This exploratory study employs the Defining Issues Test to investigate the moral reasoning levels of a sample of 228 accounting students at Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, and 192 accounting practitioners from different regions of China. The results show that on average, the P scores of Chinese accounting students and practitioners are 45.02 and 33.57, respectively. When compared with the levels of moral reasoning of their peers in Western countries, as provided in Tables 1 and 2 of Bailey et al. :1–26, (...) 2010), Chinese accounting students exhibit post-conventional levels of moral development similar to the highest levels reported, whereas Chinese accounting practitioners report post-conventional levels of moral development similar to the lowest levels of post-conventional moral development reported by the practitioners in Western countries. Furthermore, female Chinese accounting students score significantly higher on the post-conventional level of the development stage than do the male Chinese students, but there is no significant gender effect in P scores between the male and female accounting practitioners. (shrink)

Social responsibility of business is not new to India. With regard to CSR, the country depicts one of the richest traditions of the world. Involvement of business people in the community as well as in social development has a glorious history in India. The term corporate social responsibility might have originated from Western discourses but prior to it the idea of philanthropy in India has evolved from its own ethos and cultural values. Philanthropic activities undertaken by rich business titans and (...) the Gandhian trusteeship model are prominent distinctions of Indian CSR. But with the advent of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the popularly called LPG policy during the early 1990s led to a fundamental shift from the philanthropy-based model to a multi-stakeholder perspective. During this phase, companies changed their approach and became responsible for all the stakeholders. The stakeholders include environment, community, customers, shareholders, suppliers and employees. In contemporary time, CSR has undergone a drastic change but some of the traditional features are still prevalent. The current paper has made an attempt to comprehend CSR practices in the context of Indian businesses in the early days, and major CSR initiatives during this time as well as during the post-independent period. Subsequently, CSR in the post-globalisation era with a focus on the Companies Act has been examined. Despite many unique characteristics, the paper critiques the practice of CSR by Indian companies in the current scenario. (shrink)

This study identifies the roles of consumers’ ethical orientations and CSR motives and the dynamics of these two variables on the subsequent consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral responses to CSR—perceived corporate authenticity and pro-firm behavioral intentions. To examine the impact of individual consumers’ ethical orientations, the authors measured consumers’ ethical orientations such as deontology and consequentialism through a Web-based survey conducted in Korea and in the USA. Further, to investigate the role of perceived CSR motives, the authors measured the perception of (...) a company’s business-oriented motives and society-oriented motives in conducting CSR. Results demonstrate the different role of ethical orientation in impacting consumers’ responses across these countries. Consumers’ consequentialist orientation appears to be positively associated with pro-firm behavioral intention in both the Korean and the US studies. In the Korean study, Consumers’ deontological orientation reduces perceived corporate authenticity when corporate motives seem business-oriented. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the indirect effect of intrinsic religiosity and extrinsic religiosity on ethical intention through ethical judgment. A review of the literature shows the need for more research at the intersection of religiosity and ethics, especially in non-Western, highly religious contexts. This research, therefore, addresses the research question: Do intrinsic religiosity and extrinsic religiosity indirectly impact ethical intention through influencing the ethical judgment of management professionals? Data were gathered from members of the Management (...) Association of Pakistan through a questionnaire. Pearson correlation results show the overall trend between the constructs of interest. Multiple regression results show that both intrinsic religiosity and extrinsic religiosity are significant positive predictors of ethical judgment. Ethical judgment was also found to be a significant, positive predictor of ethical intention. The main contribution of the study is evidence that ethical judgment acts as a mediator between religiosity and ethical intention in a non-Western highly religious context. This research also found that intrinsic religiosity impacts ethical intention directly as well as indirectly through ethical judgment, but extrinsic religiosity influences ethical intention only through its effect on ethical judgment. We discuss our results along with practical and research implications, and limitations of this research are highlighted to guide future research. (shrink)

North Korea is under strict UN economic sanctions because it violated UN policy in its development of nuclear weapons and long range missiles as well as for its militant rhetoric. South Korea and Japan, as close allies of the USA, are unsure of the future. Is there a way to bring some peace and stability to the Korean peninsula? Some argue that this is a hopeless task as long as the current leadership of North Korea is in power. This article (...) takes a more positive stance and outlines a possible way forward. The study, following the position of the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, assumes that the conflict is at root one over ideology and power. The leadership of North Korea understands itself as “a revolutionary and socialist state” and is determined to continue to control the country through a rigorous and sometimes brutal government oversight of the culture. Although poverty and hunger are widespread, the people have little opportunity to be heard. What if the leaders of North Korea were persuaded that they could gain legitimacy through developing a dynamic economy that brought flourishing to their people and respect by fellow-nations in the global village? The article proposes to start this new adventure by developing enterprise zones in the North that would bring jobs and food to hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. To begin this project, there would need to be dramatic steps toward denuclearization on the part of the North in order to relax the UN economic sanctions. Is it possible? The article outlines a way forward. (shrink)

