Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Introduction: Ethical behavior is an important issue for all organizations, especially universities and higher education institutions that can be influenced by various factors including intellectual capital and social responsibility. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between intellectual capital and social responsibility and ethical behavior among faculty members.

Methods: This study was a descriptive-correlational research and the data was collected through a survey method. Statistical population comprised all faculty members of University of Sistan and Baluchistan of whom 183 were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection tools were intellectual capital questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha=0.83) (Bontis, 1998), social responsibility questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha=0.81) (Ghalavandi et al, 2014) and ethical behavior questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha=0.91) (Swanson & Hill, 1993). Correlation coefficient and multiple regression were used for data analysis.

Results: The values of the correlation coefficients of intellectual capital and its components - human capital, structural capital and communicative capital - with ethical behavior were 0.402, 0.297, 0.225, and 0.229 respectively (p<0.01). Results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that intellectual capital explains 17% of the variance of ethical behavior (p<0.05). The values of the correlation coefficients of social responsibility and its components - economic, lawful, ethical and benevolent - with ethical behavior were 0.507, 0.291, 0.414, 0.38, and 0.367 respectively (p<0.01). Results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that social responsibility explains 25.9% of the variance of ethical behavior (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Enhancing the intellectual capital and social responsibility of faculty members may improve their ethical behavior.