The Review of Association Of Ethical Climate With Business Performance Of Women: Mediating Role Of Ethical Behavior

One of the effective factors in the women's business is the ethical climate. The studies indicated that the female entrepreneurs was attracted towards moral issues in their own organizations. Regarding the importance of ethics in the women's business success, this study investigated the association of the ethical climate with the women's business performance and ethical behavior as a mediator. The statistical population of the study included 148 Iranian female business owners who attended the 13th Women's Entrepreneurship Development Conference. Using Cochran's formulas and simple random sampling, the sample size consisted 106 women from the above mentioned participants. The data was collected by implementing Cullen Ethical Climate Questionnaire (1988), Gorgievski Women's Business Performance Questionnaire (2011) and Baker, Hunt & Andrews Ethical Behavior questionnaire (2006). The data analysis was conducted by the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using the Partial Least Squares and the PLS Smart statistical software. The findings showed that there was a positive, significant association between the ethical climate and the business performance of women. There were significant relationships between the altruistic, independent, normative and juridical climates and the business performance of Iranian women. While there was not any association between legal and instrumental climates and the business performance of women. Finally, the Ethical Climate had a significant relationship with the performance of the women's businesses through the mediator of ethical behavior.