Current sophisticated technologies in the workplace offer inexpensive and user-friendly devices and the means to control ‘on-the-job’ behaviour. This promises high profitability, productivity and liability alleviation. Yet, it also gives rise to a socio-ethical crisis of incessant surveillance that often overrules its anticipated benefits and motives of control and care. The dilemma is twofold: First, scholarly studies undertaken on this issue from a principally administrative and legal point of view tend to lack a moral framework and so prove unable to (...) offer an integral understanding. Second, a majority of scholars tend to focus exclusively on individual rights, such as privacy, even at the risk of overlooking its social impact and consequences. This paper thus aims to unravel these forgotten moral and social concerns. It analyses the surveillance frameworks and the arguments for and against it; scrutinises critically the technological devices most often implemented in the workplace; examines both its individual effects and social effects ; and proposes an ethics of workplace surveillance in a framework of trust and transparency. It argues, in all these ways, for an alteration or modification of traditional organisational behaviour within a new frame of reference, situated within and going beyond questions of moral duty, principles and legal compliance. (shrink)

The paper explores conceptual approaches to business ethics from the Japanese tradition and their potential to enhance our global approach to social and environmental sustainability, including discussion of a framework for understanding the embeddedness of the business in society. As globalization and economic and sociopolitical challenges proliferate, the nature of the connections between the USA and Asia is more important than ever. Following an expressed “pivot” or “rebalance” to Asia and the current nebulous alliances, we hope to raise the profile (...) of Japan’s potential to shape the conception and practice of business in society. We explore attempts to offer a universal business ethic, intended as guidance for businesses globally, and examine contributions of Japanese thought to these frameworks. Considering the traditional approaches of sanpoyoshi, or tri-directional welfare in business transactions, kyosei, which can mean “living and working together for the common good”, and mottainai, or “grateful and sustainable consumption,” the research explores the relationships between the private sector, government, and civil society. Further, we examine the related notion of moralogy, which has been described as a virtue-based stakeholder approach to business. We suggest that these concepts merit promoting the conception of the “homo socio-economicus” model to replace the prevailing “homo economicus” model that threatens what sound business should be. Through interviews with Japanese scholars and practitioners and exploration of Japanese cultural traditions, we present an overview of these approaches. With this perspective, we cite the case of the Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster as one illustrative example. We hope that this understanding of the embeddedness of business in society based on Japanese traditions and experience can contribute to a global conception of the role of business in society, relevant to the USA as well. Our goals are to contribute to existing discussions of Japanese business ethics and relevance to a global perspective, and to inspire ongoing exploration of applications of these ideas in teaching and scholarship. (shrink)

Business ethics have become an important topic globally for both policy-makers and businesses. This paper first discusses the conceptual framework for business ethics followed by ethical management and corporate social responsibility as well as relevant theories. Within this conceptual framework, Korea is used as a country context as to the development of EM and CSR. An important example of an ethical scandal is the major steel manufacturer, POSCO as it was held up as an exemplar and role model of ethical (...) management. However, in 2015, it faced allegations that the engineering and construction overseas unit chief of its Vietnamese subsidiary created a slush fund by overstating payments to Vietnamese contractors. This conceptual paper discusses the factors that created this situation referring to the theory of connection. It locates the case in the EM and CSR literature and analyses what went wrong and what the parent company could have done to prevent this from happening. (shrink)

Research has shown that corporate social responsibility can have a positive impact on the firm’s reputation and financial performance. Moreover, CSR activities can have a positive impact on employees’ workplace experience. Consistent with past research, we argue that perceived organizational CSR value can have a positive impact on job satisfaction. We also argue that employees’ moral identity can play an important moderating role on the perceived CSR effect. Specifically, the current study was designed to test the predictive effects of perceived (...) organizational CSR value on job satisfaction. In addition, the study was designed to test the moderating roles of two moral identity dimensions, internalized and symbolic moral identity, on the effect of perceived organizational CSR value on job satisfaction. The study results were generally supportive of the hypotheses. Managerial implications of the study findings were also discussed. (shrink)

Applied Business Ethics is a core module for business undergraduate students in an internationalised university business degree programme from the United Kingdom taught at a Private Higher Education Institution in Singapore. Students, who are working adults undertaking this part-time degree, are assessed purely on the application of theoretical knowledge through essays that show evidence of their ability to apply theory in workplace ethical dilemmas. This pilot study explores the utility of the module in terms of use and exchange value. It (...) was conducted in two phases as an empirical qualitative research. First, an email survey was sent to students, who had already graduated, to gather impressions of the module using open-ended questions. Based on the responses, semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of four students were carried out to unearth insights on use and exchange value of the module through their stories. The study suggests that a key determinant of use value is workplace utility of the knowledge that has been gained. Over time, consistent derivation of use value translates to exchange value as long-term behaviour changes in the individual create positive workplace outcomes. The study also recognised the powerful influence of organisational culture in determining whether ethical thinking translates into ethical action, which also has a direct bearing on perceptions of use and exchange value. The findings of this study provide an insight to the understanding of the motivations of working adults attending the Applied Business Ethics module on a part-time basis. Having this understanding, it will be possible to further structure the module, in terms of positioning, delivery and assessment, to enable these students to become better managers when dealing with real-world workplace ethical issues. (shrink)