Mario Malički, Vedran Katavić, Domagoj Marković, Matko Marušić, Ana Marušić

Is work climate important for RRI training? Cross sectional study of perceptions of ethical climate and pressures in different faculties at the University of

Split, Croatia

University of SplitSchool of Medicine

Biomedicine

23% Europeans state to have been directly affected by a medical error personally or in the family

21-93% of registered trials are never published

40-62% of primary outcomes change from registration to publication

4.7% students cheat during medical schools

Science7.8 million scientists (1 ‰ population)

1.478 billion dollars for research

1.7% fabricated or falsified data

30% know someone who fabricated or falsified data

4% of all publications have errata, in 24% of those results or conclusions end up different

23-55% reported own or others authorship misuse

Ethical Climate

the shared perceptions of what is ethically correct behavior and how ethical issues should be handled (Victor and Cullen 1987)

Assumptions:

• individual characteristics are insufficient to explain determinants of individual’s ethical decisions in an organization

• formal and informal socialization enables individuals to perceive the acceptable behavior within an organization, and act according to it

Ethical Climate Questionnaire

based on Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development

Levels ofethical criteria

Levels of ethical analysis

Individual Local Cosmopolitan

Egoism Self - interestOrganizational

interestEfficiency

Benevolence Friendship Team interestStakeholderorientation

PrinciplePersonalmorality

Organizational rules

and procedures

Laws andprofessional codes

Ethical Climate Meta-analysis and review(Martin & Cullen, 2006., Simha & Cullen 2012.)

• All 9 climate types were identified

Significant correlations were found between the type of climate and:

• organizational commitment

• job satisfaction

• psychological well being

• misconduct

Study aim: to assess differences in ethical climate between faculties of a single university

• Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture the Efficiencyresponse rate: 54% (132/246)

• Faculty of Philosophyresponse rate: 46% (73/159)

• School of Medicineresponse rate: 47% (91/192)

Characteristic(n, %)

Engineering (n=132)

Philosophy (n=73)

Medicine(n=91)

Sex

male 94 (73) 15 (20) 35 (40)

female 35 (27) 58 (80) 53 (60)

Age (Md; IQR) 37 (30-49) 38 (32-46) 49 (35-56)

Position

faculty 89 (70) 49 (71) 62 (72)

staff 38 (30) 20 (29) 24 (28)

Years of service 8 (3-20) 5 (4-7) 10 (5-19)

Faculty Council

Yes 26 (20) 23 (30) 28 (31)

No 105 (80) 50 (70) 62 (69)

Main results

Faculty Cronbach’s Climate TypeClimate type

score (Md; CI)

Engineering (n=132)

0.899Laws and

professional codes12.985

(12.3 – 13.7)

Philosophy (n=73)

0.892Laws and

professional codes13.431

(12.4- 14.4)

Medicine(n=91)

0.881

Self – interest

Laws andprofessional codes

13.079 (12.3 – 13.8)

12.011(11.2 – 12.8)

Results (cont.)

Gender differences were observed (P=0.0378, P=0.0103, resp.):

> Self-interest > Laws and codes

Also, years of service correlated with higher perception of self-interest climate type.

School of Medicine – faculty council members perceived higher levels of self-interest type

Faculty of Philosophy perceived lower levels of stakeholder orientation climate type

Conclusion• Gender and years of service are associated with perception of

more egoistic climate types.

• Possible differences between ruling bodies (faculty council) and employee perceptions add to the existing evidence that specific actions of individuals moderate perceptions of ethical climate within an institution.

• When planning RRI educational interventions, it is important to keep in mind the environment in which these interventions are delivered.

Thank You!

Contact details:Department of Research in Biomedicine and HealthUniversity of Split, School of MedicineŠoltanska 2, 21000 Split, Croatiatel. +385 (0)21 557 – 820fax. +385 (0)21 557 – 820e-mail: mario.malicki@mefst.hr