2
Moderating role of cognitive dissonance in the relationship between
Islamic work ethics and job satisfaction, turnover intention and job
performance
Introduction
Ethics refers to what a right and fair conduct or behavior is (Carroll, 1991; Freeman & Gilbert,
1984). Ethics is presented as “a system of value principles or practices and a definition of
[what is] right and wrong” (Raiborn & Payne, 1990). It concerns judgements involved in moral
decisions (Velasquez, 1999). In daily life, ethics represents a reference for an individual to
decide on a course of action. Without moral standards, individuals’ actions would be random
and aimless; ability to be successful in their endeavors would be reduced (Christian et al.,
2013).
If research on ethics based on religious, cultural, and philosophical beliefs is not new, the
study of business ethics is of recent interest (Lewis, 1985). Ethical behavior can bring
significant benefits to organizations (Hamid & Mahdi, 2011): it increases employees’ loyalty
(Al Kazemi, 2007) and reduces labor turnover (Elci et al., 2007; Valentine et al., 2006); it
increases productivity and helps the organization attract employees with similar values.
Reversely, unethical behavior at work damages a firm’s reputation and reduces its
attractiveness to employees, customers and stakeholders (Cacioppe et al., 2008).
As moral standards are influenced by culture, ethical behavior can be understood in an
equivocal way by employees from different cultural backgrounds. This issue is particularly
stringent for internationalizing organizations that hire employees with various viewpoints,
perceptions and religions. As globalization is continuously expanding, it becomes imperative
for organization’s management to understand diversity of all sorts, including religion and
culture. With the rise of Muslim countries' marketplaces, Islamic views of business
organizations are becoming an emerging area of research (Rice, 1999). The Islamic framework
shapes the behavior of one-fourth of the world's total population (1.8 billion). Muslims are in
majority in more than 50 countries; some of these countries being in control of important
energy resources. According to Rogers et al. (1995), the world community faces the risk of
conflicts if it fails to understand the Muslims’ faith, their religious dynamics and mindsets. In
addition, through research on Islamic Work Ethics (IWE), scholars from Muslim societies are
interrogating the original commandments of their prophet relatively to economic activity after
centuries of political events that have placed their countries under strong spiritual influence
(Ali & Al-Owaihan, 2008). To that end, understanding of IWE in a changing world is valuable
(Yousef, 2001) and needs further in-depth study.
Business and related efforts are valued in Islam; economic activity should benefit to the overall
community and therefore has to be conducted according to specified ethics (Ali & Al-
Owaihan, 2008). IWE defines, at an individual level, some fundamental principles that may
guide action in the workplace. How IWE can influence attitudes and behaviors at work is an
important issue for organizations settled in Islamic countries.
In parallel, moral conduct defined at a global level by internationalizing organizations may
conflict with local work ethics. As a result, employees of such organizations may experience
moral conflict which occurs when individuals recognize that their inclination to act ethically
might lead to violation of their reference groups’ norms (Schwartz et al., 1969). When
employees have to act against their values, they experience high levels of value incongruence
which leads to cognitive dissonance (Kraimer, 1997; Festinger, 1942). Cognitive dissonance
