Abstract
Background: Many organisations develop codes of ethics to help guide business conduct. However, not much is known about the contents of codes of ethics. Objectives: This article aims at investigating the code of ethics content construct and its measurement properties using a sample of firms from South Africa. Method: The study followed a quantitative research approach. The sampling frame consisted of the top 500 companies in South Africa. A structured questionnaire was administered using the telephone survey method. The respondents consisted of company secretaries and heads or managers responsible for ethics in the respective companies. At the end of the data collection period, a total of 222 usable responses were obtained. Results: The findings show that South African top companies have comprehensive codes of ethics as evidenced by the high mean values obtained from all of the content items under investigation. The findings also support the notion that the code of ethics content construct is multidimensional. Seven different dimensions were confirmed in the analysis. The measurement model of the ethics content construct was found to be valid as evidenced by the goodness-of-fit measure and measures of validity. Conclusion: The study shows that the code of ethics construct is multi-dimensional in nature. The framework provided in this study can also be used in developing, evaluating and strengthening existing codes where such need arises. This study contributes to theory on business ethics and presents the first tested measurement model of the code of ethics construct in South Africa.
Highlights
Jones et al (2013:55) state that in an ‘ever-increasing diverse working environment, in order to successfully liaise with colleagues, customers, and clients who are different from themselves, employees will continuously require relevant knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes’. They continue to argue that an organisation that supports diversity in the workplace needs to initiate a stronger understanding for business ethics in the workplace so as to empower its employees to engage properly with a broader group of stakeholders
The target population for the study was the top 500 companies in South Africa based on financial performance
The companies were identified using a published list produced by TopCo which lists the top 500 companies in the country every year
Summary
Jones et al (2013:55) state that in an ‘ever-increasing diverse working environment, in order to successfully liaise with colleagues, customers, and clients who are different from themselves, employees will continuously require relevant knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes’. The contention is that adopting universal standards, which transcend differences in laws and customs, would go a long way to establishing the ethical foundations that would lead to stronger business performance across these jurisdictions. This is because when an organisation wants to showcase to the world of business and its stakeholders that its commitment to an ethical organisational culture is strong, the development of a code of ethics is paramount in attempting to achieve that goal (Axline 1990:87; Somers 2001:185). Not much is known about the contents of codes of ethics
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