Asian Journal of Business Ethics最新文献

The Indian hospitality industry has experienced significant growth following the pandemic. Hospitality means providing services to the guests, and the burden of providing such exceptional services is on the frontline employees (FLE). As a result, while keeping their guests happy, FLE have ignored to be happy themselves. Although being hospitable is ingrained in Indian culture, the challenging work situations, stress, and poor earnings have negatively impacted FLE’s quality of life. It is imperative that hoteliers and policy makers look at ways to cherish and engage their human capital. Therefore, this study proposes a framework for revitalising the Indian hospitality industry by investigating the direct and indirect ways to promote FLE happiness through spiritual leadership (SL), meaningful work and sense of community, based on the conservation of resources (COR) and cognitive appraisal theories. Survey data was gathered from 362 FLE across India, and data was analysed using SEM and PROCESS macro V4.1. Results indicate that SL contributed greatly to improving the beneficial effects of meaningful work and sense of community on FLE happiness through serial mediation paths. Additionally, however, the findings also revealed a curvilinear relationship between SL and FLE happiness, indicating that too much of SL was not always beneficial, and suggesting new lines of inquiry. This study shed light on theoretical and managerial implications from a service industry context, thus reinvigorating research in the hospitality industry.

How significant is membership in the Chinese government and party organizations, such as the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), in shaping the wealth of private sector elites? Analyzing China Rich List data (1999–2015) with Ordinary Least Squares regression, Propensity Score Matching, and the Cox Hazard model, this study finds that NPC and CPPCC affiliation significantly boosts initial wealth accumulation, while Chinese Communist Party membership alone has minimal impact. However, political connections alone do not ensure long-term financial security, as industry positioning and inherited wealth play growing roles. Entrepreneurs in state-backed strategic industries gain wealth quickly but face volatility, while traditional sectors provide stability. Second-generation elites benefit from inherited wealth but experience higher early exit risks. A generational shift indicates a move toward market-driven success, though political influence remains crucial. The study underscores the ethical concerns of crony capitalism, where political ties distort competition and corporate accountability, offering insights into China’s evolving state-business relations.

Although sustainable development is increasingly prioritised, many entrepreneurs remain skeptical about the appropriateness of sustainable practices for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), questioning the value of adopting green initiatives. Grounded in the resource-based view, this study investigates the mediating role of sustainable development practices in linking entrepreneurial and international orientations and business performance in SMEs. Data were gathered from 105 SME owners and senior managers across multiple sectors using the drop-off and pick-up method and analysed using partial least squares (PLS) path modelling. The findings reveal that sustainable practices play a critical mediating role in enhancing business performance. Specifically, entrepreneurial orientation positively influences business performance indirectly through engagement in sustainable development practices, while international orientation does not produce a similar effect. This highlights the importance of aligning entrepreneurial traits, such as innovation, proactiveness, and risk-taking, with sustainability-oriented strategies. Additionally, the model’s predictive capability was assessed, and the study provides both theoretical insights into the mediating mechanisms of sustainability and practical recommendations for SMEs aiming to adopt sustainable business practices.

Ethics is integral to the social fabric, serving as a spiritual cornerstone for the continuity and progress of society. However, business ethics appears to have shifted in recent years, with ongoing debates around the nature of ethical and unethical practices in various markets. This study investigates the dynamics of market ethics in the traditional bazaar of Yazd, Iran, against the backdrop of a perceived decline in ethical standards and fairness. Using a qualitative-interpretive approach and grounded theory methodology, we conducted in-depth interviews with 21 seasoned marketers (aged 34 to 79) from the Zargari, Khan, and Shahzad Fazel markets, each with over 15 years of market experience. The analysis identified several main categories, including the erosion of trust, material preferences, the negative effect of virtual space, reducing the influence of religion, economic problems and inflation, the formation of competitive market, and lack of proper supervision. The core category, “erosion of moral capital in the marketplace,” emerged from these categories, encapsulating the broader shift. Findings indicate a notable decline in market ethics, driven by intersecting social, individual, and environmental factors. This study offers insights into the complex factors influencing ethical degradation in traditional markets and underscores the need for renewed attention to ethical standards in commercial environments.

The study objective is to understand the perception of truthfulness among business managers as practiced in organizations, the critical situations that test their truthfulness, and their responses to such situations. A qualitative approach involving conventional content analysis was adopted to address the research objectives. The results indicate that managers carry a conventional and altered view of truthfulness. While the conventional view encourages them to expect perfection and righteousness in the workplace, the altered view convinces them that small compromises resulting in a gain, lies to avoid interference, and dishonesty in response to non-transparency in management, are acceptable and judicious. Target pressure, coercion to conceal the fact, taking leave, or working from home tested the truthfulness of managers apart from incentives and promotion aspirations. To respond, business managers choose to fight, succumb, or cope by being diplomatic. The study provides meaningful implications for new employee orientation and management education.

