Substantive Ethics: Integrating Law and Ethics in Corporate Ethics Programs

Blodgett, Mark S.

doi:10.1007/s10551-011-1165-6

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This extensive control, however has led to the misconception that if a practice is legal consequently it is ethically okay (Boatright, 2013, p. 16). Even though some authors support an integration, with ethical principles included into law (Blodgett, 2011), regulation does not cover all the extended aspects of moral behavior in business. In addition, law is often developed as a reaction to amoral or unethical activities.…”

Section: Csr In the Bank Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Code of Ethics on Financial Performance in the Italian Listed Companies of Bank Sector

Cuomo¹,

Tortora²,

Mazzucchelli³

et al. 2019

JBAFP

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Over the last two decades academic literature has addressed much attention to the relationship between corporate ethical practices and financial performance. Results however remain contradictory, especially in terms of direction and effectiveness of their connection. Broadly speaking, most theorizing on the link between social and economic indicators assumes that the evidence is insufficient or too contrasting to draw any generalizable conclusions. In this perspective, this study aims to better explain the connection between corporate ethical practices and corporate financial performance, verifying that it is impacted by a large number of key variables. The empirical research is based on a longitudinal study on Italian listed companies operating in the banking sector. The adoption of the code of ethics is considered to measure their ethical practices, while regarding financial performance several accounting indicators are taken into consideration, including some control variables. To process the dataset a panel regression with fixed effect is applied. The paper aims at strengthening recent studies that consider bidirectional causality in the theory that “corporate social responsibility is both a predictor and consequence of firm financial performance”. Thus, the interest of the study lies in the identification of a reverse causality between positive financial performance and ethical orientation of Italian banking services companies.

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Section: Csr In the Bank Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Code of Ethics on Financial Performance in the Italian Listed Companies of Bank Sector

Cuomo¹,

Tortora²,

Mazzucchelli³

et al. 2019

JBAFP

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“…Ethics programs, also referred to as (legal) compliance (Paine 1994), integrity (Blodgett 2011), ethical compliance (McKendall et al 2002, business ethics and compliance (Joseph 2002), shared values , and responsible conduct programs can be defined as the formal organizational control system designed to create an ethical culture, and to impede unethical behavior and promote ethical behavior (Kaptein 2009). In this sense, an ethics program encompasses the 'hard controls,' namely the tangible and explicit measures and instruments organizations adopt to manage ethics.…”

Section: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of Ethics Programs: The Role of Scope, Composition, and Sequence

2014

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Organizations are faced with the question, not only whether to adopt an ethics program, but also which components to adopt when. This study shows that unethical behavior occurs less frequently in organizations that have an ethics program than in organizations that do not have an ethics program. Nine components of ethics programs were identified and examined. The results show that there is a direct relationship between the number of components adopted and the frequency of observed unethical behavior. No relationship was found between pre-employment screening and unethical behavior, while the strongest relationship was discerned between accountability policies and unethical behavior. The study further reveals that the best sequence for adopting components of an ethics program is (1) a code of ethics, (2) ethics training and communication, (3) accountability policies, (4) monitoring and auditing, and (5) investigation and correction policies-all of which are directly related to less unethical behaviorfollowed by (6) an ethics office(r), (7) ethics report line, and (8) incentive policies-all of which are indirectly related to less unethical behavior. With the exception of pre-employment screening, this sequence corresponds closely to the pattern of adoption of organizations in the U.S.

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“…Align to general legal and specific standards of the industry; ensure that every employee is committed to following the same standards towards building a responsible business [6]; provide them with necessary tools and resources to achieve that goal.…”

Section: Arguments To Support the Thesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some authors [5], [6], argue that a good code of conduct and an updated compliance program is all a company needs for an effective ethics policy. We argue that real-life situations need personalized evaluations within a subjective-objective approach.…”

Section: Arguments To Argue the Thesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with Everyday Ethical Dilemmas

Deciu

2018

LUMEN Proceedings

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We normally need case studies to explore ethical dilemmas, always with referential principles used to define what we think is right or wrong. Said principles are usually preordained, resulting from our life experiences, and help us draw a line between good and bad. Summing up perennial values and moral virtues like honesty, fairness, and responsibility, these principles seem theoretically untouchable and flawless. Though, both time and day to day situations force us to adjust these values, rephrase those principles and reposition the line delimiting the acceptable. Same goes for real-life situations in the workplace. Values and principles stated in any Ethics and Compliance Program are not always easy to observe when tested by the unexpected and uncertainty. Is it possible to define those principles so that to withstand any test? Probably not, since managers have to cope quite often with potential conflicts of interest, mismanagement of resources, biased interpretations of contracts and agreements, to name just a few. Apart from "black and white" they have to operate in a very challenging "grey area" where things are far from being simple. Some might say that all they have to do is to consider their decision's effects for the stakeholders while keeping a keen eye on the compliance issues. What happens when a wrongful situation is favourable for the shareholders? Or a hypothetical situation presents choices which entail ethical dilemmas, even if the expected outcome is "for the greater good"? We posit that best way to cope with ethical and compliance dilemmas is to use a combination of subjective and objective instruments for risk assessment. These should be helpful when we deal with uncharted or unexpected ethical issues falling under the category of a "grey area". How can we assess some dimensions of said issues which are not measurable? This is the question that we try to answer throughout the present paper.

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Substantive Ethics: Integrating Law and Ethics in Corporate Ethics Programs

Cited by 15 publications

References 24 publications

Impacts of Code of Ethics on Financial Performance in the Italian Listed Companies of Bank Sector

Impacts of Code of Ethics on Financial Performance in the Italian Listed Companies of Bank Sector

The Effectiveness of Ethics Programs: The Role of Scope, Composition, and Sequence

Coping with Everyday Ethical Dilemmas

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