It is imperative for companies to do business ethically and to respect the rights of all the company’s stakeholders, while still being accountable to the shareholders. This article examines evidence from a literature and empirical study conducted on the role of audit committees in strengthening business ethics and protecting stakeholders’ interests. The study found that the majority of audit committee chairs believe their audit committees to be effective in discharging their responsibilities regarding business ethics. Of concern, however, are the findings that a large number of audit committees are not reviewing compliance with their companies’ code of ethics, although most of them are reviewing or providing a channel for whistle-blowing. The inspection of the annual reports further indicated a lack of disclosure by the audit committees on their responsibilities regarding business ethics.
{"title":"The role of the audit committee in strengthening business ethics and protecting stakeholders' interests","authors":"B. Marx, G. Els","doi":"10.15249/4-1-59","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/4-1-59","url":null,"abstract":"It is imperative for companies to do business ethically and to respect the rights of all the company’s stakeholders, while still being accountable to the shareholders. This article examines evidence from a literature and empirical study conducted on the role of audit committees in strengthening business ethics and protecting stakeholders’ interests. The study found that the majority of audit committee chairs believe their audit committees to be effective in discharging their responsibilities regarding business ethics. Of concern, however, are the findings that a large number of audit committees are not reviewing compliance with their companies’ code of ethics, although most of them are reviewing or providing a channel for whistle-blowing. The inspection of the annual reports further indicated a lack of disclosure by the audit committees on their responsibilities regarding business ethics.","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67334280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Business Ethics (2010): A review essay (by Deon Rossouw and Leon van Vuuren)","authors":"P. Naudé","doi":"10.15249/5-2-52","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/5-2-52","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67334565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-07-01DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-9331-8_7
M. Baucus, Philip L. Cochran
{"title":"An overview of empirical research on ethics in entrepreneurial firms within the United States","authors":"M. Baucus, Philip L. Cochran","doi":"10.1007/978-90-481-9331-8_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9331-8_7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"72 1","pages":"99-119"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"51461051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Considering the lack of substantive scientific or theoretical studies about ethics in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America, this paper examines the context of an existent paradox, based upon the perspective of experts and academicians of Latin America and the Caribbean. These countries live different realities, due to their respective European cultural influences, as well as to racial and economic issues. Such facts impact the size and characteristics of their industries. On the other hand, the SMEs face more similarities in the region, so they will be treated as a group in the discussion of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Latin American SMEs. As this topic has not been sufficiently investigated in this geographic area, the objective of this exploratory study is to offer a contribution for future research. It raises the main dilemmas and intends to explain how legislation and common practices enable and perhaps lead SMEs to choose unethical strategies to survive and compete in the market. These enterprises are growing in number and in job creation, but do not participate in the Gross National Product in the same proportion. Informality, tax evasion and corruption are gradually caused or erode morality in business, but can contribute to corporate social responsibility in the region. The paper tries to show positive and negative aspects of apparently unethical practices and discusses challenging ways to solve complex problems that are common in most Latin America.
{"title":"Ethics and corporate social responsibility in Latin American small and medium sized enterprises: Challenging development","authors":"M. C. Arruda","doi":"10.15249/4-2-65","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/4-2-65","url":null,"abstract":"Considering the lack of substantive scientific or theoretical studies about ethics in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America, this paper examines the context of an existent paradox, based upon the perspective of experts and academicians of Latin America and the Caribbean. These countries live different realities, due to their respective European cultural influences, as well as to racial and economic issues. Such facts impact the size and characteristics of their industries. On the other hand, the SMEs face more similarities in the region, so they will be treated as a group in the discussion of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Latin American SMEs. As this topic has not been sufficiently investigated in this geographic area, the objective of this exploratory study is to offer a contribution for future research. It raises the main dilemmas and intends to explain how legislation and common practices enable and perhaps lead SMEs to choose unethical strategies to survive and compete in the market. These enterprises are growing in number and in job creation, but do not participate in the Gross National Product in the same proportion. Informality, tax evasion and corruption are gradually caused or erode morality in business, but can contribute to corporate social responsibility in the region. The paper tries to show positive and negative aspects of apparently unethical practices and discusses challenging ways to solve complex problems that are common in most Latin America.","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67334197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
With a myriad of corporate scandals involving fraud and theft across the world, the auditing profession has been put under the spotlight with the prominence of promoting an ethical attitude within the profession and amongst its members. By way of an empirical study conducted with a group of students at a leading university in South Africa, it was found that the necessity for change and CPD are concepts not collectively agreed upon by all within the profession, even more so when it comes to a group of final-year undergraduate students at this university. This article provides a series of recommendations regarding the improvement of the current teaching and learning model in order to include a CPD approach when it comes to ethics.
