Generational Differences in Shaping Employees’ Ethical Behavior for Sustainable Organization: A Meta-Analysis
Abstract
The ethical behavior of employees is critical to organizational success, yet fostering such behavior presents persistent challenges in today's dynamic workplace. Predictable factors such as cultural diversity, technological advancements, and evolving societal expectations highlight the pressing need for robust strategies to promote ethical conduct. Due to that, this paper investigates generational differences in shaping employees’ ethical behavior for sustainable organizations through a comprehensive meta-analysis. Using university electronic databases (Scopus) as a search lens to locate related articles, a meta-analytical technique is employed to analyze and synthesize available literature. The following themes of ethical behavior and generational differences were used to assess selected studies. Inclusion criteria focused on studies published within the past 10 years, ensuring relevance to recent organizational contexts. By systematically analyzing and synthesizing the literature, this paper provides actionable insights for researchers and practitioners aiming to address challenges of generational differences in shaping employees’ ethical behavior. The findings highlight the distinct ethical values held by each generation and underscore the importance of fostering a cohesive ethical principle within organizations. A significant gap in the findings is the limited exploration of how generational ethical perspectives evolve, particularly in remote work settings, digital workplaces, and gig economies. Additionally, the practical effectiveness of ethical leadership and CSR initiatives in bridging generational ethical gaps remains underexplored. Future research should examine ethical behavior practices of non-traditional workspaces, assess effective leadership strategies and policy interventions, and adopt international approaches to enhance generalizability and inform culturally inclusive ethical policies.
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