In the ethical climate typology, the local locus specifies
sources of ethical reasoning within the organization, such as
the workgroup. The cosmopolitan level specifies organizational
sources of ethical reasoning external to the focal organization,
such as a professional association or a body of law.
Cosmopolitan sources of ethical reasoning can be abstract
concepts, generated outside organizations but used inside organizations
as part of the institutionalized normative system.
The source of professional norms of behavior, for example, is
usually external to the work setting, but the norms still become
part of the prevailing normative climate of professional
work organizations (Kornhauser, 1962; Scott, 1966). In addition
to the cosmopolitan level, another locus external to the
focal organization or group was conceptualized. Labeled individual,
this locus is external to the focal organization in the
sense that the prevailing normative climate supports a referent
for ethical reasoning located within the individual. Prevailing
norms such as those supporting the use of one's
personal ethics or engaging self-interested behavior would be
examples of such a climate.