Ethical Issues and Multicultural Neutralization Attitudes among Professionals in Graduate Leadership Program

Robert J. Manley
(Dowling College, Oakdale, New York, USA)

Abstract: Organizations rely on the integrity of their leaders and other employees to sustain the mission of the enterprise and to build customer support for services and products. Integrity is an expression of one’s ethical sensibility. Social factors often influence the level of ethical behavior within a social system such as a school district, hospital or business. In their book, Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner describe Paul Feldman’s bagel business and its measurement of white-collar crime in corporations that are in the Washington, D.C. area. Approximately, 87 percent of his clients were honest and paid for a bagel and coffee offered on an honor system in the executive and employee lounges. Neutralization and rationalization are human cognitive processes that some people employ to excuse wrongful behavior. This paper presents data from a small sample of multicultural executives and contrasts their openness to neutralization processes. USA and non-USA native-born respondents share similar attitudes towards neutralization as Cazzaniga suggested.

Key words: ethics; neutralization; rationalization and moral leadership

JEL code: D73