Mediating effect of organizational commitment on nurses’ ethical climate and ethical behavior†

Hassanian, Zahra Marzieh; Shayan, Arezoo; Seyedtabib, Maryam; Tapak, Leili; Karami, Zahra

doi:10.2478/fon-2025-0060

Abstract

Objective

To study the relationship, the mediating effect of organizational commitment on nurses’ ethical climate and ethical behavior.

Methods

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to perform path analysis in this exploratory study. The participants consisted of 280 Iranian nurses who were studied through proportional random sampling. The research tool was consisted of (1) the Ethical Climate Questionnaire by Cullen and Victor, which examines the ethical standards of selfishness, philanthropy, and ethical principles, as well as the reference sources of ethical arguments, including individual, regional, and global ones; (2) Allen and Mayer’s questionnaire, which measures organizational commitment in 3 areas: emotional commitment, continuous commitment, and normative commitment; and (3) Peterson’s Ethical Behavior Questionnaire, which combines nine items to form interconnected ethical behaviors and is based on a 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using AMOS and SPSS v.23 software.

Results

The correlation coefficient between the two variables, ethical climate and ethical behavior, showed a significant relationship (r = 0.10, p = 0.085). The organizational commitment showed a significant relationship between some dimensions and the total ethical climate. The ethical climate affects the organizational commitment (beta = 3.261) and behavior (beta = 0.121). Organizational commitment does not show any significant relationship with ethical behavior. The ethical climate affects the organizational commitment and the ethical behavior.

Conclusions

Nursing managers and nursing staff should consider the ethical climate that affects the organizational commitment and nursing ethical behavior.

