J Bus Ethics (2018) 152:1133–1148

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3325-1

Mentoring: A Path to Prosocial Behavior

Eileen Z. Taylor1 • Mary B. Curtis2

Received: 20 July 2015 / Accepted: 6 September 2016 / Published online: 14 September 2016
Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Abstract Public accounting firms can build integrity Introduction

within their organizations through early detection of fraud.
One way to reduce and detect fraud is to encourage Research finds that employee fraud, even in CPA firms,
whistleblowing as a prosocial behavior. We explore the persists (Taylor et al. 2012). Unfortunately, the existence
impact of mentoring on intention to report fraud. A survey and persistence of unchecked fraud in an organization often
with 120 responses from the US public accountants sug- lead to greater levels of fraud, as observing misconduct by
gests that quality mentoring relationships, a common fea- others influences individuals to commit misconduct them-
ture in the profession, and caring ethical climate positively selves by creating a culture of acceptance (Curtis and
relate to internal reporting of fraud. Two intermediate Williams 2014). Firms can combat this decline internally
variables, trust and affective commitment, mediate these by discouraging antisocial behaviors, and encouraging and
effects. Mentor-relationship quality also increases percep- enabling prosocial behaviors. However, beyond profes-
tions of caring ethical climate. The study contributes to two sional codes of conduct and other formal policies dictating
bodies of research by (1) finding extended benefits from or prohibiting certain behaviors, we know little about the
mentoring, beyond those typically discussed in academic indirect or informal methods CPA firms employ to influ-
literature; and (2) identifying a previously unexplored firm ence their members’ ethical behavior. One way organiza-
intervention capable of positively influencing prosocial tions have reduced fraud is by encouraging employees to
behavior and combating fraud. disclose observations of fraud internally (i.e., whistleblow).
In essence, these internal reports represent a form of
Keywords Accounting
Commitment
Ethical climate
prosocial behavior, because they are outside employees’
Mentor
Prosocial behavior
Trust assigned roles and are intended to help the firm (Seifert
et al. 2010). Our study considers the role of mentoring on
employees’ prosocial behaviors.1
We respond to the call for research (Jenkins et al. 2008;
Martin and Cullen 2006) to explore whether and how
mentoring, pervasive in public accounting firms, influences
employees’ prosocial behavior. A review of public
accounting firm websites shows that virtually all firms use
& Eileen Z. Taylor mentoring to recruit, develop, and retain talented profes-
eileen_taylor@ncsu.edu
sionals. In addition to these human resource management
Mary B. Curtis benefits, by creating and supporting relationships among
Mary.Curtis@unt.edu
1
1 Prosocial behaviors are also called organizational citizenship
Department of Accounting, North Carolina State University,
behavior (OCB), ‘‘which is the extra behavior an individual puts
Campus Box 8113, Raleigh, NC 27695-8113, USA
into increase organizational effectiveness but is not explicitly
2
Department of Accounting, University of North Texas, recognized by the organization’s reward system’’ (Appelbaum et al.
1155 Union Circle, #305219, Denton, TX 76203, USA 2005, p. 51).

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1134 E. Z. Taylor, M. B. Curtis

employees, mentoring may also lead to prosocial behav- the organization than previously identified, leading to
iors. We propose and test a model to explain how men- increased commitment and willingness to disclose
toring influences prosocial behavior directly, and observed internal fraud. We also demonstrate that it is
indirectly, through its influence on perceptions of a caring the quality of the mentoring relationship, not merely the
ethical climate. The existing literature on informal influ- presence of mentoring, which influences the protégé’s
ences shows how certain ethical climates, particularly a behavior. Finally, we extend our understanding of ethical
caring ethical climate, lead to a reduction in antisocial (and climate’s effect on member behavior beyond reductions
unethical) behaviors, such as fraud. In their literature in antisocial behavior (for a review, see Martin and
review, Jenkins et al. (2008) assert that public accounting Cullen 2006), to increases in prosocial behavior, namely,
firms employ acculturation to instill understanding of the whistleblowing.3
organization’s sociomoral atmosphere in their employees, The paper proceeds with a review of the literature and
so it seems reasonable to explore whether mentoring can hypothesis development, the method, results, and discus-
provide the needed acculturation to encourage prosocial sion, and concludes with implications for practice and
behavior. suggestions for future research.
Further, we propose that the influences of mentoring and
caring ethical climate work through increased trust in and
greater affective commitment to the organization (Cullen
et al. 2003; Seifert et al. 2010). While both trust (Curtis and Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis
Taylor 2009) and affective commitment (Hoffmann 2006) Development
have been shown to increase whistleblowing intentions, we
contribute to the literature by examining whether mentor- This section begins with a discussion of mentoring,
ing, both directly and through its influence on a caring including how we expect it to increase willingness to dis-
ethical climate, is a significant antecedent of trust and close observations of fraud internally. It also addresses the
commitment in this context. Further, while previous mediating variables of ethical climate, trust, and affective
research considers mentoring as a way to reduce turnover, commitment. Our Mentor-Climate-Disclosure model
we extend the mentoring literature by considering organi- appears in Fig. 1. Note we propose that trust and affective
zational-level outcomes not previously explored—those of commitment mediate the impact of mentoring and ethical
trust in, commitment to, and prosocial behavior toward, the climate on whistleblowing intentions, and we further pro-
organization at large. pose that positive mentoring relationships increase per-
To address the relationships among mentoring, ethical ceptions of ethical climate.
climate, trust, affective commitment, and prosocial
behavior, we designed and administered an online survey
to the US public accounting professionals. We asked par- Mentoring
ticipants to imagine they witnessed a superior engaging in
fraud and to indicate how likely they were to disclose their Mentoring is a formal or informal relationship between two
observation.2 From a sample of 120 public accounting individuals, in which one individual takes on the role of a
professionals, we find that mentoring relationship quality guide or advisor, and assists another individual, the pro-
strongly relates to perceptions of a caring ethical climate. tégé. According to Kalbfleisch (2002, p. 63), ‘‘The mentor
Further, we find that both mentoring relationship quality has achieved personal or professional success and is willing
and a caring ethical climate positively influence disclosure and able to share covert and overt practices that have
intentions; trust and affective commitment mediate these assisted him or her in becoming successful. The protégé
effects. We conclude that quality mentoring relationships has the potential or desire to learn the methods used by the
increase perceptions of a caring ethical climate, and that mentor in becoming personally or professionally
both mentoring and a caring ethical climate are significant successful’’.
antecedents to developing an organizational environment Mentoring exists across all forms of organizations, in
which encourages and enables internal reporting of fraud. both formal and informal manifestations, particularly in
These results contribute to the academic literature by public accounting. Some firms begin mentoring even before
demonstrating that mentoring has a broader impact on employment, identifying promising graduate and under-
graduate students and developing informal relationships
2
We note that there is a large body of literature discussing
determinants of and processes involved in whistleblowing. We do
3
not seek to duplicate that research, but rather isolate and explain how We note that some whistleblowing can be quite negative, but this is
one single determinant, mentoring, may influence this decision. not the type of whistleblowing we consider here.

