Are corporate political actions ethical? An investigation of executives in Chinese enterprises

Abstract

Corporate Political Actions (CPAs) in China are very different from those in the West owing to the unique Chinese culture and political and economic environment. CPAs often take place 'under the table' and far from the public sight in China. This research investigates the ethical acceptability of frequently used CPAs (15 behaviours) of Chinese enterprises from their executives' viewpoint. The findings are out of our expectation. Although many CPAs are ethically questionable by analysis and in the Western eyes, most of the frequently used CPAs by Chinese enterprises are considered as ethically acceptable by the respondents in this research. Generally, the ethical judgement of respondents in joint ventures is somewhat different from respondents in State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and private enterprises. They give a somewhat lower ethical evaluation on many of the CPAs. This study proposes more questions than we try to answer. Many of the questions need to be studied in the future.