Effects of Cultural Values and Beliefs on the Resolution of Ethical Dilemmas: A U.S.-Turkey Comparison by Ali Fehmi Unal A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-Newark Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Organization Management written under the direction of Chao Chen ________________________ and approved by Danielle Warren ________________________ Oliver Sheldon ________________________ Stan Gully ________________________ Newark, New Jersey October, 2015 ABSTRACT Effects of Cultural Values and Beliefs on the Resolution of Ethical Dilemmas: A U.S.- Turkey Comparison By Ali Fehmi Unal Dissertation Director: Professor Chao C. Chen Priority given to goals of prosperity, justice and rights affect organizational and societal stability and progression; however, research on the trade-offs between these goals has been relatively scarce. In this study, I investigate whether managers from the U.S. and Turkey resolve ethical dilemmas differently and whether the cultural value of collectivism and the inequality-is-just belief explain such differences. By cross examining the broad dimensions of collective welfare (economic prosperity vs. social justice) and individual rights (rights of the privileged vs. those of the disadvantaged) I developed four ethical dilemmas that involve conflicts between 1) economic prosperity and social justice, 2) economic prosperity and rights of the disadvantaged, 3) social justice and rights of the privileged, and 4) rights of the privileged and those of the disadvantaged. Scenarios situate the ethical dilemmas in the context of a society and a company. Data from 286 managers in the U.S. and Turkey was analyzed, and the results reveal that Turkish managers were more collectivistic and have weaker belief that inequality is just than U.S. managers. Compared with their U.S. counterparts, Turkish managers showed a stronger preference for social justice over economic prosperity and the rights of the privileged in the society scenarios, a stronger preference for economic prosperity over ii rights of the disadvantaged in the company scenario, as well as a stronger preference for rights of the disadvantaged over the privileged in both scenarios. Inequality justification had a positive effect on preference for economic prosperity over social justice in both scenarios, preference for economic prosperity and rights of the privileged over the disadvantaged in the society scenario, and preference for rights of the privileged over social justice in the company scenario. Furthermore, collectivism had a significant positive effect on preference for social justice over privileged rights in the company scenario. And finally, the effect of nationality on ethical preferences was at least partially mediated by inequality justification and collectivism in the above ethical dilemmas where collectivism and inequality justification had significant effects. Theoretical and practical implications of cross-cultural and within culture differences in ethical preferences are discussed. Keywords Ethical dilemmas, justice, inequality, rights, prosperity, culture, collectivism, inequality justification, U.S., Turkey. iii Preface This dissertation is dedicated to beloved family members: my father Ahmet Unal (rest in peace), my mother Songul Unal, my wife Karima Idouaksim, and my brother Furkan Unal. Without their unconditional love and support, this dissertation would not be possible. iv Acknowledgements I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the administrators and faculty members at Uludag University, Turkey, for trusting me and for their support, financially and otherwise, during the attainment of this PhD degree. Without their support pursuing a PhD degree would not be possible. I also would like to express my appreciation to Chao Chen, my advisor and dissertation chair, who has been a great mentor to me. I am also grateful to the committee members, Danielle Warren, Oliver Sheldon, and Stan Gully for their insights, guidance and demand for excellence. Thanks for your support, encouragement and trust throughout the process. It was a privilege to work with all of you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii Preface................................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. v INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………1 PRIOR LITERATURE ....................................................................................................... 7 THEORY DEVELOPMENT AND HYPOTHESES........................................................ 12 A Framework of Ethical Dilemmas ...............................................................................12 Economic prosperity versus social justice. ...............................................................14 Collective welfare versus individual rights.. .............................................................18 Rights of the privileged versus rights of the disadvantaged.. ...................................25 Cross-Cultural and Within Cultural Differences ............................................................28 Cultural Values and Beliefs as Determinants of Ethical Preferences ..............32 Effect of collectivism and inequality justification on the preference for economic prosperity over social justice.. ..................................................................................33 Effect of collectivism and inequality justification on the preference for collective welfare over individual rights.. .................................................................................39 Effect of collectivism and inequality justification on the preference for rights of the disadvantaged over those of the privileged.. .............................................................47 Collectivism and Inequality Justification as Mediators .................................................50 METHOD ......................................................................................................................... 54 Design and Pretest of the Ethical Dilemma Scenarios ...................................................54 Scenario development. ..............................................................................................55 Pretest of the scenarios..............................................................................................56 vi Sample and Procedure ....................................................................................................61 Analyses and Results ......................................................................................................63 Scale validation .........................................................................................................63 Descriptive statistics. ................................................................................................69 Cross cultural comparison: U.S. versus Turkey........................................................71 Hypotheses testing with regression analyses. ...........................................................72 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 84 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS ....................................................................................... 91 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS .............................................................. 93 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 97 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................... 110 TABLES .......................................................................................................................110 FIGURES .....................................................................................................................131 SCENARIOS ................................................................................................................134 vii List of Tables Table 1. Ethical Dilemmas Table 2. Results of scenario pretests: Is there a dilemma in this scenario? Table 3. Results of comprehension check question: What is the dilemma in this scenario? Table 4. Initial EFA Results with all collectivism items: U.S. sample Table 5. Initial EFA results with all collectivism items: Turkey sample Table 6. EFA results: Final collectivism items Table 7. CFA results with 3-factor model of collectivism scale Table 8. Initial EFA results with all inequality justification items: U.S. sample Table 9 Initial EFA results with all inequality justification items: Turkey sample Table 10. EFA results: Final inequality justification items Table 11. CFA results with 3-factor model of inequality justification scale Table 12. Means, standard deviations, and correlations for the U.S. sample Table 13. Means, standard deviations, and correlations for the Turkish sample Table 14. Means, standard deviations, and correlations for the combined (U.S. + TR) sample Table 15. Results of hierarchical regression analysis: Effect of cultural values and beliefs on the preference of economic prosperity over social justice