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Mentoring: A Path to Prosocial Behavior 1135

Fig. 1 Mentor-climate-
disclosure model. All proposed Mentor
relationships are positive Relationship
Quality (MRQ)

H4
H1

H6 Trust

Disclose
H3

H5 Commitment
H2

H7

Ethical Climate

with them.4 Research on mentoring supports its use as a mentoring in school settings demonstrated increased
human resource management tool in public accounting understanding of social justice roots, were more likely to
firms. In one of the earliest studies, Viator and Scandura see forms of violence as being wrong, and were more likely
(1991) found that accountants who had a mentor had greater to take actions to intervene than students not exposed to the
intentions to stay with the firm. This relationship, suggest- program.
ing a positive impact of mentoring on attitudes toward the Firms use a variety of techniques, including mentoring
organization at large, held across all organizational levels programs, as a means of indoctrinating protégés into the
and across gender. Later studies, including Scandura and norms of the organization (Kalbfleisch 2002). Miller et al.
Viator (1994) and Viator (2001), also support the positive (2005) assert that having had a mentor reduces the level of
effect of mentoring on reducing turnover intentions. Stall- ethical stress that financial managers perceive. Kaptein
worth (2003) finds that merely having a mentor in a public (2011), the only study to date to consider the influence of
accounting firm is positively associated with affective public accounting role models on ethical behavior, found
commitment, a significant predictor of intention to stay. that modeling of ethical behavior by managers and super-
While public accounting firms have historically used visors negatively relates to the frequency of observed
mentoring to reduce turnover, several authors assert that unethical behavior. Invoking social learning theory (Ban-
mentoring can benefit the organization by communicating dura 1977), Kaptein (2011) found that people learn what
organizational values to employees, providing a commu- behavior is considered unacceptable (antisocial) by
nication mechanism wherein the organization learns of the observing the behavior of role models. However, such
attitudes and concerns of lower-level employees, and modeling is not generally within the control of the orga-
serving to develop committed future human resources nization, little is known about the impact of modeling on
(Wilson and Elman 1990; Russell 2004). Although little pro-social behavior, and no research to date has considered
empirical evidence is available to support its effectiveness the impact of mentoring as a specific intervention, on either
in organizations, prosocial outcomes of mentoring for prosocial or antisocial behavior.
adolescents have received substantial attention. For For mentoring to be an effective tool in encouraging
example, Katz et al. (2011) found those exposed to employees to engage in prosocial behaviors such as
whistleblowing, two things must happen. First, mentors
4
Mentoring differs from supervision and training in that it is and protégés must develop quality relationships, and sec-
nurturing, of longer term, and more comprehensive. Supervisors are
directly involved with a subordinate’s work tasks, while mentors are
ond, mentors must communicate management’s commit-
not generally proximate overseers of their protégés (Reinstein et al. ment to integrity and openness (Stallworth 2003, p. 407).5
2013); trainers typically focus on short-term, specific goals, delivering
a one-size-fits-all, formal approach. On the other hand, mentoring
5
relationships are highly interpersonal, last many years, and involve While we acknowledge that some managers may not have this goal,
multiple aspects of an employee’s life (e.g., career, family, education, we assume for our study that managers strive to reduce fraud and act
and skills). with integrity.

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1136 E. Z. Taylor, M. B. Curtis

Although many studies find mentoring positively affects In developing their model of ethical climate, Victor and
mentors, protégés, and their organizations (see Holland Cullen (1987, 1988) identified three ethical criteria (ego-
2009), there is a growing concern that not all mentoring is ism, benevolence, and principle) which operate at three
effective (Ensher and Murphy 2011; Ragins et al. 2000). levels of referent (individual, local, and cosmopolitan). In
Because variations in mentoring relationships influence most research investigating the relationship between the
outcomes, it is important to evaluate not just the existence dimensions of ethical climate, only five of the scale’s nine
of mentoring, but the quality of the relationship between dimensions have emerged from factor analysis, and the
mentor and protégé. caring dimension tends to be the strongest or the first to
Mentor relationship quality is positively associated with emerge (c.f. Cullen et al. 1993; Sims and Keon 1997;
multiple measures of career and job attitudes, including job Wimbush et al. 1997a; Wyld and Jones 1997). This finding
satisfaction, organizational commitment, career commit- suggests that employees react most strongly to the caring
ment, and organizational self-esteem (Ragins et al. 2000). dimension’s presence or absence. The caring dimension of
While this previous research suggests mentoring leads to the ethical climate, which is benevolence across all three
positive feelings toward the organization, it has not referent groups, is characterized by decisions intended to
demonstrated that this would motivate an individual to take maximize joint interests with the referent group or indi-
steps to actively protect it. This is particularly true given vidual (Sims and Kroeck 1994). Perhaps more importantly,
the potential personal cost of some prosocial behaviors, workers most prefer a caring ethical climate, and it is the
such as whistleblowing. However, a quality mentoring only dimension positively related to employee satisfaction
relationship may extend beyond merely positive feelings to with the ethics of their company (Victor and Cullen 1988).
actual prosocial behaviors as well as serving to mitigate A robust body of research supports the notion that a
perceived risk from the internal reporting of fraud (i.e., caring ethical climate can reduce antisocial behaviors, such
retaliation). Thus, we propose that the embedded, human as workplace deviance (Peterson 2002; Martin and Cullen
connection provided through a quality mentoring relation- 2006; Vardi 2001; Wimbush et al. 1997b). The results of
ship should result in an increased willingness to disclose Martin and Cullen’s (2006) meta-analysis of the ethical
observations of employee fraud internally. This leads to the climate literature support the negative relationship between
following hypothesis: caring ethical climate perceptions and antisocial organiza-
tional behaviors. We propose that a caring ethical climate
H1 Mentoring relationship quality is positively associ-
can also have a positive influence on prosocial behaviors,
ated with disclosure intention.
such as whistleblowing, as suggested by Rothwell and
Although a quality mentoring relationship should lead to Baldwin (2006). Victor and Cullen (1988, p. 119) assert that
a willingness to disclose observations of fraud, it is individuals who are satisfied with their organization’s eth-
important to understand the individual-level factors through ical climate should be motivated to act in its best interest. A
which these influences manifest themselves. Firms employ caring ethical climate supports a culture of integrity by
techniques such as mentoring to develop perceptions of placing the organization’s best interest in line with the
caring ethical climates, subsequently influencing trust and employee’s best interest, thus increasing the employee’s
organizational commitment among their employees (Fog- feeling of responsibility for disclosing any threats to the
arty 1992). We consider these three mediating factors next. organization. Therefore, we expect that greater perceptions
of a caring ethical climate will lead to greater intentions to
engage in prosocial behavior, specifically disclosing
Ethical Climate
observations of fraud. This leads to our next hypothesis:
Ethical climate comprises the perceptions of managers H2 An ethical climate of caring is positively associated
and employees about what constitutes ethical and uneth- with disclosure intention.
ical behavior in the organization (Kaptein 2011) and how
ethical issues should be handled (Wyld and Jones 1997). Mentoring and Ethical Climate of Caring
When an employee faces an ethical dilemma, the ethical
climate provides the answer to ‘‘what should I do?’’ If ethical climates are capable of influencing both prosocial
(Homans 1950) Ethical climates arise when members and antisocial behavior of accountants, it is important to
believe that certain forms of ethical reasoning or behavior consider how they develop and how firms might work
are expected standards or norms for decision-making toward improving them. Deshpande (1996) asserts man-
within the firm (Cullen et al. 2003). Management creates agers can play a role in fostering their employees’ satis-
the ethical climate of the organization, and thus influences faction with the organization through their influence on
individual employees’ ethical decisions. perceptions of the ethical climate. It is important to

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remember, however, that climates are measured at the trust that the supervisor will be fair in dealings with the
individual level and are, therefore, perceptions held by reporter, is positively associated with likelihood of report-
individuals (Cullen et al. 1993). Thus, it is perceptions that ing to that supervisor, suggesting that it is an important
must be influenced if climate is to impact behavior. An component in the reporter’s decision process.
ethical climate requires that members perceive the exis-
tence of normative patterns in the organization to indicate Mentoring Relationship Quality and Trust
what actions are unethical and how one should respond to
ethical challenges (Victor and Cullen 1988). To this end, Mentoring can help develop trust. First, mentors are typi-
managerial behaviors influence actors’ perceptions of eth- cally senior to their protégés (Payne and Huffman 2005),
ical climate, and climates are strengthened by organiza- thus, they have more experience and responsibility within
tional socialization (Martin and Cullen 2006). the organization and, presumably, have the ability to act on
Ferrell and Gresham (1985) posit that significant others disclosures made to them. Second, mentoring relationships
have an important influence on ethical decision-making by are personal, often arising out of altruism, or desire to help
providing this socialization, since we learn values, attitudes, another (Kalbfleisch 2002). Last, because mentoring rela-
and norms from individuals, rather than from society. Men- tionships develop over time (Ensher and Murphy 2011), the
toring can serve this role. Fritz et al. (1999) find that employees protégé has multiple experiences of observing the mentor’s
become aware of the ethical culture of the firm through three behavior. A mentor who behaves consistently over time
methods: witnessing managerial adherence to the organiza- and keeps his or her promises to the protégé demonstrates
tion’s ethical standards, observing the organization’s compli- trustworthiness. This trust should be particularly strong
ance with its own ethical standards, and discussion with others between a mentor and protégé, but may also spread to
within the organization. Mentoring relationships provide all wider circles within the organization. Because mentors
three opportunities. Therefore, we propose: socialize protégés into the organization by role modeling
organizational values and ethics (Fogarty 1992), protégés
H3 Mentoring relationship quality increases perceptions
may transfer trust in the mentor to trust in other supervisors
of an ethical climate of caring.
and to trust in the organization as a whole, expanding the
reach of this effect. Thus, we propose the following:
Trust as a Mediator
H4 Trust mediates the effect of mentoring relationship
Trust should influence prosocial behavior in general and in quality on disclosure intention.
whistleblowing, specifically. Trust is a multidimensional
construct, succinctly defined as the confident positive Ethical Climate of Caring and Trust
expectation of another’s behavior (Schoorman et al. 2007).
In the context of disclosing an observation of fraud, the A caring ethical climate can help to develop trust. In an
greatest determinant of a whistleblower’s decision to report ethical climate of caring, the organization prioritizes and
is his trust that whoever receives the report will take action shows benevolence toward the well-being of individuals and
to correct the situation (Miceli and Near 1984). Thus, trust to the organization as a whole. Martin and Cullen (2006)
in one’s supervisor, mentor, or organization to take appro- assert, in caring climates, when employees feel valued, they
priate action is likely a necessary antecedent of willingness repay the organization with prosocial behavior, such as
to disclose employee fraud. Curtis and Taylor (2009) find loyalty and trustworthiness. Although these goals may
that auditors’ trust that the firm would investigate and act on contrast in a whistleblowing situation (in some instances,
their report of observed unethical behavior was significantly the organization may prioritize the well-being of the per-
related to reporting intentions to the firm hotline. Taylor and petrator and/or the organization’s reputation over that of the
Curtis (2013) find that auditors are more willing to report reporter), a caring ethical climate should communicate to
observed unethical behavior of a supervisor to upper man- the reporter an atmosphere of integrity, such that the recei-
agement when prior organizational response is strong than ver and/or the organization will take the report seriously and
when it is weak; when they could trust that the organization act appropriately. Thus, we propose the following:
would react appropriately to their report.6 Seifert et al.
H5 Trust mediates the effect of an ethical climate of
(2010) find that interactional justice, demonstrated by a
caring on disclosure intention.
6
Another concern, although not one explored here, is the threat of Affective Commitment as a Mediator
retaliation toward the whistleblower by the organization or by
individuals within it. Because the primary goal of whistleblowers is to
stop the unethical behavior (Miceli et al. 2009), we focus in this study Martin and Cullen (2006, p. 180) define organizational
on trust that the organization will act to terminate the behavior. commitment as ‘‘agreement with and support of the

