ادراک هایی درباره نهادینه سازی اخلاق و کیفیت زندگی کاری: مدیران بازاریابی تایلندی در مقابل مدیران بازاریابی آمریکایی

Previous research suggests that ethics institutionalization positively influences quality of work life (QWL). This study hypothesizes that the effect of ethics institutionalization on QWL is stronger for Thai than U.S. managers, because the Thai culture is collectivistic, whereas the U.S. culture is individualistic. Survey data were collected from Thailand from a sample of marketing managers of Thai companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). The U.S. data involved a sample of U.S. members of the American Marketing Association. The results provide partial support for the hypotheses.

In recent years, organizations have increased efforts to institutionalize ethics, partly because such efforts positively affect employee behavior. In addition, Singhapakdi and Vitell, 2007 and Vitell and Singhapakdi, 2008) suggest that legislation such as the United States (U.S.) Federal Sentencing Guidelines of 1987, which reduces penalties for organizations that comply with minimum requirements, encourages ethics institutionalization. Similarly, Thailand enacted legislative changes in recent years aimed at reducing corruption. Wongtada, Virakul, and Singhapakdi (2006) write that “there has been a reduction in corruption [in Thailand] partly due to the establishment of the new constitution and overall public attitudes” (p. 622). Wongtada et al. (2006) also stress that the preceding economic downturn “resulted in increased public disapproval of corruption” (p. 622), which they find to be more prevalent in Thailand than in some neighboring “competitor countries” like Malaysia and Singapore. They write that “acceptance of widespread corruption by rising middle-class Thais has declined, because such practices have frightened off foreign investment…this group views…corruption as a roadblock to economic advancement” (p. 622). Though they note legislative changes, Wongtada et al. (2006) do not mention whether ethics principles are becoming institutionalized in business settings, which might benefit the country's economy. Recent years have also brought greater scholarly interest in efforts to raise the quality of life at work. One might expect that ethics institutionalization would positively affect different aspects of quality of life at work. As Singhapakdi and Vitell (2007, p. 287) argue, “organizations that institutionalize ethics appear to value integrity and trust and, as a result, often treat their employees more fairly in terms of compensation, performance evaluation, promotion and conflict resolution.” Though evidence shows increased interest in both ethics institutionalization and quality of work life (QWL) in both the United States and Thailand, the relationship between ethics institutionalization and QWL in Thailand may differ from that in the U.S. Thailand's culture is characterized as collectivistic, whereas the U.S. culture is individualistic, which could certainly be a factor in strengthening or weakening the effect of ethics institutionalization on QWL. Perhaps the ethics institutionalization effect is stronger in a collectivistic culture because of more effective group dynamics. This study examines the effects of ethics institutionalization on different aspects of employees' QWL in the U.S. and in Thailand. In addition, the work compares the relative effects of ethics institutionalization on different aspects of QWL in the two countries. No previous study has compared these variables between countries that differ so significantly in terms of culture and economic development. If the effect of ethics institutionalization on QWL is stronger in collectivistic cultures such as Thailand, the managerial implications are profound: it would be more important to institutionalize ethics programs in such countries, because the effort would have a stronger impact on QWL. Not to say that efforts of ethics institutionalization in individualistic countries are not important, but if the results support the expectation, efforts at institutionalizing ethics in places like Thailand should be considered a very important goal. With that possibility in mind, a review of the relevant literature follows, leading to the study's hypotheses.

To test the difference on ethics institutionalization and QWL between the U.S. and Thai samples, the authors used ANCOVA tests with firm size and industry type as covariates. As shown in Table 4, none of the covariates was significant, except for firm size on explicit institutionalization.H1 posits that Thai organizations will have a lower degree of explicit ethics institutionalization than U.S. organizations. The results of an F-test indicate no significant difference between Thai organizations and U.S. organizations regarding degree of explicit ethics institutionalization (p = 0.057). The result fails to support hypothesis H1. H2 states that Thai organizations will have a lower degree of implicit ethics institutionalization than U.S. organizations. The results indicate that Thai organizations do indeed have a significantly lower degree of implicit ethics institutionalization (mean = 3.8) than U.S. organizations (mean = 4.2, p < 0.05), which supports H2. H3 deals with differences in QWL between the two countries. Specifically, H3a predicts that Thai marketing managers will report less lower-order QWL than American managers. The results indicate no significant difference in lower-order QWL between Thai and American marketing managers (Thai = 3.9, U.S. = 3.8, p > 0.05). These results fail to support H3a.. H3b posits that Thai managers will report greater higher-order QWL than U.S. managers. The results support H3b (Thai = 3.9, U.S. = 3.7, p < 0.05). Overall, Thai managers report a higher degree of QWL than American managers do (Thai = 3.9, U.S. = 3.8, p < 0.05). H4 deals with the relationship between institutionalization of ethics and QWL. The researchers pooled the two samples to replicate the overall model in Singhapakdi et al. (2010). Table 5 lists the results. H4a states that explicit ethics institutionalization will positively influence implicit ethics institutionalization. In turn, implicit ethics institutionalization should positively influence both lower-order (H4b) and higher-order (H4c) QWL. The results support all three hypotheses (p < .05).H5 relates to the comparison of the strength of relationship in the conceptual model between Thai and American marketers (summarized in Table 6, and Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). Specifically, H5a predicts that the effect of explicit ethics institutionalization on implicit ethics institutionalization will likely be greater for Thai marketing managers than for American managers. The results indicate that the positive effect of explicit ethics institutionalization on implicit ethics institutionalization is greater for Thai marketers than for Americans (∆ χ2 = 4.057, p < 0.05), which supports H5a.H5b posits that the effect of implicit ethics institutionalization on lower-order QWL will likely be greater for Thai marketing managers than for Americans. The results indicate that this relationship is stronger among Thai marketers than Americans (∆ χ2 = 4.493, p < 0.05), therefore supporting H5b. H5c posits that the effect of implicit ethics institutionalization on higher-order QWL will be greater for Thais than for American marketing managers. The results indicate that, contrary to the prediction, this effect is greater for American marketers than for Thais. H5c is not supported.