{"title":"Attitudes of accounting students towards ethics, continuous professional development and lifelong learning","authors":"G. Els","doi":"10.15249/4-1-58","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/4-1-58","url":null,"abstract":"With a myriad of corporate scandals involving fraud and theft across the world, the auditing profession has been put under the spotlight with the prominence of promoting an ethical attitude within the profession and amongst its members. By way of an empirical study conducted with a group of students at a leading university in South Africa, it was found that the necessity for change and CPD are concepts not collectively agreed upon by all within the profession, even more so when it comes to a group of final-year undergraduate students at this university. This article provides a series of recommendations regarding the improvement of the current teaching and learning model in order to include a CPD approach when it comes to ethics.","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67334274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A sample of 259 South African managers completed a survey originally administered by Nel (1992). The results of the current study indicated a favourable move on four of the 15 questionable actions used to assess each group’s ethical predisposition. Furthermore, the grand means for the two temporal-based samples also provided anecdotal evidence of a positive transition. Virtually identical results were in evidence when the segment of 89 top managers was compared to the sample of its higher level peers from the earlier study by Nel. The results support the premise that today’s South African managers have a more ethical predisposition than did their peers of some 20 years prior to them. However, the study concurrently documents the reality that there is ample room for further improvement.
{"title":"Managerial business ethics in South Africa: An exploratory comparison-1987 and 2009","authors":"C. Bisschoff, S. Fullerton","doi":"10.15249/5-1-43","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/5-1-43","url":null,"abstract":"A sample of 259 South African managers completed a survey originally administered by Nel (1992). The results of the current study indicated a favourable move on four of the 15 questionable actions used to assess each group’s ethical predisposition. Furthermore, the grand means for the two temporal-based samples also provided anecdotal evidence of a positive transition. Virtually identical results were in evidence when the segment of 89 top managers was compared to the sample of its higher level peers from the earlier study by Nel. The results support the premise that today’s South African managers have a more ethical predisposition than did their peers of some 20 years prior to them. However, the study concurrently documents the reality that there is ample room for further improvement.","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67333993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Developing Business Ethics as Academic Field (by Deon Rossouw)","authors":"M. Smurthwaite","doi":"10.15249/8-1-18","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/8-1-18","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67334926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Reductive management theories (based on the utility maximisation economic model) are increasingly being criticised as the cause of recent corporate scandals. Management education has neglected the interwovenness of humans and the environment, and the moral obligation of businesses towards the natural environment. This study identified perceptions of students and academics at a prominent South African university regarding levels of environmental awareness and values, implications of environmental management, environmental education, pro-environmental behaviours, and incentives to go green, using a questionnaire. The results revealed that business students and academics differ from their counterparts in other faculties regarding perceptions of factors that influence environmentally responsible citizenship.
{"title":"Does business education cultivate environmental citizenship","authors":"R. Lillah, S. Viviers","doi":"10.15249/8-1-14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/8-1-14","url":null,"abstract":"Reductive management theories (based on the utility maximisation economic model) are increasingly being criticised as the cause of recent corporate scandals. Management education has neglected the interwovenness of humans and the environment, and the moral obligation of businesses towards the natural environment. This study identified perceptions of students and academics at a prominent South African university regarding levels of environmental awareness and values, implications of environmental management, environmental education, pro-environmental behaviours, and incentives to go green, using a questionnaire. The results revealed that business students and academics differ from their counterparts in other faculties regarding perceptions of factors that influence environmentally responsible citizenship.","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67334923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper considers the imperatives of human resource management (HRM) studies in the context of contemporary South Africa. The authors draw on critical management studies (CMS) and the principles of emancipatory education to inform their argument for a critical and relevant HRM curriculum and associated teaching and learning approaches. The authors propose that the content and processes of HRM education must prepare students for critical participation in the contemporary South African society and workplace. The discussion outlines the rationale for the study, the specific prompts for its initiation, the theoretical framework of CMS, and Freire’s concept of emancipatory education.
{"title":"Critical pedagogy for teaching HRM in the context of social change","authors":"S. Ruggunan, Dorothy Spiller","doi":"10.15249/8-1-16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/8-1-16","url":null,"abstract":"This paper considers the imperatives of human resource management (HRM) studies in the context of contemporary South Africa. The authors draw on critical management studies (CMS) and the principles of emancipatory education to inform their argument for a critical and relevant HRM curriculum and associated teaching and learning approaches. The authors propose that the content and processes of HRM education must prepare students for critical participation in the contemporary South African society and workplace. The discussion outlines the rationale for the study, the specific prompts for its initiation, the theoretical framework of CMS, and Freire’s concept of emancipatory education.","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67335037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ethical decision-making in business is influenced by various factors, including the external environment, organisational factors, and society. Business ethics in China have changed in the last few decades, predominantly as a result of globalisation. However, such changes can take some time to start to manifest, which is seen in the lag between policy changes and tangible changes in the approach to intellectual property rights, as observed in the patent application trends in China. A change in approach to intellectual property indicates to what degree various countries have embraced the opportunities presented by globalisation.
{"title":"Globalisation and its influence on ethical decision-making in business : China and intellectual property","authors":"A. Neveling, D. Malan, Anna Yortt","doi":"10.15249/8-1-17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15249/8-1-17","url":null,"abstract":"Ethical decision-making in business is influenced by various factors, including the external environment, organisational factors, and society. Business ethics in China have changed in the last few decades, predominantly as a result of globalisation. However, such changes can take some time to start to manifest, which is seen in the lag between policy changes and tangible changes in the approach to intellectual property rights, as observed in the patent application trends in China. A change in approach to intellectual property indicates to what degree various countries have embraced the opportunities presented by globalisation.","PeriodicalId":42425,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Business Ethics","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2014-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67335299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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