| Intercollegiate athletic programs, most notably from NCAA Division I, have been plagued by reports of misconduct and ethics violations. Organizational ethical climate has been linked consistently to unethical behavior across a variety of organizational contexts, but ethical climate has not previously been studied in the context of intercollegiate athletics. This quantitative, causal-comparative study examined whether NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic directors' perceptions of the ethical climate of the NCAA differed from those intercollegiate athletic directors representing NCAA Divisions II and III. Survey data were collected from a convenience sample of 305 intercollegiate athletic directors from NCAA Divisions I, II, and III. Data included participants' perceptions of the ethical climate of the NCAA measured along nine dimensions using the Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ). ANOVAs and post-hoc comparisons showed that the ethical climate perceptions of intercollegiate athletic directors from NCAA Divisions II and III were virtually indistinguishable. However, the data clearly demonstrated that Division I intercollegiate athletic directors had significantly different perceptions of the ethical climate of the NCAA. The study established that a functional relationship exists between NCAA divisions and intercollegiate athletic directors' perceptions of the ethical climate of the NCAA and provided evidence that Division I intercollegiate athletic directors' perceptions were unique. As such, the findings of this research provide a platform from which future studies can be launched to investigate the causes and consequences of these differences in NCAA ethical climate perceptions. |
