Abstract
This paper reviews studies of corporate ethical codes published since 2000 and concludes that codes be can effective instruments for shaping ethical behavior and guiding employee decision-making. Culture and effective communication are key components to a code’s success. If codes are embedded in the culture and embraced by the leaders, they are likely to be successful. Communicating the code’s precepts in an effective way is crucial to its success. Discussion between employees and management is a key component of successful ethical codes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adam M. A., Rachman-Moore D. 2004 The Methods Used to Implement an Ethical Code of Conduct and Employee Ettitudes, Journal of Business Ethics 54:225–244
Benson G. C. (1989). Code of Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 8(5):305–319
Berenbeim R. 1987, Corporate Ethics. Random House, New York
Brooks L. J. 1989 Corporate codes of ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 8(23):117–129
Cameron K. S., Dutton J. E., Quinn R. E. (eds.) 2003, Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler
Casel C., Johnson P., Smith K. 1997 Opening the black box: Corporate codes of ethics in their organizational context, Journal of Business Ethics 16:1077–1093
Chonko L. B, Wotruba T. R., Loe T. 2003 Ethics Codes Familiarity and Usefulness: Views on Idealist and Relativist Managers under Conditions of Turbulence. Journal of Business Ethics 42:237–252
Cleek M. A., Leonard S. J. 1998 Can Corporate Codes of Ethics Influence Behavior? Journal of Business Ethics 17(6):619–630
Cressey D., Moore C. A. 1983 Managerial Values and Corporate Codes of Ethics, California Management Review 25(53):53–57
Davis K. 1972 Human Behavior at Work. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York
Fisher C. 2001 Managers’ perceptions of ethical codes: dialectics and dynamics. Business Ethics: A European Review 10(2):145–156
Ford R. C., Richardson W. D. 1994 Ethical Decision Making: A Review of the Empirical Literature. Journal of Business Ethics 13:203–221
Gallup G. 1977, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1972–77 (Scholarly Resources Inc., Wilmington, DE), pp. 209–211
Gallup G.: 1986, Honesty and ethical Standards, in The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1985 (Scholarly Resources Inc., Wilmington, DE), pp. 225–226)
Gaumnitz B. R., Lere J. C. 2004 A Classification Scheme for Codes of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 49:329–335
Healey M., Isles J. 2002 The Establishment and Enforcement of Codes, Journal of Business Ethics 39(1):117–124
Kaptein M. 2004 Business Codes of Multinational Firms: What Do They Say? Journal of Business Ethics 50:13–31
Kaptein M., Wempe J. 2002 The Balanced Company: A Theory of Corporate Integrity. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Kickup J. 2005 Does Trust Matter? The relationship between Equity Sensitivity and Perceived Organizational Justice. Journal of Business Ethics 56(3):205–218
Kouzes J. M., Posner B. Z. 2003 Encouraging the Heart: Rewarding and Recognizing Others. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Laufer W. S. Robinson D. C. 1997 Corporate Ethics Initiatives as Social Control, Journal of Business Ethics 16:1029–1048
Langlois ,C. C. and B. B. Schlegelmilch: 1990, ‚Do Corporate Codes of Ethics Reflect National Character? Evidence from Europe and the United States’, Journal of International Business Studies, fourth quarter, 519–539
Loe W., Ferrell L., Mansfield P. 2000 A Review of Empirical Studies Assessing Ethical Decision Making in Business, Journal of Business Ethics 25:185–204
Marnburg E. 2000 The Behavioural Effects of Corporate Ethical Codes: Empirical Findings and Discussion. Business Ethics: A European Review 9(3):200–210
Marshall, K.: 1998, ‚Companies are Placing High Values on Ethics’, Australian Financial Review (22 May), 56
Mathews M. C..:1987, Codes of Ethics: Organizational Behavior and Misbehavioro. Research in Corporate Social Performance 9, 107–130
McKendall M., DeMarr B., Jones-Rikkers C. 2002 Ethical Compliance Programs and Corporate Illegality: Testing the Assumptions of the Corporate Sentencing Guidelines. Journal of Business Ethics 37:367–383
McKibben B. 2004 Enough: Staying Human in an engineered age. New York: H. Holt
Megan B. 2002 Why Ethics & Compliance Programs Can Fail. Journal of Business Strategy 23(6):37–41
Nijhof A., Cludts S., Fisscher O., Laan A. 2003 Measuring The Implementation of Codes of Conduct. An Assessment Method Based on a Process Approach of the Responsible Organization. Journal of Business Ethics, 45:65–78
