The Impact of Ethnicity on an Employee`s Readiness to comply with a Code of Conduct: Differences between German/Austrian and Chinese Employees

Abstract

The authors assess how ethnicity impacts ethical choices of an employee towards corporate compliance behaviour as part of the ethical decision making process at work. An employee faces an ethical dilemma in business situations when he/she is caught in an ethical conflict between his/her individual moral standards and a Code of Conduct, representing the moral values of the company. The authors investigate potential connections between ethnicity and individual ethical decision making. This study obtained original data to analyze the potential impact of ethnicity on employees in Germany, Austria and the PR China.