TRANSPARENCY: A GUIDE TO PRACTICING GOOD BUSINESS ETHICS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Purpose: This paper examines the relevance of transparency as a guide to practicing good business ethics in Nigerian business environment. It attempts to recognize and identify the role of transparency as a guide to ethics in contemporary business organizations in Nigeria. This is necessitated by the high level of corruption and relevance of business ethics to development in the country. It is, therefore, argued that if businesses are conducted ethically by genuinely embracing transparency, it would create value in the country’s corporate and business environment.
 Methodology: The paper adopts an eclectic approach by integrating ideas from different perspectives and organizing them systematically in accordance with the foregoing objective while situating Nigeria as the context of the study. Theoretical and empirical reviews are explored to justify the thematic findings and conclusion of the paper.
 Findings: The paper reveals that implementation of transparency would serve as the right guide for the practice of good business ethics. It was found as an informational mechanism necessary for trust, justice, and prudence. Transparency is also found as important to businesses because of its huge benefits such as capable of establishing trustand encouraging employees to be more engaged and committed to the vision of the organization, increasing productivity, and strengthening innovation.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Theoretically, paper indicates that if a culture of work transparency is adopted, it is most likely to motivate innovation accountability within a business organization. Practically, transparency will make it possible for company to collectively solve problems beforehand and initiate new ideas in order to have a competitive advantage in the business world. The paper suggests transparency as a priority for the practice of good business ethics in Nigeria and concludes with relevant recommendations.