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This research examines the relationship between Top management support for ethical behavior, ethical climate, moral awareness, and employee job satisfaction. A total of 200 employees in eight organizations were surveyed using a quantitative method. The results indicated a significant relationship between job satisfaction and top management support for ethical behavior. There is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and the association between ethical behavior and career success. Ethical climate partially mediates the relationship between top management support for ethical behavior and job satisfaction, while moral awareness moderates the relation between ethical climate and job satisfaction. The research discussed implications and recommended future research.
Keywords: organizational ethics, job satisfaction, ethical climate, moral awareness, Arab culture
INTRODUCTION
Ethical business practices can have several purposes. First, they make it easier for managers to follow laws and regulations. Second, reasonable ethical policies create trust and reliability for suppliers and creditors responsible for running a business. Third, employees' satisfaction and willingness to work are the key to organizational goals. Unfortunately, one can see how organizational ethics are becoming harder to determine and resolve, especially when it revolves around societal expectations, fair competition, legal protection and rights, and social responsibilities (Koh & Boo, 2001).
On the other hand, international sales are expected to generate much profit for many organizations. However, (Singhapakdi 1 999) explains that expanding to other foreign markets will not necessarily create more profits but may create other challenges for the organization that they may not face in their original country. For example, different cultures communicate differently within an organization. However, (Sims, 2006) noticed that few studies have focused on ethics across different cultures. For example, (Burns and Brady, 1996), in empirical research, consistently discovered true differences in ethical perceptions of business students in the GCC region compared to their counterparts in the USA. The GCC countries are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Yemen, and United Arab Emirates. As GCC countries gradually welcome more foreign trade and investment, more people are interested in researching organizational ethics in the area (Koh& Boo, 2001). (Abbas J.A, 2008) researched the economic and cultural conditions that caused the rising appearance of work ethics and the centrality of trade in Islamic culture. Islamic work ethics has economic as well as moral...