Corruption in top global companies 
It is widely acknowledged that corruption by any firm is problematic. More importantly, its negative effects are compounded when (a) corruption is present in large firms with global reach and (b) corruption ceases to be a single instance but becomes a reoccurring or perpetuating phenomenon over time.

Though the magnification of corruption over both time and size of operations creates scale effects that amplify its detrimental consequences, this context remains largely unexamined empirically. Thus, the research question is: What are the factors that contribute to corruption by large global firms?

Drawing on institutional theory, the authors examine the normative pressures that interact to create a vortex of corporate corruption that persisted over several years. The authors analyse a 9-year longitudinal dataset of 469 unique FT Global 500 companies representing 31 primary industries and 33 countries with over 3700 company year observations.

Results help disentangle a complex interaction of firm-level and headquarters country-level factors that drive corruption and impact performance among top global firms.

Leyla Orudzheva, Manjula S. Salimath & Robert Pavur. 2020. Vortex of Corruption: Longitudinal Analysis of Normative Pressures in Top Global Companies.
Journal of Business Ethics, 163(3),  529–551.

Is a uniform approach to whistle-blowing regulation effective?
The purpose of this study is to examine whether United States (U.S.)-style regulatory intervention to encourage whistle-blowing can be immediately effective if transplanted into another country with a distinctly different historical cultural background and institutional system.

A total of 98 U.S. and 84 German accountants participated in a laboratory experiment relating to a case of financial statement fraud. The provision of anti-retaliation protection and monetary rewards for whistle-blowing were manipulated and participants were asked to assume the role of an internal auditor.

The authors hypothesise and find that the provision of anti-retaliation protection and monetary rewards encourage U.S. accountants to blow the whistle. In contrast, among German accountants, where their country features a historical fear and distrust of whistle-blowers, U.S.-style regulatory interventions are less effective.

Together, the findings provide strong support for the theory of path-dependence, suggesting that whistle-blowing regulation should not be uniformly transplanted without due consideration of the unique history and culture of a country.

Gladys Lee, Esther Pittroff & Michael J. Turner. 2020. Is a Uniform Approach to Whistle-Blowing Regulation Effective? Evidence from the United States and Germany. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 163(3),  553–576.

Lack of trust undermines anti-corruption initiatives
This study explores the ways in which trust deficit undermines anti-corruption initiatives in a context with systemic corruption. Anti-corruption measures as panacea to systemic corruption are not new, but their effectiveness is debatable.

Whilst understanding the causal relationship between corruption and trust remains germane to fighting corruption, a growing number of recent studies advocate better context sensitivity in developing anti-corruption initiatives. Consistent with this, the authors unpack the perceptions of a significant section of the population in which corruption is rampant to identify factors that could enhance trust in the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures.

Using commentaries from Nigerian Netizens on two critical corruption incidents that are significant to corporations, the authors uncover poignant narratives of perception of incompetence, dishonesty and confusion that undermine the anti-corruption measures in the context. The authors argue that donors, international organisations and businesses must encourage and support beneficiaries’ governments to secure and sustain trust in the anti-corruption initiatives as a condition for better results.

Ismail Adelopo & Ibrahim Rufai. 2020. Trust Deficit and Anti-corruption Initiatives.
Journal of Business Ethics, 163(3),  429–449.

Secrecy and ethics 
Secrecy and ethics are often seen as opposing forces within organisations. Secret work is viewed as unethical, as it excludes others from knowing and is associated with self-interested behaviour. The authors contend that this view does not account for the dynamic inherent to secrecy and to the fact that ethics is embedded in social relations.

This paper suggests an alternative view. The authors  consider secrecy as a social process which allows employees to maintain their ethics when faced with managerial policies that affect the quality of their work. Building on an in-depth case study of a team of journalists who worked in secret after their managers decided to prioritise the interests of shareholders and advertising firms, the authors show how these journalists managed to maintain collective ethics through secrecy and to do their work according to their own moral principles.

This paper offers two primary contributions. First, the authors show a mutually beneficial relationship between ethics and secrecy in organisations, wherein secrecy  helps maintaining ethics in everyday work. Second, the paper shows how secrecy can lead to ethical resistance, via a transformation of the  power relationship with managers.

Dima Younes, David Courpasson & Marie-Rachel Jacob. 2020. Ethics from Below: Secrecy and the Maintenance of Ethics. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 163(3), 451–466.

