Date of Conferral

2015

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Management

Advisor

Timothy Malone

Abstract

The Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Justice reported cases of government contracting employees accepting bribes totaling over $540 million within a 6-year period. The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions of government contracting managers regarding the knowledge needed to mitigate employees' unethical behaviors when administering government contracts. Previous studies on government contracting employees' unethical behaviors focused on employees' behaviors, but lacked data concerning managers' roles in mitigating employees' unethical behaviors. The study's conceptual framework was stakeholder theory. The data were gathered through semistructured interviews conducted with 21 government contracting managers in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States and from company documents. Data from the semistructured interviews and company documents were analyzed, coded, and then grouped into categories using a modified content analysis technique. Key themes suggested that to mitigate government contracting employees' unethical behaviors, these government contracting managers required continued training. These managers also found trust to be vital to dissiminating ethical requirements to employees, and they also reported benefits to conducting ethical government contracting. Member checking of participants' responses strengthened credibility and trustworthiness of these interpretations. Findings and recommendations from this study may contribute to positive social change by improving training and ethical standards in government contracting, which could lead to enhancing societal trust in government contracting organizations.

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