IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v157y2019i3d10.1007_s10551-017-3681-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Compliance Through Company Culture and Values: An International Study Based on the Example of Corruption Prevention

Author

Listed:
  • Kai D. Bussmann

    (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg)

  • Anja Niemeczek

    (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg)

Abstract

The aim of this Web-based survey of 15 German companies with an international profile was to identify which higher-level values serve as a basis for a company culture that promotes integrity and can thereby also be used to promote crime prevention. Results on about 2000 managers in German parent companies and almost 600 managers in Central and North European branch offices show that a major preventive role can be assigned to a company culture that promotes integrity. This requires a ‘tone from the top’, ‘ethical leadership’ from the direct superior, and a general set of values that can be encouraged through training courses. Moreover, employees have to perceive these values as promoting their careers. The survey reveals that the companies in this study have basically succeeded in establishing their system of values in their Central and North European as well as their Asian branch offices. Moreover, it shows that the main values preventing crime on the management level are trustworthiness and consistency. Open communication is an important value on all levels of a company, and this is supplemented by transparency, compliance with the rules, and a rejection of behaving in one’s own interest. It is concluded that in spite of regional differences, major international companies can possibly make an important contribution to bringing about cultural change in regions with an affinity for corruption by implementing a culture that promotes integrity in both their company and their daily business.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai D. Bussmann & Anja Niemeczek, 2019. "Compliance Through Company Culture and Values: An International Study Based on the Example of Corruption Prevention," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 797-811, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:157:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3681-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3681-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-017-3681-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-017-3681-5?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. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    2. Boudewijn Bruin, 2016. "Pledging Integrity: Oaths as Forms of Business Ethics Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 23-42, June.
    3. Bert Scholtens & Lammertjan Dam, 2007. "Cultural Values and International Differences in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 273-284, October.
    4. Brown, Michael E. & Trevino, Linda K. & Harrison, David A., 2005. "Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 117-134, July.
    5. Lambsdorff,Johann Graf, 2007. "The Institutional Economics of Corruption and Reform," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521872751.
    6. Peter Verhezen, 2010. "Giving Voice in a Culture of Silence. From a Culture of Compliance to a Culture of Integrity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(2), pages 187-206, October.
    7. Sean Valentine & Seong-Hyun Nam & David Hollingworth & Callie Hall, 2014. "Ethical Context and Ethical Decision Making: Examination of an Alternative Statistical Approach for Identifying Variable Relationships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 509-526, October.
    8. Kanika Bhal & Anubha Dadhich, 2011. "Impact of Ethical Leadership and Leader–Member Exchange on Whistle Blowing: The Moderating Impact of the Moral Intensity of the Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 485-496, October.
    9. Tony Simons & Hannes Leroy & Veroniek Collewaert & Stijn Masschelein, 2015. "How Leader Alignment of Words and Deeds Affects Followers: A Meta-analysis of Behavioral Integrity Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 831-844, December.
    10. Muel Kaptein, 2011. "Toward Effective Codes: Testing the Relationship with Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 233-251, March.
    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. Gorgoń Monika & Raczkowski Konrad & Kraft Felix, 2019. "Compliance Risk Management in Polish and German Companies," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 11(4), pages 115-145, December.
    2. Matthew A. Douglas & Diane A. Mollenkopf & Vincent E. Castillo & John E. Bell & Emily C. Dickey, 2022. "Journeys, Not Destinations: Theorizing a Process View of Supply Chain Integrity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 195-220, November.

    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. Valentine, Sean & Godkin, Lynn, 2019. "Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 277-288.
    2. Stephanie Kelley, 2022. "Employee Perceptions of the Effective Adoption of AI Principles," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(4), pages 871-893, July.
    3. Eugen Dimant & Guglielmo Tosato, 2018. "Causes And Effects Of Corruption: What Has Past Decade'S Empirical Research Taught Us? A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 335-356, April.
    4. Virginia Bodolica & Martin Spraggon, 2015. "An Examination into the Disclosure, Structure, and Contents of Ethical Codes in Publicly Listed Acquiring Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 459-472, February.
    5. Gundlach, Erich & Paldam, Martin, 2009. "The transition of corruption: From poverty to honesty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(3), pages 146-148, June.
    6. Vitolla, Filippo & Raimo, Nicola & Rubino, Michele & Garegnani, Giovanni Maria, 2021. "Do cultural differences impact ethical issues? Exploring the relationship between national culture and quality of code of ethics," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    7. Nida Kamal & Hina Samdani & Amna Yameen, 2018. "Engaging Employees through Ethical Leadership," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(3), pages 300-316, September.
    8. He Peng & Feng Wei, 2018. "Trickle-Down Effects of Perceived Leader Integrity on Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 837-851, July.
    9. Laurent Weill, 2011. "Does corruption hamper bank lending? Macro and micro evidence," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 25-42, August.
    10. Guillaume Mercier & Ghislain Deslandes, 2017. "There are no Codes, Only Interpretations. Practical Wisdom and Hermeneutics in Monastic Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(4), pages 781-794, November.
    11. Aaronson, Susan & Abouharb, M. Rodwan, 2011. "Does the WTO Help Member States Clean Up?," Papers 268, World Trade Institute.
    12. Ziya Ete & Olga Epitropaki & Qin Zhou & Les Graham, 2022. "Leader and Organizational Behavioral Integrity and Follower Behavioral Outcomes: The Role of Identification Processes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(4), pages 741-760, April.
    13. Jin Cheng & Haiqing Bai & Xijuan Yang, 2019. "Ethical Leadership and Internal Whistleblowing: A Mediated Moderation Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 115-130, March.
    14. Roberto Dell’Anno, 2020. "Corruption around the world: an analysis by partial least squares—structural equation modeling," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 327-350, September.
    15. Nawaz Ahmad & Saqib Amin, 2020. "Does ethnic polarization stimulate or relegate trade and environmental performance? A global perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 6513-6536, October.
    16. He Peng & Feng Wei, 2020. "How and When Does Leader Behavioral Integrity Influence Employee Voice? The Roles of Team Independence Climate and Corporate Ethical Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 505-521, October.
    17. Byung-Jik Kim & Min-Jik Kim & Tae-Hyun Kim, 2021. "“The Power of Ethical Leadership”: The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on Creativity, the Mediating Function of Psychological Safety, and the Moderating Role of Ethical Leadership," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-16, March.
    18. Krisztina Kis-Katos & Günther G. Schulze, 2013. "Corruption in Southeast Asia: a survey of recent research," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(1), pages 79-109, May.

    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:157:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3681-5. 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.