'It’s the most ethical job I have ever had': complaint handling and fair decision making in the financial industry

Williams, J., Gill, C. and McBurnie, G. (2021) 'It’s the most ethical job I have ever had': complaint handling and fair decision making in the financial industry. International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 15(4), pp. 357-375. (doi: 10.1504/IJBGE.2021.10035729)

Abstract

This exploratory study focuses on complaint handling in the financial industry to explore how complaint handling professionals interpret the requirement to treat customers fairly. Drawing on a small qualitative case study undertaken with a major UK financial institution, it is a novel attempt to integrate the literatures on ethical and fair decision making and apply them to the practice of complaint handling. Our contribution is to highlight: 1) the impact that institutional structures and processes play on the day to day practice of fair decision making; 2) how constructions of fairness vary between complaint handlers with some adopting an explicit ethical and moral focus; 3) the active role group support and dialogue plays in supporting individual complaint handlers fair decision making. Several practical implications arise from this in relation to how organisations can support fair decision making.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gill, Professor Chris
• Authors: Williams, J., Gill, C., and McBurnie, G.
• Subjects: K Law > K Law (General)
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics
• Publisher: Inderscience
• ISSN: 1477-9048
• ISSN (Online): 1741-802X
• Published Online: 17 February 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 Inderscience
• First Published: First published in International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics 15(4): 357-375
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy