title: Machiavellian tendencies of nonprofit health care employees.
abstract: Federal and state regulators have heightened scrutiny of nonprofit hospital operations, particularly in billing collections. The move for hospitals to adopt more compassionate methods within their business functions drives the need to examine the ethical reasoning of their employees. The purpose of this study is to assess the existence of Machiavellian propensities among health care employees. People defined as Machiavellian are impersonal, rational, and strategy-oriented rather than person-oriented. Results indicate employee participants exhibit these propensities, and tend to agree with questionable scenarios. Knowledge of the ethical propensities of employees may serve as a crucial factor to the success of any plan in establishing an ethical work environment.
authors.affiliation: Wesleyan College, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Richmond
authors.forename: Pamela C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D008257:Machiavellianism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010350:Patient Credit and Collection / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D015206:Southwestern United States