1. Literature review
1.1. Ethics and quality of work life (QWL)
Ethics and QWL are two intertwined work environment factors of
organizations. Ethics in this research refers to the rules or standards
governing the conduct of individuals or the members of a profession(Morris,1980),whileQWL is the perceptions towhich the organizational
environment meets the full range of employees' needs for their wellbeing
at work (Cascio, 1998; Sirgy et al., 2001). According to their
research into different dimensions of need-based QWL, Sirgy et al.
(2001) categorize QWL into two major categories: lower- and higherorder
needs. According to them, lower-order QWL is comprised of health/
safety needs and economic/family needs and higher-order QWL is
comprised of social needs, esteem needs, self actualization needs,
knowledge needs, and aesthetic needs. Both categories of QWL were
investigated in the present study.