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organization’s mission and purpose, willingness to sacrifice (Stallworth 2003). Hall and Smith (2009) find that, when
in order to support the firm’s mission and purpose, and an mentors in public accounting provide psychosocial support,
overarching need to remain a member of the organization.’’ affective commitment is positively affected. Employees
Affective commitment, a form of organizational commit- with strong positive affective commitment feel the firm’s
ment, is characterized by an individual’s strong identifi- problems are their own because they and the firm are part
cation with the organization, including its goals and values of the same family.
(Ketchand and Strawser 2001), employees’ satisfaction Scandura (1997) finds employees with positive men-
with the work environment, including validation of their toring experiences hold positive attitudes toward the work
skills, personal meaning of their work as well as the firm’s environment, and Waters (2004) finds that mentoring
work, and a genuine affinity for the organization (Meyer relationship quality is positively associated with job satis-
and Allen 1991). This type of commitment reflects feelings faction and organizational commitment. Mentors commu-
of attachment and belonging to the organization, which nicate expectations, organizational values, and group
should increase feelings of responsibility to disclose norms to newcomers through their personal relationships
threats, such as employee fraud, to the organization.7 (Reinstein et al. 2013; Hunt and Michael 1983), making
Affective organization commitment should impact mentoring a tool well suited to integrating management’s
prosocial behavior in general and reporting intentions, commitment to integrity and an ethical environment
specifically. When faced with an observation of fraud, an through socialization (Ostroff and Kozlowski 1993).
employee not only views it as an organizational threat, but Mentor managers are role models for their protégés; when
also, because he or she identifies with the organization, they support and enact the organization’s ethical principles,
views it as a personal threat. Because of this affinity, an they increase the likelihood that protégés will become
employee with strong positive affective commitment aware of the organization’s behavioral expectations, and
would also likely feel a personal obligation to identify and they create opportunities to discuss ethical issues. Thus, we
call attention to misconduct that negatively affects the propose the following:
organization.8 Indeed, Taylor and Curtis (2010) find that,
H6 Affective commitment mediates the effect of men-
for public accountants, greater commitment to the firm led
toring relationship quality on disclosure intention.
to stronger intentions to report observed unethical behav-
ior. Similarly, Donnelly et al. (2003) show that auditors
Ethical Climate of Caring and Affective Commitment
with lower commitment to the organization are more tol-
erant of quality threatening behaviors in the workplace.
Prior research has found a strong connection between
organizational ethical values and organizational commit-
Mentoring Relationship Quality and Affective Commitment
ment (Hunt et al. 1989). Wech et al. (1998) assert that
perceptions of a caring climate increase positive affect
We propose that positive mentoring relationships can help
toward the organization. Martin and Cullen (2006) find
employees develop affective organizational commitment.9
higher levels of organizational commitment when members
Mentoring influences affective commitment by fulfilling a
perceive stronger caring climates. In a study of approxi-
psychosocial role—it allows employees to fit in and pro-
mately 100 public accountants, Cullen et al. (2003) find a
vides a ‘‘big brother/big sister’’ to effect a family dynamic
significant positive relationship between caring ethical
7
climates and organizational commitment. Cullen et al.
Based on an anonymous reviewer’s comments, we acknowledge
that in an organization where fraud is tolerated, or even encouraged, (2003) assert that when employees perceive strong caring
this commitment may reduce whistleblowing intention, as the ethical climates, they feel valued and repay the organiza-
employee seeks to fit in with the weak organizational culture. tion with loyalty and trustworthiness. Schwepker (2001)
8
While we expect mentoring relationship quality to positively found that salespeople’s perceptions of a positive ethical
influence disclosure intention, we could conceive of a situation in climate are positively associated with organizational
which a mentor and protégé have a strong positive relationship,
resulting in great trust, but low affective commitment to the commitment. The prioritization of concern for the group
organization. In this case, the trust alone may not cause the employee and for others’ well-being creates an in-group dynamic that
to disclose his observations to the supervisor or mentor, because has its roots in social exchange theory. Further, individuals
neither the mentor nor the employee is highly invested in or who perceive an organization as caring are more likely to
committed to the organization. We do not expect this to occur very
often, as those who have low affective commitment are also those stay with the organization, developing greater affective
who are most likely to leave the organization, as commitment is commitment over time (Cullen et al. 2003). Therefore, we
strongly negatively related to turnover. propose the following:
9
Although not the focus of this study, Ghosh and Reio (2013) report
that mentors also experience increased organizational commitment H7 Affective commitment mediates the effect of an
and career success, and reduced turnover intentions. ethical climate of caring on disclosure intention.

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Methodology all, and 16 had no mentor in their current firm, resulting in

a net sample of 72 public accountants. This sample has
We employed a survey to study the role of mentoring and 35 % female respondents, average (SD) age of 42 (10.1)
ethical climate in building trust and organizational commit- years, and average of 12.4 (10.2) years experience in
ment in employees, leading to greater willingness to disclose public accounting.12 Table 1 includes demographics.
observed employee fraud internally, to those in authority. We One-way ANOVA analysis of each of our variables finds
began the survey by eliciting experienced public accoun- that only Climate differed significantly between sources
tants’ commitment to their firm. We next asked them to (t = 4.29, p \ .001).13 Hence, we combine the participants
answer a set of questions about their current mentors. These for the statistical tests, resulting in a final sample of 120
initial questions were designed to motivate critical, evalua- public accountants, 38 % female, average (SD) age 38.3
tive thinking about their mentors. We then asked participants (10.6), with 10.2 (9.4) years in public accounting.
to select one mentor from their firm who has had the most
significant impact on their career (whether formal or infor- Vignette
mal) for the questions in the remainder of the survey. Next,
we asked the participants to evaluate their relationship with To measure willingness to disclose observed internal
this selected mentor (Mentor-Selected) and elicited other employee fraud, we employed a vignette in which the
scales of interest. Finally, after demographic questions, participants observed their manager committing expense
which also served as distractors, we asked participants to read report fraud (Jones and Kavanagh 1996; Johnson 1974).
a realistic scenario and make an ethical judgment: intention This fraud is similar to activities individuals employed in
to disclose observed internal fraud. public accounting reported having actually observed
(Taylor et al. 2012).14 Further, asset misappropriation
Sample through expense fraud is of particular concern to organi-
zations (ACFE 2014), and its detection and disclosure
We collected all data via a web-based, anonymous survey. clearly benefit organizations prosocially since ethically
We solicited participants from two sources using the same permissive environments may spawn even more critical
instrument and screening requirements. First, we employed misconduct, through a slippery slope effect (Curtis and
a snowball sampling technique (Atkinson and Flint Williams 2014). This internal focus also fits well with the
Atkinson 2016) whereby we emailed a request to complete concept of affective commitment and mentoring, which are
and/or pass along the survey link to former students of the organization centric. The scenario and related questions
researchers currently employed in public accounting and to appear in Appendix 1.
departmental advisory board members.10 Approximately Consistent with prior research (Kaplan and Whitecotton
75 individuals from this sampling method began the sur- Kaplan 2001), we assessed the perceived moral intensity of
vey, 24 did not complete all questions in the survey and 3
had no mentor in their firm, resulting in a final sample of 48 12
From both sources, 17 respondents answered all questions except
from this source. This sample is 45 % female, averages their willingness to discuss/report the unethical behavior. To assess
(SD) 31 (6.9) years of age and has 6.5 (6.6) years experi- non-response bias, the first 25 % to respond was compared to the last
25 %, in each sample source, on the independent and dependent
ence in public accounting. variables, as well as demographics. The only significant difference is
Because the sample was small and focused primarily on that the late responders for the personal contact sample perceived
Big-4 firms, we employed SurveyMonkey11 to recruit their firms to have a less-caring ethical climate than the early
participants from their participant pool. From the 2161 responders.
13
initial respondents, 168 individuals met our screening Our two subsamples also do not differ in their cognitive
perceptions of the scenario. For example, Seriousness of the issue,
requirements (employed in public accounting and agreed to Responsibility to report, and Cost of reporting do not differ
participate) and began the survey, 48 did not complete all significantly (p [ .05, two-tailed). However, the samples did differ
questions in the survey satisfactorily, 32 had no mentor at on demographics. The SurveyMonkey sample is older (t = 5.27,
p \ .01), less well educated (t = 8.23, p \ .01), has spent more years
at their current firm (t = 3.97, p \ .01), and more years in the
10
The universities of the authors are located in the southwest and accounting profession overall (t = 2.74, p \ .01).
southeast. Participants are widely dispersed geographically. 14
It is common in this stream of literature to employ only one
11
SurveyMonkey is a commercial company that offers a participant scenario in evaluating the determinants of reporting intentions. An
recruitment service (SMA). SMA provides researchers with access to extensive body of literature documents that moral intensity, as well as
a diverse, online pool of approximately a million individuals. Each other scenario-specific factors, can influence reporting intentions
SMA member completes his/her profile that includes demographic (Curtis and Taylor 2009; Kaplan and Whitecotton 2001). However,
screening criteria that can be used to target specific participants our concern here was to establish whether mentoring can influence
(Brandon et al. 2013). We contracted with SurveyMonkey to provide reporting intentions; we leave it to future research to explore the
accountants who are currently working in public accounting. differential effects of context on this relationship.

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1140 E. Z. Taylor, M. B. Curtis

Table 1 Sample demographics

Sample 1 Sample 2 Overall

Count 48 72 120
Female 45 % 35 % 38 %
Age-mean (SD) 31 (6.9) 42 (10.1) 38.3 (10.6)
Years in public accounting-mean (SD) 6.5 (6.6) 12.4 (10.2) 10.2 (9.4)

the fraud by asking participants to rate the seriousness of organization is paramount, while the effect on society is
the behavior and their responsibility to report it, on a scale limited. To build on this theme, the caring ethical climate
of 0–100. Mean (range) of responses to Serious were 66.65 has not consistently extended to the third referent level
(0–100) and to Responsibility were 68.79 (0–100), indi- (Vaicys et al. 1996; Trevino et al. 1995) in analyses of the
cating that participants saw this act as serious and that they Ethical Climate Questionnaire, which represents benevo-
had a responsibility to report it. lent feelings toward those outside the organization.

Dependent Variable: Intention to Disclose

Independent Variables
Consistent with prior research, our outcome variable is
Our instrument scales appear in Appendix 2. We thor-
willingness to disclose fraud by a superior to others in the
oughly pilot tested the survey using graduate accounting
organization (Ayers and Kaplan 2005; Barnett and Vaicys
students. Based on pilot results, we reduced some of the
2000; Hunt and Vitell 1986; Mesmer-Magnus and Viswes-
scales for parsimony to include only those items with the
varan 2005). We asked participants: ‘‘How likely would you
highest factor loadings. Unless detailed further, all items
be to discuss your observations at the time this occurs, using
loaded satisfactorily during factor analysis and the
a scale of 0–100 where 0 is ‘‘very unlikely’’ and 100 is ‘‘very
responses to scale items were averaged to create composite
likely’’,’’ followed by a list of possible referents.15 Mean
scores.
(SD) responses are: Immediate Supervisor 44.22 (37.6),
Assigned Formal Mentor 46.08 (39.4), Informal Mentor
within the firm 49.08 (39.2), and firm Hotline 43.25 (42.02). Mentoring Functions
We then created a variable from the Informal and Formal
Mentor responses containing the intention to disclose to the To generate thoughts regarding satisfaction with mentor
particular mentor they chose to focus on during the survey relationships, we initially asked participants to consider
(Disclose-Selected), with a Mean (SD) of 53.73 (38.6). For their interactions with one formal and one informal mentor.
example, if they chose their formal mentor as their Mentor- Participants next selected one of these to focus on. We then
Selected, then we set Disclose-Selected equal to Disclose- assessed perceived mentor relationship quality for their
Formal. These dependent variables of interest are labeled selected mentor using the Ragins et al. (2000) perceived
Disclose-Super, Disclose-Hotline, and Disclose-Selected. mentoring relationship quality (MRQ) scale. Sample
Recall that we excluded participants who had no mentor at questions are ‘‘The mentoring relationship between my
their current firm. Finally, we created a composite as the mentor and me is very effective.’’ and ‘‘I am very satisfied
mean of these three intention measures, labeled Disclose, with the mentoring relationship my mentor and I devel-
which we use in all our analyses. oped.’’ Factor analysis confirms the single dimensionality
We consider only internal whistleblowing since Mes- of the scale, with all loadings over 0.70 and a coefficient
mer-Magnus and Viswesvaran (2005) assert that nearly all alpha of 0.960. The mean (SD) for this scale is 5.25 (1.64).
whistleblowers initially attempt to report wrongdoing via
internal channels, either before resorting to external chan- Ethical Climate
nels or instead of using external hotlines. This assertion is
supported in the accounting literature by Chaisson et al. We measured caring ethical climate (Climate) using the
(1995) and Seifert et al. (2010), who found accountants four questions from the ethical climate questionnaire (ECQ)
were more willing to report internally than externally. scale that measure a caring climate (Victor and Cullen
Further, our particular vignette, expense reporting fraud, is 1988). These questions elicit an observer’s perceptions of
more likely to be reported internally, since the effect on the the forms or styles of behavior in organizations; these
perceptions are filtered by individual psychological char-
15 acteristics and differences. Sample questions include ‘‘What
The vast majority of prior research on whistleblowing considers
only one referent for report recipient. However, we expand on this by is best for everyone in the firm is the major consideration
including three possible sources of recipients. here.’’ and ‘‘The most important concern is the good of all

