Title: Organisational culture and research ethics in a Vietnamese university

Authors: Thu Nguyen-Anh; Justine Mercer

Addresses: Faculty of Management Science, VNU University of Social Science and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam ' Centre for Education Studies, The University of Warwick, Coventry, England, UK

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between organisational culture and research ethics at a leading Vietnamese university. The results suggest the two elements are mutually reinforcing. Specifically, the values, belief and assumptions of the organisation shape the behaviours of staff and students with respect to research ethics. At the same time, the (un)ethical behaviours that are widely accepted within the organisation reinforce the relevant values, belief and assumptions. Therefore, the more ethical values, belief and assumptions are embedded in day-to-day practice (i.e. academic integrity, fairness and evaluating research qualitatively as well as quantitatively), the better the implementation of research ethics is. By the same logic, when the opposite values (i.e. academic dishonesty, unfairness, and a privileging of quantitative evaluation and decision-making) dominate, staff adopt negative beliefs and assumptions, making the application of ethics weaker. The paper ends with recommendations for enhancing positive organisational culture and promoting more ethical practices.

Keywords: research ethics; organisational culture; Vietnam; academic integrity; higher education; academic dishonesty; organisational fairness; research evaluation; university policy; university values.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2022.125483

International Journal of Management in Education, 2022 Vol.16 No.5, pp.507 - 526

Received: 14 Mar 2021
Accepted: 21 Aug 2021
Published online: 12 Sep 2022 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article