades, Victor and Cullen’s (Adm Sci Q 33:101–125, 1988) typology of ethical climates has been employed by many academics in research on issues of ethical climates. However, little is known about how managerial practices such as communication and empowerment influence ethical climates, especially from a functional perspective. The current study used a survey of employees from Taiwan’s top 100 patent-owning companies to examine how communication and empowerment affect organizational ethical climates. The results confirm the relationship between these two managerial practices and organizational ethical climates. We discuss our results and their implications for both future academic research and practice.