References

Gassas R, Salem O. Nurses’ professional values and organizational commitment. J Taibah Univ Med Sci. 2022;18:19–25.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Preshaw DH, Brazil K, McLaughlin D, Frolic A. Ethical issues experienced by healthcare workers in nursing homes: literature review. Nurs Ethics. 2016;23:490–506.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Duarte SDCM, Stipp MAC, Cardoso MMVN, Büscher A. Patient safety: understanding human error in intensive nursing care. Rev Esc Enferm USP. 2018;52:e03406.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Fu W, He F, Zhang N. Antecedents of organizational commitment of insurance agents: job satisfaction, ethical behavior, and ethical climate. J Glob Bus Insights. 2020;5:134–149.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Nelson WA, Taylor E, Walsh T. Building an ethical organizational culture. Health Care Manag (Frederick). 2020;39:168–174.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Borges R, Bernardi M, Petrin R. Cross-country findings on tacit knowledge sharing: evidence from the Brazilian and Indonesian IT workers. J Knowl Manag. 2019;23:742–762.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Meyer JP, Allen NJ, Smith CA. Commitment to organizations and occupations: extension and test of a three-component conceptualization. J Appl Psychol. 1993;78:538–551.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rodríguez-Fernández M, Herrera J, de Las Heras-Rosas C. Model of organizational commitment applied to health management systems. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18:4496.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Galletta M, Portoghese I, Melis P, et al. The role of collective affective commitment in the relationship between work-family conflict and emotional exhaustion among nurses: a multilevel modeling approach. BMC Nurs. 2019;18:5.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bratt MM, Felzer HM. Predictors of new graduate nurses’ organizational commitment during a nurse residency program. J Nurses Staff Dev. 2012;28:108–119.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rahwana KA, Yuniar ES. Job Satisfaction as a driver of organizational commitment. JAME. 2023;25:8–12.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Arslan Yürümezoğlu H, Kocaman G, Mert Haydari S. Predicting nurses’ organizational and professional turnover intentions. Jpn J Nurs Sci. 2019;16:274–285.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Miedaner F, Kuntz L, Enke C, Roth B, Nitzsche A. Exploring the differential impact of individual and organizational factors on organizational commitment of physicians and nurses. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018;18:180.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Peterson DK. The relationship between unethical behavior and the dimensions of the ethical climate questionnaire. J Bus Ethics. 2002;41:313–326.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cullen JB, Victor B, Bronson JW. The ethical climate questionnaire: an assessment of its development and validity. Psychol Rep. 1993;73:667–674.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Barattucci M, Teresi M, Pietroni D, Iacobucci S, Lo Presti A, Pagliaro S. Ethical climate(s), distributed leadership, and work outcomes: the mediating role of organizational identification. Front Psychol. 2021;11:564112.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Abadiga M, Nemera G, Hailu E, Mosisa G. Relationship between nurses’ perception of ethical climates and job satisfaction in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Oromia region, south west Ethiopia. BMC Nurs. 2019;18:39.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wang L, Li D, Wei W, Zhang T, Tang W, Lu Q. The impact of clinical nurses’ perception of hospital ethical climates on their organizational citizenship behavior: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Medicine (Baltimore). 2022;101:e28684.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ali NM, Fatemeh H. Structural equation modeling of the relationship between the intention to quit and ethical climate, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among the staff of Shiraz private hospitals. Health Inf Manage. 2011;8: 698–708.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Gharghozar ZN, –Shoorideh FA, Khazaei N, Alavi-Majd H. Assessing organizational commitment in clinical nurses. Quart J Nurs Manage. 2013;2:41–48.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Neves T, Graveto J, Rodrigues V, Marôco J, Parreira P. Organizational commitment, psychometric qualities and invariance of the Meyer and Allen Questionnaire for Portuguese Nurses1. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem. 2018;26:e3021 (in English, Portuguese, Spanish).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Heidari A, Hassanian ZM, Mazloum H. Study of Relationship Between Nurses’ Perceptions of Ethical Climate and the Ethical Behavior of Nurses in Hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Research projects. Iran, Mashhad: Mashhad Nursing and Midwifery Faculty; 2013.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Teresi M, Pietroni DD, Barattucci M, Giannella VA, Pagliaro S. Ethical climate(s), organizational identification, and employees’ behavior. Front Psychol. 2019;10:1356.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
DeVellis RF. Scale Development: Theory and Applications. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications; 1991.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Teymoori E, Rahmani V, Fereidouni A, Khachian A, Hannani S. Ethical climate of the operating room from the perspective of the surgical team and its relationship with organizational culture and organizational commitment. Perioper Care Oper Room Manag. 2022;26:100238.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jalali T, Borhani F, Esmailpur H, Aliesmaeli M, Aminizade M. Relationship between ethical climate and organizational commitment of medical emergency technicians in Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Iranian J Med Ethics Hist Med. 2017;10:91–102.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hassanian ZM, Shayan A. The mediating effect of ethical climate on religious orientation and ethical behavior. Nurs Ethics. 2019;26:1114–1127.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Moran KJ, Burson R, Conrad D. The Doctor of Nursing Practice Project: A Framework for Success. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2023.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
McDermott-Levy R, Leffers J, Mayaka J. Ethical principles and guidelines of global health nursing practice. Nurs Outlook. 2018;66:473–481.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Grego-Planer D. The relationship between organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors in the public and private sectors. Sustainability. 2019;11:6395.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Sumardjo M, Supriadi YN. Perceived organizational commitment mediates the effect of perceived organizational support and organizational culture on organizational citizenship behavior. Qual Access Success. 2023;24:376–384.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Pagliaro S, Lo Presti A, Barattucci M, Giannella VA, Barreto M. On the effects of ethical climate(s) on employees’ behavior: a social identity approach. Front Psychol. 2018;9:960.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Abou Hashish EA. Relationship between ethical work climate and nurses’ perception of organizational support, commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intent. Nurs Ethics. 2017;24:151–166.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ashfaq F, Abid G, Ilyas S. Impact of ethical leadership on employee engagement: role of self-efficacy and organizational commitment. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2021;11:962–974.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dinc MS, Huric A. The impact of ethical climate types on nurses’ behaviors in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nurs Ethics. 2017;24:922–935.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kaur J. Exploring relationships among ethical climate types and organizational commitment: a case of Indian banking sector. J Indian Bus Res. 2017;9:20–40.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Martin KD, Cullen JB. Continuities and extensions of ethical climate theory: a meta-analytic review. J Bus Ethics. 2006;69:175–194.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Abuzaid AN. The relationship between ethical leadership and organizational commitment in banking sector of Jordan. J Econ Adm Sci. 2018;34:187–203.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article