Abstract

China’s business sector has been described as facing serious ethical challenges, including corruption and bribery, distributive injustice, environmental pollution, and misspending of public funds. Unethical decision-making in business represents a potentially destabilizing force for government, business, and society. Recent calls for research that is detailed, nuanced, contemporary, and context-specific on the effects of Asian national business systems on ethical business practices, according to Pereira et al. (2017), are particularly relevant for countries including China that possess the entanglement of a “multiplexity”-multiple business systems co-existing within the same economy reliant on ethics and institutional trust for effective functioning, as discussed by Witt and Redding (2013). To this end, we conduct exploratory research investigating the relationship among Confucian values, Hofstede’s national culture, and ethical decision-making within a business context in China. Using data collected from 550 Chinese MBA students and business executives, results indicate that although both Confucian values and Hofstede’s national culture dimensions are associated with the use of egoism and justice in ethical decision-making scenarios, differential patterns emerged in these relationships. Confucian values were more predictive of outcomes. Of particular interest were the relationships between Confucian values and ethical criteria of yi and justice as well as li and zhi with egoism. Results suggest if the goal is enhancing institutional trust through an increased use of more principled justice-oriented ethics in business in China, an emphasis should be placed on yi (righteousness), coupled with a deemphasis on hierarchy and tradition in the form of li (ritual propriety) and zhi (wisdom). Including love of learning (haoxue), trust (xin), a long-term orientation, and individualistic messages oriented towards family and self-sufficiency may also strengthen overall ethical decision-making for SMEs, MNCs, and SOEs in navigating a multiplexity environment.

This study explores the ethical implications of information asymmetry in corporate governance, focusing on insider trading by firm managers and the largest shareholders. We empirically analyze trading behaviors around distress events and their subsequent recoveries in the context of the Chinese Stock Exchange. The findings reveal that both managers and the largest shareholders exploit their privileged access to information for personal gain, significantly impacting other investors. However, this behavior is less prevalent among state-owned enterprises (SOEs), where the largest shareholders do not engage in opportunistic trading. In contrast, family-owned firms exhibit a heightened use of insider information, with the largest shareholders strategically trading to maximize personal benefits. Our analysis extends to unobservable insider information, demonstrating that the largest shareholders’ trades are strongly associated with negative performance events, reinforcing the presence of information asymmetry. These results underscore the need for stronger regulatory frameworks to safeguard investor interests and address ethical concerns in financial markets.

This study aims to determine whether political connections and foreign investments influence the level of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure among listed firms. To empirically explore these relationships, we utilized a novel dataset of 111 listed manufacturing firms on the HOSE stock exchange in Vietnam, covering the period from 2015 to 2022. Content analysis was conducted to assess the levels of ESG disclosure, while ordered logit and random effect estimators, along with several robustness checks, were applied to quantify the impacts of political connections and foreign investments. Our findings reveal that foreign connections are positively correlated with higher levels of ESG disclosure, whereas politically connected firms are associated with negative impacts and lower levels of ESG disclosure compared to those with foreign connections. These results address the research questions effectively and contribute to the literature by offering an updated view of current ESG practices in Vietnam, an emerging economy with evolving ESG norms. The findings provide both theoretical and practical contributions to the understanding of ESG disclosure, with important implications for policy-makers and business leaders.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in national economic growth and contribute significantly to GDP, acting as the backbone of economies in competitive markets. However, ethical issues in SMEs are often overlooked compared to those in large organisations due to limited public financial exposure and minimal media coverage. Research on ethical culture is still limited, particularly in SMEs, as past studies have predominantly focused on large organisations. To gain deeper insights into the ethical culture of SMEs, more qualitative research is needed to uncover the complexities of ethical conduct and organisational dynamics in SMEs. Therefore, this study employs a qualitative approach to explore the elements of ethical culture implemented in Malaysian SMEs. The data, gathered through in-depth interviews with eleven SME managers in Malaysia, revealed that ethical culture is reflected through formal systems, informal systems, leadership, and the newly highlighted element of religiosity. These four elements were explained with three goals for each element: communication, training, and management. The ethical issues faced by SMEs (favouritisms, selling company inventories, and disrespect towards female-led managers) were also highlighted. Accelerators (family influence, customer retention) and barriers (financial constraints) in implementing ethical culture were identified. Interestingly, this study highlights the significant role of religiosity in the ethical culture of SMEs, contributing to the literature and serving as a framework for future research. It aims to provide valuable insights for policymakers, business leaders, and stakeholders seeking to promote a robust ethical culture within the context of Malaysian SMEs.

In a world undergoing rapid change, the effective use of strategic alliances is important for a company to gain a competitive advantage. While previous research has mentioned the importance of understanding the authority and responsibilities of a successful alliance manager, few studies have investigated this topic using systematically gathered real-world data. This study aims to determine the kind of authority and responsibilities an alliance manager has in successful sustainability alliance projects. These generally require cooperation with players in heterogeneous sectors. An analytical framework was developed to examine sustainability alliance cases. Findings reveal that alliance managers at companies with excellent sustainability performance operate in an environment in which psychological safety is ensured. This enables them to autonomously develop emergent activities inside and outside the organization and have greater influence over alliance projects than the authority granted to them. This study suggests that it is essential for an organization to have a management philosophy based on sustainability as a standard for making value judgments. The communication of this philosophy contributes to the psychological safety of staff and thus their initiative taking in boundary spanning.