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Mentoring: A Path to Prosocial Behavior 1141

the people in the firm as a whole.’’ The responses were We also look to prior research on ethical climate, mentoring,
measured as 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. and prosocial behavior for demographic variables of interest.
Factor analysis confirms the single dimensionality of this Victor and Cullen (1988) found differences in climate by
scale with all loadings over 0.70 and a coefficient alpha of company and by age. Wimbush et al. (1997b) weighed
0.851. The mean (SD) for this scale is 4.72 (1.34). gender, tenure, education, and age with four ethically chal-
lenging scenarios, finding only gender significant when cli-
Trust in the Individuals Involved in the Process mate was also significant; when climate was not a significant
determinant, gender, age and education were significant.
To measure the extent to which participants trust the Appelbaum et al. (2005) evaluated the impact of climate on
reporting process (Trust), we asked participants ‘‘To what behavior and used gender, tenure, education, and age as
extent would you trust that a report you made to each of the covariates. Thus, we initially considered these four covari-
above parties would be investigated and acted upon ates, as well as source. After excluding nonsignificant effects,
appropriately and thoroughly? Please use a scale of we retain Gender and Source in our analyses reported below.
1 = Do not trust at all to 7 = Completely trust’’, followed
by a list of possible referents. Mean (SD) responses are:
Immediate Supervisor 5.25 (1.6); Assigned Formal Mentor Results
5.45 (1.5); Informal Mentor within the Firm 5.34 (1.7);
Hotline 5.33 (1.9). We then created Trust-Selected indi- We performed correlation analyses, analysis of variance
cating their trust in whichever mentor they chose to focus and path analysis of the full model to test our hypotheses.
on during the survey [Mean (SD) 5.58 (1.5)]. Finally, A summary of the analysis presented below is contained in
because we are considering participant willingness to dis- Fig. 2.17
close to a composite of the supervisor, mentor, and hotline, Correlation among variables is an initial indicator as to
we averaged the Trust-Supervisor, Trust-Selected and whether our identified constructs are related. As reported in
Trust-Hotline measures to create a composite Trust mea- Table 2, all bivariate correlations between willingness to
sure, with mean (SD) of 5.42 (1.4).16 report (Disclose), mentor relationship quality (MRQ),
caring ethical climate (Climate), trust that others would
Organizational Commitment respond appropriately (Trust) and affective organizational
commitment (Affect Commit) are significant at p \ .01. In
We measured affective organizational commitment (Af- addition, the strong correlation between Affect Commit
fective Commit) using six questions from the Organiza- and Trust suggests we may have difficulty with multi-
tional Commitment Scale initially developed by Allen and collinearity in further analyses; however, all variance
Meyer (1990) and modified slightly by Stallworth (2003). inflation factors (VIF) are below the threshold of 3.0.
Sample questions are ‘‘I really feel as if this firm’s problems We also correlated these measures with perceptions of
are my own.’’ and ‘‘This firm has a great deal of personal seriousness (Serious) of the act and responsibility (Re-
meaning for me.’’ Responses to scale questions were mea- sponsibility) to report the fraud. Results suggest that, as
sured as 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Two MRQ, Climate, Trust and Affect Commit increase, so do
questions were negatively framed and, after reverse coding, perceptions of Serious and Responsibility, or moral inten-
one was eliminated based on factor analysis. Factor analysis sity, of the observed fraud.
of the remaining five questions confirms the single dimen-
sion, with no factor loading below 0.70. Coefficient alpha Hypothesis Tests
for the scale is 0.840, close to Cullen et al. (2003) alpha of
0.85, for a sample of public accountants. Mean (SD) of the H1 proposes a direct effect of mentor relationship quality
composite score is 5.22 (1.43). (MRQ) on willingness to disclose (Disclose). MANCOVA
[F(p) = 3.47(.018)] and ANCOVA (Disclose-Selected:
Covariates F(p) = 8.57(.003); Disclose-Supervisor: F(p) = 2.73(.050);
Disclose-Hotline: F(p) = 5.59(.010), reported in Table 3
Due to the range of participant demographics in our sample,
we consider source (of the data) as a covariate in all analyses. 17
P-values presented in this paper are two-tailed, except for
hypothesized relationships tested in ANCOVA. In addition, any
analyses involving Trust considered only the trust measure for that
16
When a composite Disclose is employed in analyses, this particular referent; the exception to this is the MANCOVA, which
composite Trust variable is also employed; when Disclose for the employed a composite measure representing the mean of the trust
individual referents is used, the individual Trust measures are questions for the three referents. The choice of trust measures does
similarly employed. not change any statistical inferences or qualitative conclusions.

123
1142 E. Z. Taylor, M. B. Curtis

Fig. 2 Path analysis of mentor-

climate-disclosure model. Mentor
Dashed lines represent Relationship
nonsignificant paths. Paths
Quality (MRQ)
contain standardized estimates;
**p B .01, *p B .05.
.482**
Parentheses contain squared
multiple correlations. Model -.028
estimated in the presence of Trust
covariates: gender and source .384** (.427)
.279**
Disclose
.403** (.180)
.178*
.298** Commitment
(.434)
.148

.403**

Ethical Climate
(.310)

panel A, indicate each of these relationships is significant. performed a Chi Square difference test to evaluate the
Therefore, H1 is supported. importance of this path to the overall model (Yuan and
H2 proposes a direct effect of ethical climate of caring Bentler 2004). With the path absent, Chi Square results are
(Climate) on willingness to disclose (Disclose). MAN- X2 = 41.2 (df = 12), and with the path present, the
COVA [F(p) = 5.08(.002)] and ANCOVA [Disclose- X2 = 16.2 (df = 11). This DX2 = 25 (df = 1) is significant
Selected: F(p) = 12.88(.000); Disclose-Supervisor: at p \ .001. Sobel test of this indirect effect of MRQ through
F(p) = 8.63(.002); Disclose-Hotline: F(p) = 7.40(.004)], Climate is significant for Trust (Z = 2.90, p \ .01) and
reported in Table 3 panel B, indicate significance. There- Affective Commit (Z = 2.75, p \ .01). Therefore, this path
fore, H2 is supported. makes a significant contribution to the overall model and
We constructed a path analysis using AMOS structural supports H3.
equation modeling software in order to test all mediation
hypotheses simultaneously, employing the composite
Other Supplemental Analysis
dependent variable (Disclose). As depicted in Fig. 2, full
mediation of both mentor relationship quality (MRQ) and
We considered five covariates in the analyses of our
ethical climate of caring (Climate) by trust (Trust) and
hypotheses. Across all results, Gender is significantly rela-
affective commitment (Affective commit) is supported,
ted to Disclose-Selected. Specifically, males are less willing
given that the paths between the independent variables
than females to disclose their observations with: Selected
(MRQ and Climate) and the dependent variable (Disclose)
M = 45.4, F = 61.0; Super M = 38.3, F = 47.2; Hotline
are not significant, while the paths between the independent
M = 42.8, F = 44.6. In addition, Gender is significantly
variables and the mediators (Trust and Affective Commit)
related to Affective Commit in the analyses, with males
and between the mediators and the dependent variable
more affectively committed to their organizations than
(Disclose) are significant (Baron and Kenny 1986). After
females. Because Source was significant in the path model,
removal of the nonsignificant co-variate paths, the model
it was retained for ANCOVA and MANCOVA; however, it
exhibited good fit (X2 = 16.2, df = 11, p [ .134;
demonstrates little significant in these analyses. The other
CFI = .972; RMSEA = .063).18 Note that covariates
covariates were not significant in our analyses and so were
retained in this model, based on path significance, include
not retained for purposes of significance reporting above.
Gender to Disclose, and Source to Climate and Trust. This
supports Hypotheses 4, 5, 6 and 7.
As a test of H3, we measured model fit with the path
Discussion and Conclusion
between MRQ and Climate present and absent, and
18 Based on Jenkins et al. (2008) call for research to
Benchmarks for satisfactory fit of these measures are as follows:
X2 should be nonsignificant for this sample size, CFI should exceed demonstrate how public accounting firms use mentoring to
.95, and RMSEA should fall below .08 (Mueller and Hancock 2010). acculturate employees in the current environment, this

123
 Table 2 Pearson correlations among variables with means (SD) (n = 120)
Disclose MRQ Climate Trust Commit Age Years firm Gender Educ Source Serious Respons Mean (SD)

Disclose 1.000 47.07 (32.02)

Mentor Relation .236** 1.000 5.22 (1.43)
quality (MRQ)
Climate .298** .387** 1.000 4.72 (1.34)
Trust .362** .598** .411** 1.000 5.36 (1.37)
Mentoring: A Path to Prosocial Behavior

Affective commit .299** .541** .550** .534** 1.000 5.05 (1.29)

Age .043 .012 .212* -.043 .164 1.000 36.84 (11.41)
Years with firm .103 .122 .184* .130 .225* .592** 1.000 7.39(6.86)
Gender -.114 .134 .099 .033 .205* -.107 .012 1.000 n/a
Education -.051 .150 -.223* .161 -.157 -.327** -.335 .053 1.000 3.34 (0.76)
Source .000 .048 -.367** .094 -.098 -.436** -.343** -.021 .606** 1.000 n/a
Serious .544** .358** .387** .409** .487** .211* .192* .005 .035 .020 1.00 66.65 (31.19)
Respons .556** .363** .335** .401** .515** .085 .072 .082 .093 .110 .762** 1.000 68.79 (33.16)
Disclose Composite measure representing mean of: Willingness to disclose observed unethical behavior to selected mentor, immediate supervisor, or firm hotline (Mean of 3 questions, Scale
0–100)
Trust Composite measure representing mean of: Trust that a report you made to your selected mentor, immediate supervisor, or firm hotline would be investigated and acted upon (Scale 1 = Do
not trust at all to 7 = Completely trust)
Climate Caring ethical climate of the firm is to look after its members (Scale 1 = Do not agree at all to 7 = Completely agree)
Affective commit Affective commitment to the firm is strong (Scale 1 = Do not agree at all to 7 = Completely agree)
Mentor relation quality (MRQ) Quality of your relationship with your selected mentor is strong (Scale 1 = Do not agree at all to 7 = Completely agree)
Years firm Years with your current firm
Age
Gender Coded as Female = 0, Male = 1
Education Coded as 1 = High School, 2 = Some college, 3 = Bachelor’s degree in college, 4 = Masters’ degree in college
Source Sample source, coded as 0 = Survey Monkey, 1 = Direct contact by the authors and firm assistance
Serious Seriousness of observed act (Scale 0 = Least serious to 100 = Most serious)
Respons Responsibility to report the act (Scale 0 = Least responsibility to 100 = Most responsibility)
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed); ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
1143

123
1144 E. Z. Taylor, M. B. Curtis

Table 3 MANCOVA and ANCOVA—Analyses of mentor relationship quality and caring ethical climate (n = 120)
Source MANCOVA ANCOVA: selected ANCOVA: supervisor ANCOVA: hotline ANCOVA: composite (disclose)
a
F p F P F p F p F p

Panel 1: MRQ to disclose (H1)

Model 4.47 .005 1.12 .301 2.08 .107 3.26 .024
Intercept 0.98 .405 1.81 .182 2.86 .093 0.38 .537 2.21 .140
MRQ 3.47 .018 8.57 .003 2.73 .051 5.59 .010 8.13 .003
Gender 1.79 .154 5.21 .024 1.22 .271 .048 .488 2.74 .101
Source 1.43 .237 1.05 .307 0.57 .608 0.69 .408 0.03 .866
Panel 2: Climate to disclose (H2)
Model 6.07 .001 3.21 .026 2.68 .050 5.50 .001
Intercept 0.17 .919 0.50 .481 0.27 .607 0.08 .780 0.38 .539
Climate 5.08 .002 12.88 .000 8.63 .002 7.40 .004 14.76 .000
Gender 1.76 .159 5.25 .024 1.43 .233 0.42 .518 2.85 .094
Source 2.37 .074 5.92 .017 0.45 .505 0.11 .738 1.93 .167
The variables in bold are the main variables of interest in the study
a
P-values presented are two-tailed, except for hypothesized relationships
See Table 2

study explores the impact of mentoring and ethical climate and find that a caring ethical climate also increases work-
on public accountants’ willingness to disclose observed place prosocial behavior. We find that two individual-level
employee fraud to those in authority within their firm. We factors, trust and affective commitment, mediate this
hypothesize that mentoring impacts ethical climate, and relationship. Finally, we find that mentor relationship
that trust in individuals to appropriately follow up on their quality improves perceptions of an ethical climate of
report and affective commitment to the firm mediate the caring.
relationships between mentoring and ethical climate, as We motivated this paper as a study of whether men-
independent variables, on intention to disclose this obser- toring, a common practice in accounting firms, could lead
vation, our outcome variable. to internal reporting of observed fraud, a prosocial
First, we find that perceived mentor relationship quality behavior. Although prior research has focused on men-
is significantly associated with intention to disclose. Thus, toring primarily as a means of employee retention (Hall
it appears that effective mentoring, evidenced by protégés’ and Smith 2009; Payne and Huffman 2005; Stallworth
perceptions of high-quality relationships, can increase 2003), we find it may also work to increase internal
disclosure of fraud within the firm to those in authority, reporting through its effect on building organizational
including the mentor, immediate supervisor, and firm’s commitment to integrity, trust, and ethical climate. As the
internal reporting hotline. research on mentoring matures, it is becoming increas-
Next we find that two individual-level factors, trust that ingly important to investigate differential effects related
those receiving the report will act and affective organiza- to varying types and quality of mentoring relationships
tional commitment, mediate the relationship between (Ensher and Murphy 2011). In the current study, the
mentor relationship quality and disclosure intention. This quality of the relationship was positively associated with
finding suggests that mentoring impacts willingness to disclosure intention. Thus, we advise firms to pay atten-
disclose through its effect on increased trust in authorities tion to quality perceptions in order to maximize the effect
within the firm, and through increased affective commit- of their mentoring programs. Future researchers may wish
ment to the organization. We point out that while men- to explore possible antecedents to mentoring relationship
toring occurs at the individual level, it serves to build trust quality in order to advance the positive impacts of men-
in those at the supervisor and organizational (upper man- toring relationships.
agement) levels, supporting the idea that quality mentoring Our results suggest that a combination of both formal
outcomes transfer beyond the original mentor relationship. and informal mentoring may result in the greatest benefit to
Our second organizational factor, the caring dimension the organization. We encourage firms to develop practices
of ethical climate, also significantly relates to intention to that foster both types of mentoring relationships.
disclose. While prior research has found that a caring Researchers may wish to consider how this result affects
ethical climate decreases workplace deviance, we propose the notion of mentoring as institutional control. Finally,

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Mentoring: A Path to Prosocial Behavior 1145

prior research suggests that prolonging the mentoring We recognize the following limitations in our research.
relationship can result in negative job outcomes (Viator First, sampling error may limit the generalizability of our
and Pasewark 2005), although our results suggest that findings, due to the use of online surveys rather than face-
other, more positive outcomes, may accrue to the organi- to-face interactions with our participants and the fact that
zation. Future research should consider the multiple posi- some respondents may have been former students. Second,
tive and negative outcomes of long-term mentoring we used a scenario and asked participants how they
relationships. intended to respond, rather than measuring their actual
The second organizational practice we investigate is the response to a real situation. Despite the fact that this is a
development of a caring organizational climate. This cli- common approach in ethics research, we acknowledge that
mate led to greater trust and commitment by individuals, environmental factors in actual situations may conspire to
which then led to increased prosocial behavior, namely prevent intentions from becoming actions. Further, we
internal disclosure. The discovery that organizations can consider only internal whistleblowing, for reasons dis-
improve their identification of employee misconduct if they cussed earlier. Last, we used a scenario that commonly
convey an attitude of caring to their members should occurs within many organizations (Taylor et al. 2012). The
encourage researchers to explore further outcomes from familiarity of travel and expenditure fraud may mute the
ethical climate. Organizations may also consider how effects of the variables; however, this limitation would
focusing on this aspect of their climate, rather than on the result in a lower likelihood of finding results. Thus, the
more formal rules and policies, can significantly improve results we found may be understated.
their ability to manage the risk of employee fraud.
An important mediator of these two organizational
practices is the role of trust. Activities that inspire trust can Funding Funding for this research came from the Horace Brock
reduce organizational costs, including those arising from Centennial Professorship at the University of North Texas. We
employee fraud. Future ethics researchers may consider the appreciate the helpful comments from research workshop participants
theory of Transaction Cost Economics, which proposes that at Florida Atlantic University.
trust reduces transactional costs (Bromiley and Cummings
1995). Another perspective of trust comes from the man-
agement literature where trust is an alternative to control Appendix 1: Measures of Dependent Variables
(Das and Teng 1998). COSO’s (2013) ‘tone-at-the-top’
supports the notion of trust as a control; however, Assume the following happens in your current organiza-
accounting internal control research tends to focus on tion:You have recently returned from an out-of-town
detailed control procedures. A blend of these two approa- engagement and have completed your expense report.
ches may move this control literature in a new direction. Your manager, who accompanied you on the trip, asks
While not a focus of this study, we acknowledge that you to make a copy of his expense report for the same
unscrupulous managers could use trust and organizational trip. You notice that his expenses are reported as much
commitment alone, without the positive influences of eth- greater than you know it really cost, from having taken
ical climate and mentorship, to promote activities that are the same trip. For example, you stayed at the same hotel
not in the public interest. One who is overly trusting of and/ as he did and it cost you $20.00 cab fare between the
or committed to an unethical mentor or organization may hotel and airport. He reported that it cost $50.00 each
be encouraged to act unethically. Given that the vast way. You notice other expenses as well that are most
majority of individuals are at the conventional level of likely inflated.
moral development, looking up and looking around for How likely would you be to discuss your observations
moral guidance (Trevino and Nelson 2014), it is imperative AT THE TIME THIS OCCURS?
that ethical leadership be in place to create an ethical cli- Please respond using a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 is
mate and promote ethical managers. ‘‘very unlikely’’ and 100 is ‘‘very likely’’.

With your immediate supervisor?

With your assigned formal mentor?

With an informal mentor (within your firm if applicable)?

Report using the firm hotline, if your identity will be

protected from the individual?

123
1146 E. Z. Taylor, M. B. Curtis

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