Attitudes of Managers towards Ethical Programs in Slovakia

Abstract

In the modern world, ethical programs have high importance regarding the ethical behavior of companies. Developing and maintaining the corporate ethical culture and reputation is the responsibility of top managers. The current paper aims to reveal the main characteristics of employees influencing their attitude towards selected elements of the ethical program that are considered the most suitable for supporting the ethical behavior of managers, as well as to identify the components of the ethical program with less impact on ethical behavior of managers. The study applied the questionnaire survey method for quantitative data collection in the selected Slovak company. The results show that a code of ethics is an essential part of an ethical program and is crucial for companies. Moreover, although employees’ attitudes towards selected elements regarding ethical behavior are positive, only the attitude to employee care is dependent on the position of respondents in the company. We concluded about employees considering training, employee care, conflict of interest monitoring and transparency in stakeholder relations as the most influential components of the ethical program.