Employee perception of Codes of ethics and its impact on organizational performance: Evidence from the UAE

Abstract:

Ethical governance in the United Arab Emirates is still in its infancy stage and unexplored. The purpose of this study is to examine the role played by ethical climate, codes of ethics on organizational performance in public sector organizations. In particular, the research will shed light on the link between formalized ethical procedures and employee responses including corporate social responsibility, organizational engagement, and organizational performance among public sector employees. Data was collected from 425 employees working in public sector organizations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis will be performed to verify the identified dimensions and to check unidimensionality and validity. Structural Equation Modeling will be used to test the proposed hypotheses. The paper contributes to the literature by being one of the first to study organizational ethical climate within a Middle Eastern context, and will offer important implications for theory and practice.