bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Can we teach ethics and professional deontology? An empirical study regarding the Accounting and Finance degree
Authors: Alegria Carreira Francisco , do Amparo Guedes Maria , da Conceição Aleixo Maria 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper sets out to analyse the role of ethics and moral values in higher education, as well as the articulation with two important professions in the financial area, because ethics and professional deontology play an important role in organizations and society, which have a great concern with corporate social responsibility.Design/methodology/approachThe literature review allows one to build a questionnaire used to evaluate the ethical behaviour and rules of ethics in a sample of higher education students of the third year of an Accounting and Finance course in the Business Administration College of the Setúbal Polytechnic Institute. The same questionnaire was applied to those students wishing to become chartered accounts and statutory auditors. Finally an exploratory analysis was carried out that summarises the questionnaire, categorising in several clusters as result of cluster analysis, according to the variables that had higher scores.FindingsThe concept of ethics is not a consensual one among the different investigators: for some it means a set of rules, principles and values that may be mistaken for morality from a broader point of view. Some authors consider ethics as a judging reflection upon morality. Concerning the cognitive dimension of attitude towards ethics, the subject of ethics and professional deontology strengthened the answers to the questions with lower scores. Concerning the affective/assessing attitude of ethics, the subject of ethics and professional deontology strengthened the students' convictions about the importance of the existence of a deontological code, of ethical principles and of accounting information, as well as the question with the lowest score (the entity's interest is more important).Practical implicationsThe results of this research confirm the initial hypothesis that higher education students of the third year of an Accounting and Finance course in the Business Administration College of the Setúbal Polytechnic Institute do not know the limitations of ethical behaviour.Originality/valueThis paper provides valuable empirical evidence in the role of ethics and moral values in higher education, because teaching ethics and professional deontology is an essential need of society and is inherent to teaching activity that must be promoted by policy makers.
Corporate social responsibility, new activism and public relations
Authors: Demetrious Kristin 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse why some contemporary corporate organisations are reluctant to articulate the effect of their market positioning behaviour on the unwilling communities that oppose their activities. It describes the communicative interactions between several large corporate organisations and the grassroots activist groups opposing their activities, in Victoria, Australia.Design/methodology/approachExtensive secondary data were collected, including extensive newspaper and radio transcripts from the campaign periods, web site downloads, letters and other campaign documents. The research design applied to the data, a qualitative, interpretative analysis, drawing on key theoretical frameworks.FindingsThe research findings suggest that powerful protest strategies, combined with the right political and social conditions, and a shift in the locus of politics and expertise, bring to light public concerns about the ethics of corporate practices, such as public relations, used egocentrically by organisations, to harmonise their activities in late modern Western society. It finds that no serious overhaul of business ethics can occur until the unity of public relations is critically scrutinised and reformed. It helps define an alternative holistic communicative approach which could be applied more widely to business practice that helps avoid the limitations and relativism of public relations.Originality/valueThe research flags new ways of thinking expressed in the notion of public communication that could lead to creative and unusual coherences vital to deal with the apparent ecological challenges for society in late modernity.
“What we learn today is how we behave tomorrow”: a study on students' perceptions of ethics in management education
Authors: Duarte Fernanda 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of studying ethics in a business management degree.Design/methodology/approachThe method used is qualitative design with some quantitative elements. Data were collected through an anonymous survey with 119 students from a management subject, and analysed in the light of deontological and theological theories of ethics.FindingsA large majority of the students surveyed (95 percent) believed that the study of ethics in management is important, and that they had personally benefited from studying ethics in the subject surveyed (84 percent). Four major thematic patterns emerged in the responses: a teleological view of ethics; a “hybrid” view of ethics; a link between ethical behaviour and leadership; and a gap between the ideal and practice of ethics.Research limitations/implicationsThe study had a small sample and referred only to one subject. Further studies should be done with larger samples, comparing different cohorts of students, or students at different stages of a degree.Practical implicationsThe study draws attention to issues that emerge from the teaching of ethics in management, in particular the need for sustained efforts to foster critical thinking and reflexivity among management students.Originality/valueThe paper is based on an original study that addresses the current gap in studies investigating management students’ attitudes to studying ethics. It is particularly valuable for ethics teachers.
