IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v115y2013i2p271-290.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Ethical Behavior of Firms is Influenced by the Legal and Political Environments: A Bayesian Causal Map Analysis Based on Stages of Development

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmet Ekici
  • Sule Onsel

Abstract

Even though potential impacts of political and legal environments of business on ethical behavior of firms (EBOF) have been conceptually recognized, not much evidence (i.e., empirical work) has been produced to clarify their role. In this paper, using Bayesian causal maps (BCMs) methodology, relationships between legal and political environments of business and EBOF are investigated. The unique design of our study allows us to analyze these relationships based on the stages of development in 92 countries around the world. The EBOF models structured through BCMs are used to explain how EBOF in a given country group are shaped by how managers perceive political, legislative, and protective environments of business in these countries. The results suggest that irregular payments and bribes are the most influential factors affecting managers’ perceptions of business ethics in relatively more advanced economies, whereas intellectual property protection is the most influential factor affecting managers’ perceptions of business ethics in less-advanced economies. The results also suggest that regardless of where the business is conducted in the world, judicial independence is the driving force behind managers’ perceptions of business ethics. In addition, the results of this study provide further support for scholars who argue that business ethics is likely to vary among countries based on their socio-economic factors. In addition to its managerial implications, the study provides directions for policy makers to improve the ethical conduct of businesses in their respective countries. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmet Ekici & Sule Onsel, 2013. "How Ethical Behavior of Firms is Influenced by the Legal and Political Environments: A Bayesian Causal Map Analysis Based on Stages of Development," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 271-290, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:115:y:2013:i:2:p:271-290
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1393-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-012-1393-4
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-012-1393-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nadkarni, Sucheta & Shenoy, Prakash P., 2001. "A Bayesian network approach to making inferences in causal maps," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(3), pages 479-498, February.
    2. Kit-Chun Lam & Guicheng Shi & Guicheng Shi, 2008. "Factors Affecting Ethical Attitudes in Mainland China and Hong Kong," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(4), pages 463-479, February.
    3. Argandoña, Antonio, 2004. "Corruption and companies: The case of facilitating payments," IESE Research Papers D/539, IESE Business School.
    4. Argandoña, Antonio, 2003. "Private-to-private corruption," IESE Research Papers D/531, IESE Business School.
    5. Joseph McKinney & Carlos Moore, 2008. "International Bribery: Does a Written Code of Ethics Make a Difference in Perceptions of Business Professionals," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 103-111, April.
    6. Robertson, Diana C. & Rymon, Talia, 2001. "Purchasing Agents’ Deceptive Behavior: A Randomized Response Technique Study," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 455-479, July.
    7. Yadong Luo, 2004. "An Organizational Perspective of Corruption," Management and Organization Review, International Association of Chinese Management Research, vol. 1(1), pages 119-154, June.
    8. Peter Fleming & Stelios C. Zyglidopoulos, 2008. "The Escalation of Deception in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(4), pages 837-850, September.
    9. Runtian Jing & John L. Graham, 2008. "Values Versus Regulations: How Culture Plays Its Role," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(4), pages 791-806, July.
    10. Stajkovic, Alexander D. & Luthans, Fred, 1997. "Business ethics across cultures: A social cognitive model," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 17-34, April.
    11. Sahin, Sule Onsel & Ulengin, Fusun & Ulengin, Burc, 2006. "A Bayesian causal map for inflation analysis: The case of Turkey," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 1268-1284, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Larissa Batrancea & Anca Nichita & Ioan Batrancea & Lucian Gaban, 2018. "The Strenght of the Relationship Between Shadow Economy and Corruption: Evidence from a Worldwide Country-Sample," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 1119-1143, August.
    2. Tina T He & Wilson XB Li, 2021. "Revisiting tourism’s additional impact on income," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(1), pages 149-167, February.
    3. James Weber, 2017. "Discovering the Millennials’ Personal Values Orientation: A Comparison to Two Managerial Populations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 517-529, July.
    4. Yasemin Zengin Karaibrahimoglu & Burcu Guneri Cangarli, 2016. "Do Auditing and Reporting Standards Affect Firms’ Ethical Behaviours? The Moderating Role of National Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 55-75, November.
    5. Hartwell, Christopher A. & Devinney, Timothy, 2021. "Populism, political risk, and pandemics: The challenges of political leadership for business in a post-COVID world," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).
    6. Song Wang & Bowen Dong & Steven X. Si & Junsheng Dou, 2017. "When it rains, it pours: A triple-pathway model of collective turnover based on causal mapping analysis," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 461-486, June.
    7. Benkraiem, Ramzi & Uyar, Ali & Kilic, Merve & Schneider, Friedrich, 2021. "Ethical behavior, auditing strength, and tax evasion: A worldwide perspective," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    8. Uyar, Ali & Fernandes, Valérie & Kuzey, Cemil, 2021. "The mediating role of corporate governance between public governance and logistics performance: International evidence," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 37-47.
