# Social media leading to violation of corporate ethics (HT Tech) > A new study from the Ethics Resource Center revealed that over the past two years, 45 percent of U.S. employees observed a violation of the law or ethics at work, Live Science reported. # Social media leading to violation of corporate ethics ## A new study from the Ethics Resource Center revealed that over the past two years, 45 percent of U.S. employees observed a violation of the law or ethics at work, Live Science reported. Jan 16 2012, 15:56 IST ![Follow on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/follow-us-facebook.png) ![Follow on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/follow-us-facebook-hover.png) ![Share](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Share.png) ![Share](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Shareclicked.png) ![Share on WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/whatsapp.png) ![Share on WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/whatsapp-hover.png) ![Share on Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/twitter.png) ![Share on Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/twitter-hover.png) ![Share on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/facebook.png) ![Share on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/facebook-hover.png) ![Bookmark](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Bookmark.png) ![Bookmarked](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Bookmarked.png) The proliferation of social media in workplaces is leading to decline of ethical behaviour in many businesses, researchers say. A new study from the Ethics Resource Center revealed that over the past two years, 45 percent of U.S. employees observed a violation of the law or ethics at work, Live Science reported. While the number of corporate whistleblowers was at an all-time high, so too was the backlash against those employees who blew the whistle, the research revealed. Also read click here. More than 1 in 5 employees who reported misconduct experienced some form of retaliation, which ERC President Patricia J. Harned said spells trouble. "Retaliation against whistleblowers and pressure on employees to compromise their ethics standards are at or near all-time highs," Harned said. "These are factors that historically indicate that American business may be on the cusp of a large downward shift in ethical conduct." Overall, the strength of corporate ethics cultures is at its weakest since 2000, the report said. The percentage of businesses with weak ethical cultures, 42 percent, is at the highest level since 2000, which the ERC attributes to improving national economic conditions. According to the research, ethical behaviour slides during periods of strong economic growth because the improved conditions and reduced focus on cost-cutting measures makes employees less fearful of violating ethics rules. The report showed that active social networkers are far more likely to experience pressure to compromise standards and to experience retaliation for reporting misconduct than co-workers who are less involved with social networking, according to the study. In addition, active users of social networks are much more likely to accept behaviours that have traditionally been considered questionable, such as keeping copies of confidential work documents for use in a future job, personal use of the company credit card and taking home company software. "It appears that as people become more accustomed to sharing information that was once considered 'private' across social networks, the tolerance level for questionable behavior in the workplace has increased," Harned said. The relaxed ethical climate is starting at the top, the research showed, with one-third of employees saying that their managers display unethical behaviour, up from 24 percent in 2009 and the highest percentage ever. The research was based on surveys of 4800 U.S. employees. Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. 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