Ten principles of corporate citizenship
Authors: Birch David 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to reflect briefly on some of the major principles that have emerged from the developing policies, practices and debates about corporate citizenship in the last ten years or so.Design/methodology/approachConsiderable scholarly work has been conducted on corporate citizenship in the past, and will continue to be done in the future. This paper is deliberately written for a non‐scholarly audience.FindingsTen principles are outlined, all of them focusing on developing a cultural aspect of corporate citizenship as good business.Originality/valueThe basic premise of this paper is that significant cultural change, through corporate citizenship will only take place by business implementing policies, and practices based on the sort of sound (but basic) principles presented here. These ten principles, in this format, are original to this paper.
The “ethics” of being profit focused
Authors: Mercia Selva Malar S. 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to emphasise the importance of firms being responsible to society.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines firms' omissions and commissions in the various functional areas of management while they focused on profit. Examples of such omissions and commissions are also discussed. Support from businessmen and authors who share such a viewpoint is mentionedFindingsIn the long term, firms that are socially responsible are successful.Practical implicationsPractising social responsibility consciously, firms can make the world a better place for all people. It can be beneficial for the entire society.Originality/valueOmissions and commissions arising out of being profit‐focused are the author's original contribution. The paper is of value to researchers and practitioners of corporate social responsibility and business ethics. Firms need to understand that they cannot succeed and excel for long if they neglect stakeholders other than shareholders.
Revisiting rights and responsibility: the case of Bhopal
Authors: Wong Loong 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the activities and consequential effects of a transnational corporation in a developing country. Via an examination of the industrial accident in Bhopal and a discursive examination of the firm's strategies, the paper seeks to contest the firm's claims that it has been acting responsibly. The paper further suggests that the contexts and development of the relationships, and claims by Union Carbide and its supporters, and its place within the global economy, must be critically examined and subjected to a systemic analysis if corporate social responsibility is to have any significant resonance.Design/methodology/approachThe paper seeks to integrate a wide range of epidemiological and social science literature relating to Bhopal. It seeks to examine Bhopal within the context of power discourse and the relationships engendered via its manifestations and practices. This discursive approach enables the researcher to disentangle various strands of practice within the context of the transnational firm and local communitiesFindingsThe paper finds that a more systemic approach to corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is necessary, if developing countries and local communities are to be treated as critical in the development process and as stakeholders in the debate on CSR.Originality/valueBy its examination if this case, the paper emphasises the need for a more systemic approach to corporate governance and CSR.
Paradigms in corporate ethics: the legality and values of corporate ethics
Authors: Tran Ben 
Published: April 2008

PurposeIt has always been claimed that business ethics are ambiguous and thus hard to define. As such, with recognizable unethical corporate behaviors as an epidemic, it is hard to hold perpetrators accountable. Even more detrimental are the miscommunication, the misunderstanding, the misinterpretation, and the misuse of the various paradigms in business ethics. Such flawed values and legality of business ethics paradigms cannot persist. There exist a gap and a bridging in the analysis of the paradigms in business ethics between the practitioners and the ethicists. This paper aims to provide an elaborate analysis of the values, trust, and legality of corporate behaviors in business ethics utilizing various paradigms.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis of this paper focused on the founding values and legality of business ethics and the underlying paradigms that practitioners and ethicists adopt.FindingsThe limitation of this study is that the probability of the diverse schools of thought intertwining is smaller than that their coexisting.Originality/valueIt is this coexistence of schools of thought that makes corporate USA humane, civilized, and balanced. Thus, to maintain this coexistence, if not improve it, this paper maintains that practitioners of higher education and corporate USA must take responsibility in training, educating, and producing future ethical business practitioners.
The organisation's captives: the no mean production of the contemporary administrative techniques
Authors: Coltro Alex 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to understand administrative action, to know its deeper and excellent roots. Such roots, for the West, are based in the concept of reason and its derivatives.Design/methodology/approachInitially the paper presents the basic relationship between administrative action, organizational theories and its roots. It then develops an archaeological process of historical recovery of the concepts and ideas associated with the reason, and concludes by clearly pointing out the remaining challenge: the development of an administrative boarding that respects the human being per se and not as a recourse thing, at the same time making if possible for organizations reach their objectives.FindingsTaking into consideration comparative traces of the diverse characteristics of organizational theories, this research has empirical findings which provide new comprehension and insights about the main product of any organization – people.Originality/valueThis paper presents a new view and a deep comprehension about the roles that people develop in an organization, particularly from an administrative focus.
Accountability discourses in advanced capitalism: who is now accountable to whom?
Authors: Green Miriam , Vandekerckhove Wim , Bessire Dominique 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to argue that the concept of “accountability” has changed and become perverted. Originally the concept meant answerability or the act of rendering an account. Those who were traditionally accountable were the powerful in organisations, public institutions and international bodies. The paper seeks point out that the notion of “accountability” has largely been emptied of its substance, as over the past few decades the concept of accountability has become perverted in discourse and in practice. The powerful are often no longer held accountable and are able to make those to whom they have hitherto been accountable, accountable to them instead.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is developed at the micro, meso and macro levels, through an analysis of the academic literature, in particular journals dealing with the interface between accounting and organisation studies.FindingsIt was found that what happens at the micro and meso levels becomes comprehensible when put into the context of the macro level. Instances of partial or reversed accountability in practice are pointed out and linked with insights from commentators in the fields of sociology and philosophy.Originality/valueConcepts of accountability have become increasingly important in organisational discourse and practice over recent decades. This is particularly so given the importance now accorded to corporate governance and new public management. This paper is intended to formulate resistance to a particular discursive domination of corporate social responsibility. The paper is also new in the linking of this analysis with the argument that the weakening and reversal of accountability might be all‐pervasive in the current era of advanced capitalism and free market ideologies, and that the subversion of accountability is an instance of politically motivated hegemony.
Corporate social responsibility in India: towards a sane society?
Authors: Das Gupta Aruna , Das Gupta Ananda 
Published: April 2008

PurposeBased on a survey, this paper seeks to confirm that Indian corporates are already working on the guideline of the Global Compact.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is theoretical with ample scope for application.FindingsIt is found that there should be a realisation that the real CSR leadership is not just putting one's own house in order, but advocating the right conditions to reward responsible practice.Research limitations/implicationsA disadvantage is the paucity of literature for the survey.Originality/valueThe paper succeeds in confirming that Indian corporates are already working on the guideline of the Global Compact, because the Indian ethos and religious values teach these doctrines from a socio‐religious aspect.
“Me, myself & I”: practical egoism, selfishness, self‐interest and business ethics
Authors: Debeljak Jelena , Krkač Kristijan 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to elucidate some of the arguments against egoism in the current debate, as well as to create some new arguments, or rather objections (epistemological and ontological from the position of egoism as moral solipsism), and to explicate some arguments against egoism (descriptive, normative, and ideological) as being not so convincing. It also aims to explicate Jesus's second commandment in a fashion similar to that of Adam Smith when he tried to combine self‐love with sympathy.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on the premise that some foundational philosophies, worldviews, or paradigms exemplify at least one type of egoism/selfish strategy. In that light the analysis of egoism and the objections are formulated.FindingsThey paper finds that present arguments in favour of egoism in business, and especially as certain “business ethics”, are not acceptable, at least on the practical and theoretical grounds on which they are presented as sound arguments.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper implies that there is fundamental difference between theoretical and practical egoism, and that practical egoism sometimes uses the theoretical one as its “quasi‐justification”.Practical implicationsThe paper can be summarized in a series of general advices about an altruistic attitude and practices which in the long term show more benefits than costs for any group, and consequently for business organizations as well.Original/valueThe paper presents ontological and epistemological interpretations and objections against egoism, emphasizing the somewhat neutral or at least bivalent position of Adam Smith regarding the matter in question, and introducing altruistic strategies as being compatible with the basic ideas of a free‐market system.
Fighting a smoky fire: an analysis of Philip Morris's CEO speeches according to image restoration strategies
Authors: de Fatima Oliveira Maria 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate Philip Morris's responses to a decade‐long crisis through the analysis of its CEO's speeches. It also aims to reveal the rich potential of corporate speeches as examples of crisis management strategies.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 67 speeches of Philip Morris's CEO are analyzed using centering resonance analysis. The data are also cluster‐ and factor‐analyzed. Combining quantitative and qualitative examination of the dataset provides a broader understanding of the organization's rhetoric strategies.FindingsPhilip Morris's CEO crafted specific frames and image repair strategies to fit different stages of the crisis. The frames and restorations strategies used are, respectively: profitable multinational bolstering, minimization, and attack the accuser (1994‐1996); litigation target, transcendence (1997‐1998); and corporate good citizen, bolstering and transcendence (1999‐2001).Research limitations/implicationsThe paper highlights the significance of corporate speeches as a fully controlled form of corporate discourse that reveals strategic frames and communication tactics. Future research should concentrate on comparing such messages with other important actors' discourse.Practical implicationsThe paper draws attention to the role of lawyers and other actors in defining crisis management strategies as well as emphasizing that corporate values may not be accepted by the entire society, yet may meet the expectations of specific stakeholders.Originality/valueThis paper combines qualitative and quantitative analysis to investigate a rich source of corporate communication: top management speeches. The study underscores how rhetoric strategies can play for time during crisis, but are limited in changing inherently bad products into socially acceptable ones.
Back to basics: an Islamic perspective on business and work ethics
Authors: Ragab Rizk Riham 
Published: April 2008

PurposeIn the light of major corporate failures worldwide, business ethics have become an increasingly important area of managerial competence and responsibility. Most studies on business ethics in general and the work ethic in particular have been based on the experiences of Western nations, with a primary focus on the Protestant work ethic (PWE) as advanced by Max Weber. This paper aims primarily to explore the Islamic perspective to ethics, which follows the Judeo‐Christian tradition as the last of the three great monotheistic religions.Design/methodology/approachA range of relevant works published over the past two decades is compared with and heavily supplemented by extracts from the Islamic Holy Book, the Qur'an, in order to outline the Islamic approach to business and work ethics.FindingsThe paper highlights that within the Holy Qur'an and other aspects of Shari'ah, there is much with which to construct an authentic Islamic approach to ethics. It also highlights the substantial need to examine the work ethic and other work‐related attitudes, such as individualism in non‐Western settings.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the body of knowledge in several ways. First, it is one of a very limited number of papers that does not use a research instrument created specifically to measure work orientations in a Western setting. Second, it provides a better understanding of cultural variations among nations, by examining the ethical beliefs of the fastest growing religion in the world.
The impact of television dependency on teleshopping adoption
Authors: Ruiz Mafé Carla , Sanz Blas Silvia 
Published: April 2008

PurposeTo analyse key drivers of television dependency and its impact on teleshopping adoption.Design/methodology/approachThe applicability of the media dependency scale is tested in the Spanish market. The impact of demographics, television exposure and television affinity on television dependency is analysed together with behavioural changes deriving from television dependency (willingness to teleshopping).FindingsData analysis shows that the media dependency scale needs to be adapted to the Spanish market and Spanish televiewers show intermediate levels of television dependency. Dependent televiewers are mainly mature, feel high‐television affinity and have high levels of exposure as televiewers. Television dependency determines teleshopping adoption, with the most relevant factor being that of searching guides for decision taking and fun.Practical implicationsThis research enables companies to know the different objectives which television can help consumers to attain and, therefore, what aspects to highlight in their direct marketing strategies. Television agents should exploit the dimensions television offers to increase individual dependency and message effectiveness. The significant influence that “decision taking and fun” exerts on willingness to teleshopping shows managers that program contents become a key tool to increase future television purchases.Originality/valueDespite dramatic online differences were discovered between television dependent and non‐dependent consumers, very limited research has been conducted to examine them. There are still no enough studies that analyse the background and effects of television dependency on the non‐purchasing televiewers behaviour. This paper analyses the background of television dependency and its influence on future purchase intentions of non‐buyer Spanish televiewers.