Abstract
Based on a questionnaire survey, this study investigates business ethics (BE) in the Czech Republic as perceived by employees of Czech private and public organizations. Four main aspects of Czech BE are covered: 1) the management of BE in Czech organizations, 2) Czech managers’ opinion of BE practices in their industries, 3) managers’ previous experience of ethical conflicts, and 4) the factors influencing (un)ethical decisions. According to the results, while most organizations are making effort to enhance BE, large companies are more active in promoting BE when compared with small and medium size enterprises. The most common BE tools are corporate philosophy, code of ethics, and contribution to social/cultural activity. Personal code of ethics is the strongest driver of ethical decisions, and financial needs and lack of company policy are the strongest factors in making unethical decisions. Slightly over a half of respondents have some experience with ethical conflicts, majority of which are related to honesty in internal communication, offering bribes, and honesty in executing contracts and agreements. Unethical practices seem widespread, with bribing, unfair competitive and pricing practices, and contract violation perceived as the most serious issues. Our study also tentatively suggests that BE is increasingly beginning to be seen as an issue internal to the organization. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v4n1s1p115
Highlights
This paper focuses on the investigation of business ethics (BE) practices in the Czech Republic (CR)1, which is a middlesize Central European country that belongs among new members of the European Union (EU)2
Based on different aspects of BE investigated in our survey, we divide the results into six groups: those concerning unethical industry practices, management of ethical values in respondents’ organizations, responsibility to various social groups and respondents’ experience of ethical conflicts, factors influencingethical decision making, comparison of current ethical standards with the situation ten years before, and the results related to hypothetical situations
The explanation may be that small and medium companies (SMEs) are more open to the external environment, making all of their employees more likely to be exposed to the situations where they can encounter or observe the existence of unethical practices
Summary
This paper focuses on the investigation of business ethics (BE) practices in the Czech Republic (CR), which is a middlesize Central European country that belongs among new members of the European Union (EU). Post-communist countries do not enjoy favourable reputation in relation to local ethical standards, and corruption and BE have become important consideration for foreign companies envisaging to bring their business to Central Europe or the CR. Combined with increasing international competition, the fact that foreign companies often express their fear of the existence of unethical practices only serves to emphasize that the Czech Republic should be careful not to lose any potential investors or business partners because of their fear of low level of ethical standards. Reliable information regarding Czech BE significantly facilitates the entry of foreign companies and investors in local market, as they can get a more accurate perspective of local business environment4 This can, in turn, help improve international competitiveness of the Czech Republic through increased trust and improved international reputation.
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