Ethical Behavior, Management Support and Job Satisfaction: An Exploratory Study on SMEs in Indonesia

Abstract

Organizational ethics influence the formation of a good environmental atmosphere for all members of the organization. The application of ethics in the organization will be able to increase employee job satisfaction. This research aims to investigate the relationship between organizational ethics and job satisfaction in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Sulawesi. This study was analyzed using the multiple regression method by taking research objects from 350 SME actors in three districts, namely Gowa, Wajo and Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi. This study focused on three subjects of study, namely the climate of egoistic ethics, the climate of kindness ethics, and the climate of principled ethics. The results of the study found that there was no effect of business owner support for ethical behavior on job satisfaction. Individual efforts in finding suitability with the work environment create space so that the relationship does not show significant value. The ethical climate with job satisfaction shows a positive significance, but the egoistic ethical climate gets the lowest score. Conversely, a climate of kindness affects employee awareness, creating a sense of satisfaction. The ethical behavior of the company in career success has a significant and negative effect on job satisfaction. Career ethics that are valued or not appreciated, have the opposite effect on the level of job satisfaction. The research implies that the mapping of ethical values and satisfaction can take the form of a code of ethics in doing business that reflects employees'  ideas and organizational cultural values which can be taught in Business Ethics courses at all levels of higher education.