IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v119y2014i4p529-542.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutionalizing Ethics in Institutional Voids: Building Positive Ethical Strength to Serve Women Microfinance Borrowers in Negative Contexts

Author

Listed:
  • Subrata Chakrabarty
  • A. Bass

Abstract

This study examines whether microfinance institutions (MFIs) that serve women borrowers at the base of the economic pyramid are likely to adopt a written code of positive organizational ethics (POE). Using econometric analysis of operational and economic data of a sample of MFIs from across the world, we find that two contextual factors—poverty level and lack of women’s empowerment—moderate the influence of an MFI’s percentage of women borrowers on the probability of the MFI having a POE code. MFIs that serve more women borrowers are more likely to adopt a POE code, especially in negative contexts (where women borrowers face poverty and disempowerment and are therefore susceptible to abuse). This study provides evidence that MFIs can build positive ethical strength in negative contexts. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Subrata Chakrabarty & A. Bass, 2014. "Institutionalizing Ethics in Institutional Voids: Building Positive Ethical Strength to Serve Women Microfinance Borrowers in Negative Contexts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(4), pages 529-542, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:119:y:2014:i:4:p:529-542
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1833-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-013-1833-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-013-1833-9?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. Benjamin Feigenberg & Erica Field & Rohini Pande, 2013. "The Economic Returns to Social Interaction: Experimental Evidence from Microfinance," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(4), pages 1459-1483.
    2. Lakshmi Iyer & Anandi Mani & Prachi Mishra & Petia Topalova, 2012. "The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 165-193, October.
    3. Godquin, Marie, 2004. "Microfinance Repayment Performance in Bangladesh: How to Improve the Allocation of Loans by MFIs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 1909-1926, November.
    4. Weber, James, 1993. "Institutionalizing Ethics Into Business Organizations: A Model and Research Agenda," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 419-436, October.
    5. Andreas Rasche & Dorothea Baur & Mariëtte Huijstee & Stephen Ladek & Jayanthi Naidu & Cecilia Perla & Esther Schouten & Michael Valente & Mingrui Zhang, 2008. "Corporations as Political Actors – A Report on the First Swiss Master Class in Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(2), pages 151-173, June.
    6. Julie Steinkopf Rice, 2010. "Free trade, fair trade and gender inequality in less developed countries," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 42-50.
    7. Gudz, Stephen F., 1999. "The Potential Role Of Microfinance Intstitutions In Mobilizing Savings: Lessons From Kenya And Uganda," Working Papers 7226, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    8. Mark Schreiner, 2002. "Aspects of outreach: a framework for discussion of the social benefits of microfinance," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(5), pages 591-603.
    9. Jonathan Morduch, 1999. "The Microfinance Promise," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1569-1614, December.
    10. Ranjula Bali Swain & Fan Yang Wallentin, 2009. "Does microfinance empower women? Evidence from self-help groups in India," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 541-556.
    11. Mark M. Pitt & Shahidur R. Khandker, 1998. "The Impact of Group-Based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 958-996, October.
    12. Mair, Johanna & Marti, Ignasi, 2009. "Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids: A case study from Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 419-435, September.
    13. -, 2005. "The millennium development goals: a Latin American and Caribbean perspective," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 2798 edited by Eclac.
    14. D'Espallier, Bert & Guérin, Isabelle & Mersland, Roy, 2011. "Women and Repayment in Microfinance: A Global Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 758-772, May.
    15. Fafchamps, Marcel & Minten, