Ethical Climate among SME Employees Has No Effect on Job Satisfaction in the Western Sugar Belt Kenya
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Abstract
The practice of business ethics has grown considerably over the last decade. Small business enterprises today are expected to meet standards of responsible business conduct. Moral decay has, however, reached high levels not only in the public sector but also in the business community including cane haulage transport MSEs. An estimated 120 ethical business violations attributed to transport firms have been reported repeatedly in the recent years in the Sugar Belt. Furthermore, 63% of contracted cane transport tractors were reported to have been involved in cane losses, with the situation worsening to 73% in the past years. Consequently, there have been calls for research on the possible effect of ethical business practices among SME employees and their job satisfaction. The objective of the study, therefore, was to examine the effect of ethical treatment towards employees on employee job satisfaction. The study was guided by the stakeholder theory and a conceptual model of the same theory aimed at assessing business/stakeholder relationships. A correlational survey design was adopted for the study. The study population was made up of 1,000 Cane Haulage MSE employees. A sample size of 100 based on a 90% response rate was used. Employees were selected using simple random techniques. Questionnaires were used to obtain data from the employees. Frequencies were used to show the distribution of responses. Correlations and regression analysis were used to assess associations between ethical treatment towards employees and job satisfaction. Pearson correlations revealed that good work safety facilities positively correlated with employee loyalty. Similarly, the correlations showed that job security negatively correlated with employee loyalty. Logistic regression results showed that job security negatively affected employee loyalty. Pearson correlations further revealed that job security positively correlated with the handling of employees. On the other hand, logistic regression indicated that there was no relationship between job security and the handling of employees. The study recommended that cane transport companies should increase job security for employees. The study also recommended that transport MSE managers should use these findings to improve cane transport services and save their businesses from imminent collapse
Keywords
Ethical climate, Job satisfaction
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