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Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics pp 1–3Cite as

Business Code of Ethics

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Synonyms

Business code; Business principles; Code of conduct; Code of ethics; Code of integrity; Code of practice; Credo; Declaration; Deontological code; Philosophy; Policy principles; Standards; Values statement

Definition

A business code of ethics (BCE) is a distinct and formal document containing a set of prescriptions on a range of issues, which has been developed by and for a company for the purpose of guiding its employees’ behavior toward each other, the company, external stakeholders, and/or society in general. A BCE is a device for self-regulation developed for and by a particular company. A BCE is one of the layers in the whole spectrum of codes for businesses that consists, among others, of professional, industry, national and international codes.

Adoption

In the business ethics literature, a BCE is the most frequently cited instrument for managing the ethics of business. Nowadays, many companies have a BCE. For example, 76% of the Fortune Global 200 companies have a BCE...

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References

  • Cooper N (1990) Developing a code of business ethics. Institute of Business Ethics, London

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  • Kaptein M (2011) Toward effective codes: testing the relationship with unethical behavior. J Bus Ethics 99:233–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaptein M, Schwartz MS (2008) The effectiveness of business codes: a critical examination of existing studies and the development of an integrated research model. J Bus Ethics 77:111–127

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  • KPMG (2014) The business codes of the fortune global 200: what the largest companies in the world say and do. KPMG, Amsterdam

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Further Reading

  • Kaptein M, Wempe J (1998) Twelve Gordian knots when developing an organizational code of ethics. J Bus Ethics 17:853–869

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  • Kaptein M (2004) Business codes of multinational firms: what do they say? J Bus Ethics 50:13–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaptein M (2008) The living code. Embedding ethics into the corporate DNA. Greenleaf, Sheffield

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  • Leipziger D (2017) The corporate responsibility code book. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz MS (2005) Universal moral values for corporate codes of ethics. J Bus Ethics 59:27–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business Ethics and Integrity Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Muel Kaptein

Authors
  1. Muel Kaptein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muel Kaptein .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Deborah C Poff

  2. Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Alex C. Michalos

Section Editor information

  1. Business Ethics and Integrity Management, RSM Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands

    Muel Kaptein

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Cite this entry

Kaptein, M. (2019). Business Code of Ethics. In: Poff, D., Michalos, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_64-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_64-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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