Many individual factors affect a person's ethical behavior at work, such as knowledge, values, personal goals, morals and personality. The more information that you have about a subject, the better chance you will make an informed, ethical decision.
For example, what if you had to decide whether to approve building a new company store? What if you did not have the knowledge that the store would disturb an endangered species nest? Without the appropriate knowledge, you could be choosing an unethical path.
Values are an individual's judgment or standard of behavior. They are another individual factor that affects ethical behavior. To some people, acting in an improper way is just a part of doing business. Would you feel that it is ethical to make up lies about your competitor just to win a contract? Some people's standard of behavior will feel that lying for a business financial win is not unethical.
Morals are another individual characteristic that can affect an individual's ethics. Morals are the rules people develop as a result of cultural norms and values and are, traditionally, what employees learn from their childhood, culture, education, religion, etc. They are usually described as good or bad behavior. Would you have good morals if you pushed a product on a customer that you knew was not going to help solve a problem?
Many ethical work situations will also be affected by a person's goals. Which characteristics do you feel are worthy to aspire to? Is financial gain ranked ahead of good character or integrity? If your personal goals are about acquiring wealth no matter what the consequence, then you might act unethical in the future.
Lastly, an employee's personality plays an important factor in determining ethical behavior. Do you enjoy risk or do you prefer the safe route? Individuals who prefer to take risks tend to have a higher chance of unethical conduct at work