Internal auditing of risk culture in the financial sector 
This exploratory study investigates the manifold conceptions of the internal auditing (IA) of risk culture prevalent among four influential actors of the financial sector—regulators, normalisers, consultants, and implementers.

By inductive analysis of 20 interviews and 295 documents, the authors illustrate a two-step interpretive scheme utilised by the four actors in their IA approaches of risk culture: defining broad goals and designing visibility schemes. The visibility schemes were tied to the demarcation, measurement, as well as the IA data collection techniques of risk culture.

The results indicate two dichotomous interpretations among the four actors concerning the IA of risk culture. The first interpretation, prevalent among regulators and implementers, promotes the control of risk culture primarily through verification. The second interpretation, adopted by consultants and normalisers, promotes the control of risk culture by IA along with the empowerment of employees through training programs.

The results not only contribute to understanding IA expansions, specifically to non-tangible domains such as risk culture but also enrich the literature exploring the mechanisms different stakeholders utilise to shape weakly professionalised IA practices.

Time Management: Working from Home
Get time management tips to stay productive and balanced when working from home part-time or full-time. Working from home is a wonderful opportunity, but time management can be a challenge. With so many demands on your time and attention, it’s a tricky balancing act to stay productive.

In this course, bestselling author and productivity expert Dave Crenshaw offers best practices for anyone who works full-time or occasionally from home. Dave begins by showing how to set up a dedicated workspace for maximum productivity, including tips on setting up your computer to ensure you stay focused. Then Dave walks through how to craft your daily schedule for peak productivity and plan meaningful breaks to avoid burnout. He explains how to collaborate with remote coworkers, including how to use virtual meetings productively.

Finally, Dave offers advice for working parents and other caregivers who might be balancing professional and personal responsibilities in the home.

Dave Crenshaw – Video available through LinkedIn Learning
Carpenteria, CA linkedin.com, 2018.

Working from home, gender and family life
Working from home has become engraved in modern working life. Although advocated as a solution to combine work with family life, surprisingly little empirical evidence supports that it decreases work–family conflict. In this paper the authors examine the role of a supportive organisational context in making working from home facilitate the combination of work and family.

Specifically, the authors address to what extent perceptions of managerial support, ideal worker culture, as well as the number of colleagues working from home influence how working from home relates to work–family conflict. By providing insight in the role of the organisational context, the authors move beyond existing research in its individualistic focus on the experience of the work–family interface.

The authors explicitly address gender differences since women experience more work–family conflict than men. The authors use a unique, multilevel organisational survey, the European Sustainable Workforce Survey conducted in 259 organisations, 869 teams and 11,011 employees in nine countries (Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom).

Results show that an ideal worker culture amplifies the increase in work family conflict due to working from home, but equally for men and women. On the other hand, women are more sensitive to the proportion of colleagues working from home, and the more colleagues are working from home the less conflict they experience.

Meaningful work: Viktor Frankl’s legacy for the 21st century 
This book offers meaningful work as one of the most relevant issues for 21st century workplaces, and organisations seeking to develop leadership and drive positive change.

It uses Viktor Frankl’s legacy as a scientific and philosophical pioneer, while combining cutting edge research findings from the behavioural sciences, organisational and management research, and human resource development with outstanding examples of new work approaches of leadership from around the globe. In order to respond to 21st century demands on meaningful work, this book harnesses the power of living meaning, values, purpose and compassion in workplaces.

Beate von Devivere shows managers, human resources experts, consultants, coaches, medical experts, students and counsellors as well as all dedicated individuals, how to find meaning in their organisations, their teams and individual functions and challenges, bringing Viktor Frankl’s approach to today’s workplaces.

Integrating a wide range of knowledge and expertise, this book covers organisational development, management practice, and findings from psychology, neuroscience as well as therapeutic approaches and new work concepts. Meaningful work is promoting an integrated approach for the ‘Copernican turn’, further promoting meaningful work, purpose and a good life.

Beate von Devivere. 2018. Meaningful Work: Viktor Frankl’s Legacy for the 21st Century.
Springer International Publishing.

How fairness, responsible leadership and worthy work affect meaningful work 
The present study extends the meaningful work and ethics literature by comparing three ethics-related antecedents. The second contribution of this paper is that in using a multi-dimensional MFW construct the authors offer a more fine-tuned understanding of the impact of ethical antecedents on different dimensions of MFW, such as expressing full potential and integrity with self.

