Constructing and Validating an Instrument for Measuring Employees’ Ethical Behavior

Studies show that ethical behavior has great importance in the performance of organization members. So, the purpose of this study is to constructing and validating an instrument for measuring employee's ethical behavior.

 This is a field study and has a practical goal. The statistical population included 633 people working in Sports and Youth Offices in Great Khorasan. Proportionate stratified sampling was used to select 450 of the employees as the statistical sample. Steps for making questionnaire were taken by the use of required statistical methods. Besides descriptive statistics for example mean and standard deviation, inferential statistics like exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used.

Based on the results, ethical behavior questionnaire was made. It is a 39-item questionnaire divided into three factors including individual, group and organizational factors. Individual factor includes three sub-factors (locus of control, self-esteem, religious beliefs and conscience); Group factor includes two sub-factors (clients and colleagues); and finally organizational factor includes three sub-factors (organizational culture, organizational commitment, codes of ethics).

This questionnaire is capable of measuring employees’ ethical behavior. Therefore, it is suggested that managers of organizations consider the factors of this questionnaire to improve employee's ethical behavior at work.