International Journal of Hospitality Management

Volume 23, Issue 5, December 2004, Pages 523-544

2003 Review Issue

doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2004.02.005 | How to Cite or Link Using DOI

Copyright © 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Ethics, trust and expectations regarding the treatment of disabled staff within a
tourism/hospitality industry context
Glenn F. Ross ,
School of Business, Tourism Program, Cairns Campus, James Cook University, Cairns 2004,
Australia

Available online 9 July 2004.

Abstract

Whilst it has long been recognized that disabled employees can be the recipients of
discrimination in the workplace, occasioned by many factors including physical appearance,
relatively little is known regarding the ethical conceptualizations, trust responses and also
problem-solving architecture that potential employees bring to such contexts, particularly in
service industries such as tourism/hospitality. This study has examined discrimination shown to a
disabled hospitality industry employee within an ethical framework, investigating personal
ethical beliefs, individual ethical influences upon behaviour and also perceived management
problem-solving response influences in the face of disability discrimination. The study has been
conducted among a sample of university management students in a major Australian tourism
destination, many of whom on graduation would seek employment within the tourism/hospitality
industry.
Three personal ethical belief types were identified: equity or procedural justice, competence and
integrity, with both competence and integrity ethics being regarded as of higher value than
equity. Major individual ethical influences included one's own values and also those of the
ambient society; the most highly rated perceived management response involved the protection
of company image whereas the least expected involved a management perspective focusing on
justice of all people involved in the ethical dilemma.
The competence ethical belief was found to predict the individual who would be influenced by a
legal perspective; the justice for all management perspective was employed as a measure of
respondent trust in management, with analyses revealing that the competence ethical belief, the
career and societal influences and also gender being found associated with lower levels of trust
in management's willingness to respond to disability discrimination in a just manner. The
protection of company image as a management response, employed as a measure of mistrust,
was associated with integrity personal ethical values, and also with career, societal and own
ethical influences upon responses to an incident of disability discrimination. Implications for
future research in this domain together with implications for the tourism/hospitality industry are
examined.
Author Keywords: Disabled employees; Discrimination; Ethical values; Trust ;
Tourism/hospitality management

Article Outline

1. Introduction
1.1. Ethical decision-making
1.2. Ethics and tourism
1.3. Trust
2. Method
2.1. Subjects
2.2. Measures
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
References

1. Introduction

Furnham (1997) has found that a major cause of work stress can be the frustration of reasonable
career development expectations. When a worker attempts to obtain a position for which he or
she is qualified and suitable, and is prevented from doing so by reason of prejudice and
discrimination, then frustration and stress are typically experienced. Van Hoof et al. (1996) have
made the point that workplace discrimination may be understood as a process wherein
preferential treatment is afforded to members of certain groups or one particular group at the
expense of other groups of individuals. They suggest that such a practice is not only unlawful
and personally destructive, but also that it makes no sense. Holding negative stereotypes in
regard to particular groups, whether they be cultural, gender, age or physical ability groups, can
result in the rejection of able, well-motivated and valuable workers who hold the potential to
become distinct assets to the organization and the industry. Van Hoof et al. go on to suggest that
discriminatory practices against various groups may be understood within an ethical context;
indeed they characterize such discrimination by means of ethical precepts such as inequality,
unfairness and the denial of equal opportunities; they would further argue that an appropriate
method by which such behaviour may be conceptualized and investigated is by way of an ethical
perspective.
There is within many industries such as the tourism/hospitality industry an awareness of the
ever-present possibility of discrimination. Commentators such as Lucas (1993) and Warr
(1995) have averred to the discrimination often faced by older workers; Wood (1994) has written
of the power of factors such as social class, gender and ethnicity in the perpetuation of
discrimination in employment practices within the hospitality industry. Tharenou (2001) has
suggested that, despite the perceived advances made by women in the workplace, many still
report encountering discrimination in contexts such as the promotion process. Those workers
with physical disabilities also encounter such barriers. Peterson and Gonzalez (2000) report that
career development can often be restricted or blocked altogether for those employees with a
physical disability. It is also the case that previous workplace limitations experienced by these
individuals can result in fewer social and vocational opportunities. Moreover, Springer
(2001) would suggest that such a group of people is not small in number, with almost 20% of the
adult population reporting some form of disablement.
There is a yet more subtle form of physical discrimination that can manifest itself within service
industries, particularly in areas such as the appointment of staff to positions dealing directly with
the public. Schultz and Schultz (2002) describe a physical discrimination based upon physical
attractiveness, termed beautyism, wherein those regarded as more physically attractive are
deemed to possess more desirable personal and social traits, to be more sociable, dominant and
mentally healthy than less physically attractive people. Such a bias, they point out, can lead to
clear cases of discrimination, inappropriate appointment and the loss of competent and well-
motivated staff who do not fit the stereotype of physical attractiveness. Again, such acts of
discrimination may be regarded as not only causing distress and harm to the recipients of this
behaviour, but also impoverishing the organization when competent and dedicated staff are not
appointed to a position for spurious reasons.
Baum (1995) has suggested that the demographic structures in many western countries is now in
the process of major change, and that the ongoing decline of the youth population will have a
major influence on recruitment within the tourism/hospitality industry. This shrinkage in the
traditional pool of cheap and flexible labour means that previously ignored or underutilized
groups, such as individuals with a physical disability are regarded as more likely to be deemed
suitable for employment. Baum suggests that such groups should be afforded a number of basic
rights, such as the provision of clear and public criteria for promotion and access to career
development which in no way discriminates on the basis of factors such as a physical disability.
Baum would regard the provision of such rights as falling within a sustainable perspective of
industry employment that makes no assumptions about a staff member based upon status,
gender, race, educational background or physical disability. He concludes that any organization
that does not contain the ability to recognize the potential for growth in every individual will not
function effectively and therefore not be sustainable within the industry.
Whilst there are now a growing number of studies addressing the topic of disability from the
perspective of the employer, the organization and the industry (e.g. Kreismann and Palmer,
2001; Lee, 1996; Cleveland et al., 1997; Jen-Gwo Chen and He Zesheng, 1997), relatively few
studies have examined this issue by way of an employee perspective (e.g. den Uijl and
Bahlmann, 2002; Konur, 2002). One investigation that has attempted such an approach among
those individuals currently in training for employment was that of Loo (2001), who examined
attitudes of management undergraduates toward people with disability: Loo makes the point that
such a population will likely be the next generation of professionals and managers who hire and
work with employees with disabilities. He has found that whilst respondents did generally
express a complex array of attitudes toward the disabled, a number of attitudes were found to be
negative and potentially discriminatory; it was concluded that a need clearly exists to sensitize
many management students to issues regarding the abilities and employment potential of people
with disabilities.
1.1. Ethical decision-making

Cross and Prusak (2002) have suggested that, within any workplace, employees are constantly
encountering the need to make decisions, with each decision outcome representing the
employees’ responses to some need or problem. Moreover, each decision is the outcome of a
dynamic process that is shaped by a variety of personal and psychological forces. Researchers
such as Rokeach (1973), Ball-Rokeach et al. (1984),Feather (1975) and Feather (1996), Maio
(2002), and Schwartz (1996) have argued that personal ethical values are crucial components of
this decision-making process. Ethical values in this domain are said to be the guidelines for
personal conduct to which an individual refers when confronted with a situation wherein a choice
has to be made. Commentators such as Rokeach argue that ethical values are typically acquired
early in life, and are a fundamental, though often unexamined element of an individual's
reasoning process.
It has long been suggested that ethics play a major role in decision-making within a work context
(Peterson and Gonzalez, 2000; Schultz and Schultz, 2002). In the establishment of organizational
or occupational objectives, it is suggested that value judgments are frequently made regarding
the selection of opportunities and the allocation of priorities; in the development of alternatives,
and then the choice of one, in particular, the ethics of the employee will often determine the
focus of possible behaviour; in the implementation of the decision made, ethical precepts will
likely guide the means of implementation; finally, in any evaluation, ethical precepts are likely to
manifest themselves in any corrective or follow-up action. Furnham (1997) andSchultz and
Schultz (2002) suggest that it is by way of such processes that ethical values of various types
clearly influence the workplace decision-making process; they are further said to be reflected in a
decision-maker's behaviour before making a decision, in making the decision and then in putting
the decision into effect.
Managements too are said to manifestly exhibit their ethical values when they come to the
decision-making process (Gibson et al., 2000). This process may be seen in stark relief within the
organization development domain. Basically, organizational development can be regarded as a
managerial technique for the implementation of systematic change within any organization; it
involves applying powerful techniques, sometimes in a directive or even coercive manner, so as
to achieve goals such as performance improvements. The type and degree of ethical precepts
espoused by management and also their change agents become evident in the unfolding of power
relationships among various participants within the organization undergoing modification.
Practices such as coercion, misrepresentation and exploitation of the weaker members, usually
lower-level workers, are frequently cited as examples of unethical processes and behaviours that
may emerge within organizational development programs. Management, conclude Gibson et al.,
in these circumstances must bear a major responsibility for any possible widespread perceptions
of unethical conduct and resultant mistrust among employees.
Rectification of such abuses within the process by management and their change agents may be
found in an organizational culture that fosters a clear articulation and incorporation of ethical
behaviour. An organizational climate of this type would present senior management as
advocating ethical behaviour as the norm; all individuals would be expected and assumed to
conduct themselves in an ethical manner, even when such integrity would prove costly to the
organization in economic and strategic terms. The management of an organization it has thus
been suggested, particularly members of the senior management team, bear a particular
responsibility to encourage and model ethical behaviour, so that such behaviour becomes an
inalienable part of the organizational climate, and is regarded as such by employees.
Ethical values within a workplace setting have been understood by way of a variety of schemas,
often as conceptualizations by which codes of ethics could be examined and their individual
elements understood and classified. At least 12 ethical dimensions have been proposed
by Kaptein and Wempe (1998), including the positive or negative direction of elements or
precepts, and also the explicit or general nature of components. Getz (1990) has argued that
ethical values within the workplace may be understood within the context of the two major
theories of moral philosophy, utilitarianism and deontology. Within a philosophical context, the
topics of ethics, until the latter half of the twentieth century, was generally understood as the
domain of two major theories: utilitarianism and Kantian or deontological philosophy.
Deontological theory emanated largely from the writings of the eighteenth century philosopher
Immanual Kant; utilitarianism is typically associated with the writings of philosophers Jeremy
Bentham and J.S. Mill ( Rachels (1995) andRachels (1998)). A third ethical notion in recent
years has gained considerable currency. Virtue ethics represents an approach to ethics
highlighting ethical character, and is in clear contrast to the approaches that emphasize rules and
duties (deontological) or an emphasis upon the consequences of a citizen's action (utilitarianism).
Within this schema virtue ethics emphasizes the character of the person in the understanding of
any ethical action. Hursthouse (1999) argues that virtue ethics is both an old and a new theory:
old in that it may be traced back to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and new in that it has been
revived in the second part of the twentieth century. Aristotle suggested that virtues are general
traits of character revealed in habitual actions; Pincoffs (1996) has posited that Aristotelian
virtues can be more precisely defined as traits of character manifested in habitual actions that are
said to be good for a person to have.
In contrast, Raiburn and Payne (1990) have proposed a relatively straightforward yet cogent
classification of ethical values in the workplace, consisting of principles such as equity or
procedural justice, competence and integrity. Equity includes precepts such as being
incorruptible, impartiality and frankness, being responsible and being conscientious. Competence
is represented by the individual who is capable, hardworking, efficient and who shows initiative.
Integrity involves those personal virtues about which Aristotle wrote (see Tredennick, 1976), and
embraces notions such as honesty, genuineness, sociability, altruism and understanding. Tucker
et al. (1999) and Wiley (2000) have moreover found such dimensions of utility in their
classifications of workplace ethical values.
Ethical orientations as influences upon decision-making in the workplace, particularly within
contexts such as tourism/hospitality, have now begun to receive some research attention. One
such contribution to this area is that offered by Whitney (1990). Whitney has proposed a
conceptualization involving four major orientations, and has labeled them individual orientation,
traditional or societal orientation, legal orientation and career orientation. For the individual
orientation, he suggests that the person's ethical philosophy is basically their own, even though it
may include elements taken from the schemas and principles of others; it has been, he suggests,
assimilated uniquely by the individual through both thought and life experiences. Within the
societal orientation, the individual's beliefs are said to emanate largely from one's community,
family or religious context; whilst the beliefs many now be internalized, they are other-centered
insofar as relatively little critical reflection may be involved. The legal orientation, Whitney
argues, is relatively straightforward; a person here holds strongly to the notion that it is the law
that guarantees or orders society, and that society defines ethics principally through the law.
Finally, Whitney's career-oriented person understands personal ethical standards as equivalent to
and generated from the industry or organization within which he or she works; these are said to
be self-chosen insofar as one's career is self-chosen. This individual, it is suggested, may take
great care to nurture and to prevent any damage to his or her career, and therefore adopt
generally acceptable practices as touchstones of workplace ethical behaviour. Whitney finally
reports on an exploration of this schema among managers in the hospitality industry, and
identifies distinct ethical orientation profiles related to variables such as age, rank and size of the
property managed.

1.2. Ethics and tourism

Vallen and Casado (2000), Enghagen and Hott (1992), Richter and Richter (1999), Ross
(1998) and Ross (2003a) and Stevens (2001) have all suggested that ethical understandings of
behaviour have broad and consequential application in tourism/hospitality, extending to areas
such as tertiary education and training, staff selection, training, promotion and management
operations. In regard to education, Stevens observes that the encouragement of an awareness of
the importance of personal and professional ethical principles ought to be a prime goal of any
tertiary education program. Similarly, Vallen and Casado (2000) andWheeler (1994) have noted
that education programs in areas such as hospitality, because they are charged with the
preparation of individuals for hospitality employment, need to expose students to critical ethical,
professional and legal issues, all of which will undoubtedly confront them.
Stevens (1999) and Stevens and Brownell (2000), commenting on some of the mechanisms of
this preparation, have suggested that graduates who have become aware of and are comfortable
with their personal ethical beliefs, and whose ethical beliefs are in large measure, compatible
with that of their employing organization, will be more likely to act ethically, and also have a
positive influence upon subordinates’ ethical perspectives. Graduates are likely then to be more
effective communicators of an organizations’ ethical code and expectations regarding acceptable
behaviour in the workplace. In regard to the education process, Vallen and Casado
(2000), Martin (1998), Stevens (2001) and Stevens and Brownell (2000) all suggest that students
in tertiary institutions may be assisted in the development of an awareness of ethical standards by
way of case studies, vignettes and hypothetical employment dilemmas wherein each participant
is confronted with the complexities, competing interests and personal perceptions associated with
a series of hospitality workplace ethical confrontations. It is suggested that critical thinking skills
are more likely to be fostered in participants who have to grapple with and arrive as a satisfying
solution that holds in some balance their personal ethical precepts, the legal mores of the society,
and the ethical climate of the organization. Morrison and O’Mahony (2003), Ross
(2003b) and Ross (2003c) and Lashley (1999);Lashley (2000) and Lashley (2002) have variously
suggested that employees who graduate with an understanding of such a cognitive architecture of
problem solving will be of much greater utility to an organization, and also the society at large,
than will those graduates who are not confronted with dilemmas and are not challenged to find
robust, workable and personally acceptable solutions, but rather simply told what to absorb, what
to believe, and instructed on precisely how the job ought to be done.
Tribe (2002) has convincingly argued for the value of an understanding of the epistemologies of
ethical tourism. He has suggested that conceptual notions such as Schon's idea of the reflective
practitioner, Aristotle's principles of practical wisdom, and also Habermas's formulation of
communicative wisdom all have an important place in the tourism curriculum as a precursor to
and as offering understandings and benefits within an ethical tourism practicum. By way of an
example of the value of such formulations, Tribe cites the idea of ‘the good’, and points out that
Aristotle clearly meant this to refer to the good of all people; the good life-concerned truth,
responsibility for actions, and right actions. Tribe points out that good for modern management is
likely to have a much more constrained focus: good for profits, for business and for growth.
Moreover, whilst Aristotle would focus broadly on all of humanity, modern management has no
such frame of reference; managers typically narrow their interest down to a particular group such
as the worker. Tribe has found that absent in this impoverished frame of reference generally
adopted by present day management is the concept of the community, the role of the common
good; he concludes that hospitality students exposed to a more holistic perspectives will graduate
with an optimal understanding of their ethical responsibilities in regard to the broad range of
people who they will later encounter.

1.3. Trust

Commentators such as Furnham (1997) have suggested that an important goal of organizational
psychology has been the identification of factors that might predict intraorganizational
cooperation, coordination and control. Trust, a variety of researchers now hold, plays a major
role in such endeavours (see Fukayama, 1995; Kramer, 1999; Pollitt, 2002; Putnam, 2000; Ross
(2003a) and Ross (2004); and Seligman, 1997) It is also the case that an absence of trust, such
as that which might exist as between employees and management within an organization, can
have severely debilitating effects upon the climate and also the productivity of a workplace
( Badaracco, 2002). The idea of trust has been used in fields such as economics, organizational
psychology, social psychology, sociology, management and marketing. Despite the prevalence
and generally regarded importance of this construct, a succinct and universally acceptable
definition appears unattainable; it has been employed in a variety of ways, both within and
between disciplines. Hosmer (1995), Kramer (1999) suggest, would characterize trust as an
expectation of ethically justifiable behaviour which encompasses morally correct decisions that
are founded on ethical principles, whereas Burt and Knez (1996) are cited as conceptualizing
trust as simply an anticipation of cooperation. Kramer would further posit that, whatever the
differences among theorists and commentators, most would hold that trust is in essence a
psychological state.
Whilst this lack of a universally acceptable operationalization of trust may in the first instance
be regarded as a limitation, others have argued that these very differences are not only necessary,
but also of value for many applied researchers. Bigley and Pierce (1998) have suggested that any
effort that might succeed in bringing existing trust perspectives under one conceptualization
will simply result in formulations that are likely to be overly complex and extremely abstract,
rendering them in practical terms unavailable for research purposes. They would prefer to adopt
a specific problem-focused approach wherein individual components of trust are germane to the
context of the research; they would moreover suggest that such an approach frees up the concept
for research in diverse disciplinary fields and applied contexts. The organizational
researchers Clegg et al. (2002) have offered evidence in support of this approach in the context
of innovative behaviour.
With any discussion of trust, two major issues require some consideration. The first concerns
the trustfulness of the trustor, that is the extent to which the trustor places trust in the trustee.
The second issue involves the trustworthiness of the trustee, that is the degree to which the
trustee honours trust if trust is so placed. Buskens and Raub (2002) hold that the trustfulness of
the trustee largely depends on their expectation of the trustworthiness of the trustee; if the trustor
expects the trustee to abuse trust, then trust is typically not placed in this person. Commenting
upon such processes, Kramer (2002) has warned about the abiding belief that trust in the
workplace is always a positive; this belief he holds can be naïve and even dangerous on
occasions. Whilst Kramer is not suggesting that trust is, in many organizational contexts, other
than an essential element; indeed, he would describe much of what makes life pleasant and
efficient in many spheres of life as emanating from the salutary effects of trust. However, he
concludes from over two decades of research on trust that, despite its costs, distrust can
sometimes be beneficial to individuals in the workplace; he argues for the exercise of a moderate
form of suspicion on occasions; a prudent paranoia is the label he gives it. Kramer cites incidents
such as the collapse of Enron, suggesting that employees have long operated under the illusion
that they live and work over safety nets, and never question the reality of those nets; he advances
the suggestion that high levels of trust may make employees less vigilant and thus less able to
protect themselves during times of adversity. Kramer would argue that a type of constructive
suspicion regarding the intentions and actions of people and organizations might represent
survival value in a workplace not always characterized by benign forces, ethical principles and
just behaviour.
The promulgation of a set of ethical values within organizations has now become accepted
practice; most organizations typically make some effort to display and to articulate codes of
ethics and their contents to both staff and customers (Lencioni, 2002). Such efforts are generally
assumed to be a positive and necessary step in the quest to be generally regarded as a good
corporate citizen. However, some commentators such as Lencioni conclude that many
organizational value statements are at best bland, meaningless, or even dishonest. He also finds
that such a situation can be destructive insofar as empty value statements will likely engender
cynicism and lower motivation among employees, create suspicion among customers, and
portray management to both the employees and the wider community as lacking in truthfulness
and credibility. The outcome of such a set of ethical values will be to create a climate wherein
trust is in short supply.
This research explores major elements of the relationship between personal ethical values and
both individual ethical influences and management response perceptions:
(1) It has sought to examine the dimensions of the personal ethical values that are likely to be
brought to tourism industry employment;(2) It has also sought to examine the relationships
between these ethical values and both personal response conceptualizations and management
response perceptions, so as to examine the degree to which individual ethical values are related
to or predictive of a set of individual ethical influences and also a set of management ethical
response perceptions, in the face of an ethical dilemma involving physical disability
discrimination in the tourism/hospitality industry workplace;(3) It has finally sought to examine
the notion of trust in tourism/hospitality industry management, and the extent to which levels
of trust may be predicted by personal ethical values and also individual ethical influences.

2. Method

2.1. Subjects

Two hundred students enrolled in years 1, 2 and 3 within the School of Business at James Cook
University, Cairns campus in northeastern Australia were sampled. Ross (1998) and Ross
(2003c) has found that there is generally a high level of interest among young people in tourism
and hospitality industry management employment, with many being prepared to undertake
university/college-level training in order to achieve their vocational goals.

2.2. Measures

Respondents were asked to rate the following ethical precepts, representing the notions of equity,
competence and integrity. Each of the ethical value precepts reflected in notions suggested by
Aristotle, and have also appeared in the writings of both Rokeach (1973) and Feather
(1975) and Feather (1996); furthermore, each ethical precept was adapted to the
tourism/hospitality industry workplace context, particularly as each precept may be interpreted
within a service quality framework ( Noe, 1999).
How important do you see each of the following in any job offering service to the public?

Respondents were presented with the following ethical dilemma:

The human resources manager of the hotel in which you work has refused to promote a disabled
employee to a customer service position, instead promoting a less-qualified person; the disabled
employee does not intend to complain, and you believe that it is because he or she is afraid of the
job repercussions. How important would each of these factors be (a) for you, and (b) for
management, in deciding on reactions to this situation:

3. Results

The first set of analyses involved principal components factor analysis, applied to each of the set
of equity, competence and integrity ethical precepts. Each set revealed only one eigenvalue
exceeding unity, accounted for approximately 40% of the explained variance, and in each case
demonstrated standardized alpha reliability coefficients exceeding 0.6: Equity: 2.076, 41.525%,
0.646; Competence: 2.152, 43.041, 0.6686; Integrity: 1.97, 39.404, 0.6091. Descriptive analyses
applied to results from this study have revealed that the personal ethical dimension of equity or
procedural justice was regarded with considerably less importance than were the dimensions of
competence and integrity, with both of these ethical precepts being rated highly.Table 1 also
reveals that, for the individual ethical influences, the personal values influence was regarded as
holding much greater sway than were the value influences of career, law and society. In regard to
management influence perceptions, company image, legal practices and company values were
believed to be more powerful determinants of a managerial response than was the aspiration of
justice for all. Results from a Friedman ANOVA (by ranks) analysis of each of these sets of
variables, reported in Table 2, confirm these findings, particularly beliefs regarding the relative
unimportance of the equity ethical precepts and the perceptions regarding the improbability of
management responding to this disability discrimination ethical dilemma by attempting to effect
a solution which would include justice for all those involved.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics associated with major variables included in the study

Females=139 (69%), MALES=62 (30.5%), MISSING=1 (0.5%), N=201.

Table 2. Friedman ANOVA's of the ethical values’ measures, the individual ethical influences
and the management response perceptions
Multiple regression analysis procedures have been employed so as to examine the relative
predictive power of the individual ethical beliefs as determinants of ethical influences and also
management response perceptions upon responses to this ethical dilemma. Only one analysis,
that involving personal legal influences, was found to yield significant results; the significant
function so formed explained approximately 9% of the variance and revealed the competence
ethic to be the sole predictor of legal influences upon responses to the problem. It would thus
appear that those individuals who particularly esteem competence as an ethical orientation would
go on to regard the possible answer to such a problem as lying within a legal context (Table 3).
Table 3. Multiple regression analyses of the individual ethical influences, employing the ethical
value measures as predictor variables
Nonparametric procedures have also been employed, so as to explore relationships as between
the trust measure justice for all, and personal ethical precepts, individual ethical influences and
also perceived management influences. Table 4 presents results from Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA
(by ranks) analyses of the personal ethical precepts and also gender with the justice for all
measure, and reveals significant results within both analyses. In regard to the competence
measure, a complex set of results emerge, with individuals reporting higher levels of competence
being associated with both moderately low and also high levels of assent to the proposition that
management could be trusted to respond to this ethical issue in a manner which would include a
justice for all perspective. Lower levels of competence were found to be associated with low
responses to this trust measure, and also to a lesser degree with the neutral and also moderately
high levels of trust. Such results might be suggestive of two separate groups that evince high
levels of trust in management's intentions regarding justice; one group high on the competence
ethic did seem to trust management, whereas another group clearly appeared not to.
Table 4. Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA's of the competence ethical value and gender variable by the
justice for all management response perceptions
Note: Females scored as 2; Males scored as 1.
In regard to gender, it appears from an inspection of mean rank levels that female respondents
were more likely to elect for a neutral response to the justice for all management response
perception, whereas males were found more likely to be moderately high or high on this
measure. It might here be concluded that, whilst males were somewhat more likely to assume
management would take a justice for all perspectives in cases involving possible discrimination
of this kind, females were not so convinced, and appeared to believe that it was more appropriate
to register some uncertainty in respect of the possibility of this management response.
Table 5 presents results from Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA (by ranks) analyses of the individual
ethical influences by the justice for all responses revealing significant results in two
analyses; Table 5 reveals, for the career influence, that the greater belief in the potency of career
as a motivator of ethical responses, the greater the trust in management to be just to all when
they respond to the problem. Results from the analysis involving societal values revealed no
similar effect; rather, higher levels of assent to the importance of societal values was found to be
associated with both high and neutral levels of the trust variable, whereas lower levels were
revealed to be associated with lower levels of trust. Two different groups of individuals
evincing societal values might be identified here, one with a strong confidence in management's
sense of justice, and another not so sure about the wisdom of such conviction.
Table 5. Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA's of the career influences and societal values by the justice for
all management response perceptions
The final set of analyses involved the perceived management response involving company
image, and serves as a contrasting measure of trust or mistrust with that of the justice for all
management response perception; it is suggested that a management response that strongly
emphasizes protection of the company image might be regarded as being antithetical to a
response involving justice for all in regard to the nurturing of trust among employees. Kruskal–
Wallis ANOVA's (by ranks) analyses have in Table 6 revealed significant results involving the
integrity personal ethical value, and also the career, the societal and the own values influence; an
inspection of the ranks table in Table 6 reveals two groups of respondents, with one lower on
integrity and spanning all levels of company image response perceptions except that of the
highest rating, and another group higher on integrity who would anticipate management as
favouring the protection of the company image. Higher levels of career influence were found to
be associated with a neutral stance regarding company image, whereas lower levels of influence
relating to career success were found to be associated with lower company image and mid range
levels of career success value influences with higher levels of belief in management's propensity
to respond by protecting the company image. Both societal and own value influences evidenced
a similar pattern of response, with lower scores on both value influences revealed to be
associated with the protection of the company image, and higher assent to both value influences
associated with the assent to perceptions regarding management's proclivity to be protective of
their organization's image.
Table 6. Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA's (by ranks) of the integrity personal value and the career,
social and own ethical influences by the company image management response perceptions
4. Discussion

Reactions to disability discrimination within a tourism/hospitality industry context among

potential employees have been explored from an ethical perspective in this study. Results suggest
that individuals do perceive an ethical involvement in respect of responses to tourism/hospitality
industry disability discrimination. A number of ethical value configurations and associations
have emerged in regard to personal ethical values, individual ethical response influences and
management response perceptions, and also between these various ethical dimensions:
(A) Respondents placed considerably greater importance upon integrity and competence than
they did upon equity. Procedural justice, whilst not regarded as of little importance, was
nevertheless not esteemed as highly as were the individual ethical dimensions involving
competence and integrity. Thus many seem to wish to take with them into the tourism/hospitality
industry workplace ethical precepts which involve high personal standards in regard to
performing their duties in an efficient, diligent and attentive manner, and further seek to conduct
themselves honestly, in a helpful and genuine manner, and to do so pleasantly in their dealing
with those around them.(B) This study has also found that many more respondents regarded their
own values as having a greater influence upon reactions to disability discrimination than were
societal, career or legal influences. Individuals thus appear to suggest that it is their own ethics,
and not those of the surrounding society, the legal environment or those that advantage their
career, that they rely upon when deciding upon how to react. In regard to management response
perceptions, many prospective tourism/hospitality industry employees believed that their future
leaders will prefer a reaction to disability discrimination that involved the protection of the
company image, the adherence to company policy or the reliance upon legal resources, but not
upon a justice for all perspective. In this set of responses, many seemed clearly to say that they
had relatively little trust in management to respond with a just solution that was perceived so by
all involved.(C) Those personal ethical precepts such as efficiency, hardwork and positivity in
outlook and which have been commonly characterized in the literature as competence behaviours
in the workplace were found to be predictive of personal legal influences. It may be drawn from
this that those individuals who favour competence ethical precepts also regard themselves as
relying upon legal resources when deciding upon responses to an incident of disability
discrimination in the tourism/hospitality industry workplace; such individuals may regard the
display of disability discrimination in this context as perhaps an indication of managerial
incompetence, and rely principally upon the present legal frameworks for remedies for such
actions. An incident of discrimination may be regarded as an indication of administrative
inefficiency that ought be rectified legally. It would seem useful to now explore further the
problem-solving styles and goal structures of members of this group.(D) Trust as a concept has
long been associated with ethical behaviour within the workplace (see
Fukuyama, 1995;
Kramer (1999) and
Kramer (2002);
Putnam, 2000;
Ross, 2003a) This study has found considerable evidence to suggest that trust and distrust in
tourism/hospitality industry management, as indicated by measures such as a justice for all
problem-solving response and also a company image protection problem-solving response, in the
face of an incident of disability discrimination, can vary widely in respect of variables such as
gender and individual ethical influence. Females, it has been found, were less inclined to be
trusting of management to take a justice for all perspectives than were males. It is possible that
females were the group more likely to have had, or anticipate having, lower-level positions
within the tourism/hospitality industry workforce, and had even previously experienced
managers who did not demonstrate an interest or concern for frontline staff, and possibly
dispensed with their services in what may have appeared to be a capricious manner with little or
no explanation. Such gender differences in regard to trust perceptions might usefully be further
explored.
(E) For analyses involving trust and competency values, two separate groups of respondents
have been highlighted within this study: one high-competence group has demonstrated little
trust in management's willingness to be just to all, whilst another high-competence group was
found to extend some confidence in management's willingness to be just to all. The question may
therefore be put as to why it is that one group of high-competence individuals would trust
whilst another would not; whilst the answer to this is not presently available, it may be possible
to entertain the conclusion that many in the high-competence nontrusting group are likely to
consider eschewing tourism/hospitality employment in favour of a workplace wherein they
believe that they can place some trust in the management to act justly.(F) Analyses involving
trust together with measures such as career and societal influences have revealed remarkably
dissimilar patterns of responding. In regard to career ethical influences, it was found that the
greater the career influence, the greater the level of trust in management's willingness to pursue
justice; for societal ethical influences; however, a more complex pattern has emerged not
dissimilar to that involving the competence personal ethical values: high levels of societal
influences were associated both with high levels of trust and also with some skepticism
regarding management's willingness to be just. Again, the question may be posed regarding the
factors, which might differentiate between those who would and would not trust management
here; the answer, in part, may lie in the particular types of societal values that are perceived to be
of major influence in the lives of these respondents; such questions might now be fruitfully
explored.(G) A measure of mistrust has also been employed in this study, one that would focus
on a resolute determination to protect the company image in the face of revelations regarding
discrimination shown to a disabled employee. The integrity personal ethical value, together with
the career, societal and own ethical influences, was all revealed to be associated with this
measure of mistrust. In respect of the integrity ethic, a pattern consisting of two groups were
revealed, with the larger group high on both integrity and distrust, whilst the other group lower
on distrust accounted for all other levels of the integrity measure. It might be suggested here that
those individuals more likely to embrace personal ethics such as honesty, altruism and sociability
were the ones most suspicious of management's core values when they were confronted with an
ethical dilemma; tourism/hospitality industry management's reaction, in the estimation of this
group, was to protect the reputation of the organization. If such a conclusion is drawn, then
management has among this group a reasonably poor reputation when it comes to the
rectification of disability discrimination within the tourism/hospitality industry workplace.
Findings in regard to the career, the societal and the personal ethical influences generally support
such conclusions: those more likely to embrace career protection ethical influences adopted a
neutral or noncommittal stance regarding the measure of mistrust, whereas those respondents
higher on the societal and the own ethical influences regarded management as highly likely to
respond by protecting their organization's image. Such findings may be regarded as representing
views critical of or at least revealing some doubt in respect of the ethical ideals as held by
tourism/hospitality industry management. It should be pointed out that respondents in this study
were undergraduate business students, many of whom were not yet full-time employees. Whilst a
number of the respondents were, at the time, part-time employees of the industry, some lacked
any significant exposure to working conditions and practices within the tourism/hospitality
industry. Future studies in this area could profitably investigate possible relationships as between
levels and types of industry work exposure together with expectations of ethical problem solving
among management.(H) Whilst a major portion of this section has been given over to an
understanding of results as they relate to the tourism/hospitality employment context, results also
have implications for educators. Commentators such as Lashley, Tribe, Stevens and Vallen all
have argued for a much greater focus on ethical issues and decision-making processes within the
curriculum. Results from this study have revealed a marked mistrust of management in regard to
ethical problem solving; results also suggest that respondents placed much lower levels of
importance upon equity or procedural justice as a potent ethical precept. Such results may have
been modified if undergraduate students had participated in business ethics courses wherein
methods such as case studies, vignettes concerning ethical issues and hypothetical dilemmas
were all utilized; students challenged by a variety of issues and learning modalities closely
modeled upon the business environment would be afforded an opportunity to develop an
understanding of the complexities of ethical issues, and also develop their own cognitive
architecture of ethical decision-making wherein individual strategies of problem solving are
encountered, tested and honed.
It is possible that many of these prospective employees might then come to place a greater
emphasis upon the importance and efficacy of equity or procedural justice in the diminution of
disability discrimination. It is also possible that greater exposure in such a course to the broad
spectrum of talent and professionalism within tourism/hospitality management, mistrust of
management may be less global and diffuse, and more targeted and selective.

5. Conclusions

This study has revealed an association as between personal ethical values and both individual
ethical response influences and measures of trust and mistrust as represented by perceived
management response influences. Competence ethical values were associated with career
preservation influences when faced with an incident involving workplace disability
discrimination. High-integrity ethical values, however, were revealed to be associated with a
distrust regarding the company image protection ethical response of management when faced
with such an incident of discrimination; tourism/hospitality industry leaders, so many individuals
high on such ethical precepts believed, would be assiduously protective of their organization's
image. Moreover, those respondents more likely to believe themselves governed by their own set
of ethics or those of the surrounding culture and society also evinced mistrust in management to
act justly, believing they would be more likely to be guided by influences such as organizational
image protection. A picture of considerable mistrust in regard to management has therefore
emerged in this study, particularly among those potential employees most likely to be energized
by personal ethics such as honesty, altruism, and genuineness; these individuals in particular
expected management's response to an act of workplace discrimination involving a disabled
employee to be directed more to the domain of image protection, and much less toward the
provision of justice for all involved in such a case. Whilst a number of the respondents may be
naïve or not fully informed in respect to the workings of the tourism/hospitality and its
management, it is nonetheless a problem for management that many of the most ethically aware
management graduates within this sample have such a bleak, suspicious and discomforting view
regarding the perceived ethical standards of industry management.
Further research, occasioned by this study, might be directed toward exploration of the various
groups and respondents represented in results involving the competence and the integrity
personal value measures, and also the career and the societal ethical influences; factors which
may have occasioned the differences in the gender and the organizational trust variables might
also be profitably explored further. Future studies might examine the personal ethical values and
also the ethical influences along with specific behavioural intentions, so as to further understand
the manner by which personal ethical precepts and associated levels of trust may be translated
into concrete expressions of ethical problem solving within a tourism/industry workplace
environment.