Using an international data set from 879 employees and structural equation modelling, the authors confirmed an updated seven-dimension Comprehensive Meaningful Work Scale (CMWS). The structural model found that fairness, responsible leadership and worthy work are all significant and positively related to the majority of meaningfulness dimensions.

However, different antecedents are related to different dimensions of MFW, showing that a complex and multi-level combination of ethics-related practices are required to cultivate MFW. All relationships were in the expected positive direction except responsible leadership, which was negatively related to the MFW dimension of integrity with self. Across the seven dimensions of MFW, only the dimension ‘Service to Others’ was uniformly not predicted by any antecedent. However, all three antecedents significantly related to important dimensions of MFW not usually measured in the ethics literature, such as ‘Unity with Others’ and ‘Expressing Full Potential’.

In addition, the authors conducted dominance analysis to test the relative importance of the three antecedent across the MFW dimensions, and found that worthy work is the most dominant antecedent, although all three antecedents are the most dominant for at least one MFW dimension—further highlighting the importance of exploring MFW as a multi-dimensional construct. The authors discuss the implications for MFW theory and practice.

Marjolein Lips-Wiersma, Jarrod Haar & Sarah Wright. 2020. The Effect of Fairness, Responsible Leadership and Worthy Work on Multiple Dimensions of Meaningful Work. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 161(1), 35–52.

Spiritual leader and leadership in religion-based organisations 
In the present research, the authors qualitatively document the process by which spiritual leader and leadership emerge in religion-based organisations.

Data from 26 participants in three religion-based organisations revealed three cardinal themes that depict

(1) the development of spiritual leader (e.g., embodiment of a spiritual leader spiritual lifestyle; inspiration) and spiritual leadership (e.g., follower-based leadership),
(2) the process of developing a spiritual leader (e.g., interest/calling, personal experiences) and spiritual leadership (e.g., appointment; training), and
(3) outcomes of spiritual leader and leadership development (i.e., personal, follower and organisational growth).

Based on the results, the authors propose a model that depicts the phases involved in the development of spiritual leader/leadership in the religion-based workplace. These phases are proposed to impact the outcomes for the leader, followers, and the organisation. The implications of the results are discussed.

James J. Q. Low & Oluremi B. Ayoko. 2020. The Emergence of Spiritual Leader and Leadership in Religion-Based Organizations. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 161(3), 513–530.

Multiple cultural organisational beliefs and firm performance
How does cultural heterogeneity in an organisation relate to its underlying capacity for execution and innovation? Cultural diversity is commonly thought to present a tradeoff between task coordination and creative problem solving, with diversity arising primarily through cultural differences between individuals.

In contrast, the authors propose that diversity can also exist within persons when individuals hold multiple cultural beliefs about the organisation. The authors refer to these different forms as interpersonal and intrapersonal cultural heterogeneity. The authors argue that the former tends to undermine coordination and portends worsening firm profitability, while the latter facilitates creativity and supports greater patenting success and more positive market valuations.

To evaluate these propositions, the authors use computational linguistics to identify cultural content in employee reviews of nearly 500 publicly traded firms on a leading company review website and then develop novel, time-varying measures of cultural heterogeneity.

The empirical results lend support for the two core propositions, suggesting the need to rethink the performance tradeoffs of cultural heterogeneity: it may be possible to reap the creativity benefits of higher intrapersonal heterogeneity and, at the same time, the efficiency benefits of lower interpersonal heterogeneity.

Matthew Corritore, Amir Goldberg & Sameer Srivastava. 2020. Duality in Diversity: How Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Cultural Heterogeneity Relate to Firm Performance
Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(2), 359-394.

Does religiosity matter to valuing assets in US banks? 
This study examines whether religiosity is associated with the valuation multiples investors assign to fair-valued assets that are susceptible to managerial bias. Using a sample of U.S. banking firms, the author finds that the value relevance of such assets is higher for firms located in more religious counties than it is for firms located in less religious counties.

Moreover, the author finds that this result is more consistent with the ethicality trait than the risk aversion trait of more religious individuals. Additional tests show that the positive association between religiosity and value relevance of fair-valued assets is limited to firms with high fair value exposure, and it is stronger for firms with lower audit quality, lower institutional ownership, and lower analyst following.

The results of this study suggest that investors perceive the role played by religiosity, in particular ethicality, in curbing managerial accounting biases and price accounting estimates accordingly.

Lamia Chourou. 2020. Does Religiosity Matter to Value Relevance in U.S. Banking Firms? 
Journal of Business Ethics, 162(3),  675–697.