Faculty perceptions of the campus ethical climate: By institutional type, academic discipline and professorial rank

The purpose of the present study was to examine faculty perceptions of their institution\u27s ethical climate and how selected faculty characteristics may or may not influence their perceptions. The current research was constructed around the major environments found within colleges and universities: (a) classroom, (b) student, and (c) administrative. Five ethical principles were applied to each of the environments to develop items for a campus ethical climate measure. The central questions guiding this research were: (a) Do faculty have different perceptions of the campus ethical climate and do their perceptions vary across institutional type, academic discipline, or professorial rank?; and (b) Do faculty perceptions of the campus ethical climate relate to their self-reported ethical teaching behaviors, and is the relationship different for institutional type, academic discipline, or professorial rank? To answer these questions, the Campus Ethical Climate Inventory (CECI) and the College Teaching Behaviors (CTB) scale were administered to a sample of 549 faculty at a research university and a comprehensive university in the midwest. Results of an exploratory factor analysis supported the existence of the three major college environments: student, classroom, and administrative. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to test for differences in faculty perceptions across institutional type, academic discipline, and professorial rank. Analysis of variance was used to test for differences in faculty self-reported ethical teaching behaviors across institutional type, academic discipline, and professorial rank. A regression analysis was used to test the relationship between faculty perceptions of the campus ethical climate and faculty self-reported ethical teaching behaviors. Results showed that faculty perceptions of the campus ethical climate differ significantly across institutional type but not academic discipline or professorial rank. Faculty self-reported ethical teaching behaviors did not differ across institutional type, academic discipline or professorial rank. Also, faculty perceptions of the campus ethical climate were significantly associated with their self-reported ethical teaching behaviors. Institutional type, academic discipline, and professorial rank, however, did not make a significant contribution to the relationship between perceptions and behaviors. An interpretation of these findings is given as are suggestions for future study