    9. Cristina Bota-Avram & Roumen Vesselinov & Paula Ramona Răchişan & Adrian Groşanu, 2022. "Determinant factors on ethical behavior of firms: evidence from a cross-country survey," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(8), pages 1-25, August.
    10. Loréa Baïada-Hirèche & Ghislaine Garmilis, 2016. "Accounting Professionals’ Ethical Judgment and the Institutional Disciplinary Context: A French–US Comparison," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(4), pages 639-659, December.
    11. Ekici, Ahmet & Önsel Ekici, Şule, 2021. "Understanding and managing complexity through Bayesian network approach: The case of bribery in business transactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 757-773.
    12. James Weber, 2015. "Identifying and Assessing Managerial Value Orientations: A Cross-Generational Replication Study of Key Organizational Decision-Makers’ Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 493-504, December.
    13. Cemil Kuzey & Ali Uyar & Amal Hamrouni & Merve Kilic & Rim Boussaada, 2021. "The link between institutional quality, ethical behaviors of firms, and market regulations on stock market developments," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 998-1021, June.
    14. Qingfeng Wang & Xu Sun, 2019. "Exploring Chinese Design Business Owners’ Attitudes Towards Intellectual Property Rights," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(06), pages 1-24, August.
    15. Paulina Roszkowska & Domènec Melé, 2021. "Organizational Factors in the Individual Ethical Behaviour. The Notion of the “Organizational Moral Structure”," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 187-209, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carole L. Jurkiewicz & Robert A. Giacalone, 2016. "Organizational Determinants of Ethical Dysfunctionality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Ülengin, Füsun & Kabak, Özgür & Önsel, Sule & Ülengin, Burç & Aktas, Emel, 2010. "A problem-structuring model for analyzing transportation-environment relationships," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(3), pages 844-859, February.
    3. Seraphim Voliotis, 2017. "Establishing the Normative Standards that Determine Deviance in Organizational Corruption: Is Corruption Within Organizations Antisocial or Unethical?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 147-160, January.
    4. Seung-Wan Kang, 2019. "Sustainable Influence of Ethical Leadership on Work Performance: Empirical Study of Multinational Enterprise in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, June.
    5. Maria Halter & Maria Arruda, 2009. "Inverting the Pyramid of Values? Trends in Less-Developed Countries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 267-275, December.
    6. Ilhan-Nas, Tulay & Okan, Tarhan & Tatoglu, Ekrem & Demirbag, Mehmet & Wood, Geoffrey & Glaister, Keith W., 2018. "Board composition, family ownership, institutional distance and the foreign equity ownership strategies of Turkish MNEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 862-879.
    7. Dendi Ramdani & Arjen Witteloostuijn, 2012. "The Shareholder–Manager Relationship and Its Impact on the Likelihood of Firm Bribery," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(4), pages 495-507, July.
    8. Takuma Kimura & Mizuki Nishikawa, 2018. "Ethical Leadership and Its Cultural and Institutional Context: An Empirical Study in Japan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 707-724, September.
    9. Karen Jehn & Elizabeth Scott, 2008. "Perceptions of Deception: Making Sense of Responses to Employee Deceit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(2), pages 327-347, June.
    10. Stelios Zyglidopoulos & Peter Fleming, 2008. "Ethical Distance in Corrupt Firms: How Do Innocent Bystanders Become Guilty Perpetrators?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(1), pages 265-274, March.
    11. Christian Hauser, 2019. "Fighting Against Corruption: Does Anti-corruption Training Make Any Difference?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 281-299, September.
    12. M. Rosario González-Rodríguez & M. Carmen Díaz Fernández & Biagio Simonetti, 2016. "Corporate Social Responsibility perception versus human values: a structural equation modeling approach," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(13), pages 2396-2415, October.
    13. Svensson, Göran & Wood, Greg & Callaghan, Michael, 2010. "A corporate model of sustainable business practices: An ethical perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 336-345, October.
    14. Putu Anom Mahadwartha, 2010. "States Of Nature And Indicators Of Manager’S Corruption In Indonesia," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 4(3), pages 25-45.
    15. Adi Anuar Azmin* & Azizi Abu Bakar & Abdullah Hj. Abd. Ghani, 2018. "The Moderating Effects of Islamic Business Ethics on Organizational support of Residential Project Performance in Malaysia," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 277-283:6.
    16. Bala Ramasamy & Matthew Yeung & Alan Au, 2010. "Consumer Support for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Role of Religion and Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(1), pages 61-72, February.
    17. De Iuliis, Melissa & Kammouh, Omar & Cimellaro, Gian Paolo & Tesfamariam, Solomon, 2021. "Quantifying restoration time of power and telecommunication lifelines after earthquakes using Bayesian belief network model," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    18. Wally Smieliauskas & Kathryn Bewley & Ulfert Gronewold & Ulrich Menzefricke, 2018. "Misleading Forecasts in Accounting Estimates: A Form of Ethical Blindness in Accounting Standards?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 437-457, October.
    19. Ruth Aguilera & Abhijeet Vadera, 2008. "The Dark Side of Authority: Antecedents, Mechanisms, and Outcomes of Organizational Corruption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(4), pages 431-449, February.
    20. Cline, Brandon N. & Williamson, Claudia R. & Xiong, Haoyang, 2021. "Culture and the regulation of insider trading across countries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:115:y:2013:i:2:p:271-290. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.