On culture, ethics and hierarchy: How cultural variations in hierarchical relations are manifested in the code of ethics of British and Korean organizations

Moon, C.; Uskul, A.K.; Weick, M.

doi:10.1111/jasp.12486

On culture, ethics and hierarchy: How cultural variations in hierarchical relations are manifested in the code of ethics of British and Korean organizations

Moon, C.; Uskul, A.K.; Weick, M.

Authors

C. Moon

A.K. Uskul

Professor Mario Weick mario.weick@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

The present research examined if cultural differences in the extent to which hierarchical relations dictate individuals’ behaviors are embedded in objective institutional regulations. Using quantitative and qualitative analysis, we examined codes of ethics of Korean and British organizations in relation to working relationships and corruptive behaviors. We found that, unlike British organizations, Korean organizations endorsed codes of ethics that place greater emphasis on hierarchical relations and contained prescriptions for individuals occupying senior or junior ranks. Ethical codes also appeared to be geared more towards preventing the abuse of power in Korean organizations compared with British organizations. Finally, unlike British organizations, Korean organizations often permitted top-down exchanges (not bottom-up exchanges), suggesting that in upper echelons benevolence may be more normative in Korean organizations than in British organizations.

Citation

Moon, C., Uskul, A., & Weick, M. (2018). On culture, ethics and hierarchy: How cultural variations in hierarchical relations are manifested in the code of ethics of British and Korean organizations. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48(1), 15-27. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12486

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 10, 2017
Online Publication Date	Nov 7, 2017
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2018
Deposit Date	Sep 12, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Nov 7, 2018
Journal	Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Print ISSN	0021-9029
Electronic ISSN	1559-1816
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	48
Issue	1
Pages	15-27
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12486
Keywords	Code of ethics, Culture, Organizational culture, Hierarchy.
Related Public URLs	http://kar.kent.ac.uk/63936/

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Moon, C., Uskul, A. K. & Weick, M. (2018). On culture, ethics and hierarchy: How cultural variations in hierarchical relations are manifested in the code of ethics of British and Korean organizations. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 48(1): 15-27, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12486. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.