Ethical Climate Configurations and Negative Work Outcomes

Dr. Musabyimana Ruzima William & Mukabalisa Aurelie
Adventist University of Central Africa, Rwanda
Corresponding Author: mruzimawilliam@gmail.com
Abstract: The relationship between ethical climate and negative work outcomes such as employee turnover remains largely understudied and mostly unexplained. In addition, the question on whether ethical climate configurations can explain variance in turnover intentions has been poorly understood. In order to address this gap, a model of ethical climate configurations-employee turnover intentions was developed. Using a positivistic research paradigm, the study adopted a quantitative cross-sectional design and a survey data collection strategy to test hypotheses. Structural equation modelling was utilized to determine the nature of hypothesized relationships. Structured model was specified with 6 fit indices: chisquare value = 1.958, GFI = 0.920, incremental fit index = 0.940, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.924, comparative fit index = 0.939, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.057. This model explained 33% of the variance in employee turnover intentions. This study contribute to the literature of consequences of ethical climate in three ways: (a) the understanding the mediating role of organizational commitment—between ethical climate configurations and employee turnover intentions and between organizational trust and employee turnover intention, (b) the identification of a direct positive significant influence of principled climate on employee turnover intentions reveals that utilizing the promotion of independence climate for enhancing employee retention should be used with caution, and (c) the understanding of the key role of organizational trust in employee turnover intention models as it represents the strongest influence ( = -0.369. Implications for further research and some implications for practice were discussed in this study as well.