Nitsch D., Baetz M., Hughes J. C. 2005 Why Code of Conduct Violations Go Unreported: A Conceptual Framework to Guide Intervention and Future Research. Journal of Business Ethics, 57:327–341
O’Dwyer B., Madden G. 2006 Ethical Codes of Conduct in Irish Companies: A Survey of Code Content and Enforcement Procedures. Journal of Business Ethics, 63:217–236
Pitt H. L., Groskaufmanis K. A. 1990 Minimizing Corporate Civil and Criminal Liability: A Second Look at Corporate Codes of Conduct. The Georgetown Law Journal 78:1559
Porras J., Collins J. C. 1994 Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. New York: Harperbusiness
Quinn R. E. 2004 Building the Bridge as you Walk on it: A Guide for Leading Change. San Francisco: JosseyBass
Sanderson R., Varner I. I. 1984 What’s Wrong with Corporate Codes of Conduct?, Management Accounting 66:28–35
Scalet S. 2006 Prisoner’s Dilemmas, Cooperative Norms, and Codes of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 65:309–323
Schwartz M. 2000 Why Ethical Codes Constitute an Unconscionable Regression. Journal of Business Ethics, 23:174–184
Schwartz M. 2001 The Nature of the Relationship between Corporate Codes of Ethics and Behavior. Journal of Business Ethics 32(3):247–262
Schwartz M. 2004 Effective Corporate Codes of Ethics: Perceptions of Code Users. Journal of Business Ethics 55:323–343
Schwartz M., Dunfee T., Kline M. (2005) Tone at the Top: An Ethics Code for Directors? Journal of Business Ethics, 58:79–100
Sims R. R., Brinkman J. 2003 Enron Ethics (or Culture Matters More than Codes). Journal of Business Ethics, 45:243–256
Snell R. S., Herndon N.C. 2000 An Evaluation of Hong Kong’s Corporate Code of Ethics Initiative. Asia Pacific Journal of Management 17(3):493–518
Snell R. S., Herndon N. C. 2004 Hong Kong’s Code of Ethics Initiative: Some differences between theory and practice. Journal of Business Ethics 51:75–89
Sobszak A. 2003 Codes of Conduct in Subcontracting Networks: A labour Law Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 44:225–234
Somers M. J. 2001 Ethical Codes of Conduct and Organizational Context: A Study of the Relationship between Codes of Conduct an, Employee Behavior and Organizational Values. Journal of Business Ethics 30:185–195
Stevens B. 1994 An Analysis of Corporate Ethical Code Studies: Where Do We Go from Here? Journal of Business Ethics, 13:63–69
Stevens B. 1996 Using the Competing Values Framework to Assess Corporate Ethical Codes. Journal of Business Communication, 33(1):71–83
Trevino L. K., Weaver G. R., Gibson D., Toeffler B. L 1999 Managing Ethics and Legal Compliance: What Works and What Hurts, California Management Review 41(2):131–151
Trevino L. K., Weaver D. 2003. Managing Ethics in Organizations. Stanford University Press, Stanford
Vitell S. J., Encarnacion R. H. 2006 The impact of corporate ethical values and enforcement of ethical codes on the perceived importance of ethics in business: A comparison of U.S. and Spanish managers. Journal of Business Ethics 64:31–43
Weeks William A, Jacques Nantel 1992 Corporate Codes of Ethics and Sales Force Behavior: A Case Study. Journal of Business Ethics, 11:753–760
White , B. J. and R. Montgomery: 1980, ‚Corporate Codes of Conduct’, California Management Review 13 (2), 38–46
Wotruba T. R. 1995 A Comprehensive Framework for the Analysis of Ethical Behavior with a Focus on Sales Organizations, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management 10(Spring):29–42
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Betsy Stevens as associate professor of Business Administration at Elon University. Her academic interests are business and management communication, business ethics, international communication, and hospitality management. An active researcher, she has published more than 20 articles in refereed journals such as The Journal of Business Communication, Business Communication Quarterly, The Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Journal of Business Ethics, Bquest and the Journal of Employment Counseling. She has an M.A. from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. from Wayne State University. As a Fulbright Scholar, she taught university classes in Tomsk, Russia and has also been on the faculty of the Australian International Hotel School in Canberra, Australia
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stevens, B. Corporate Ethical Codes: Effective Instruments For Influencing Behavior. J Bus Ethics 78, 601–609 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9370-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9370-z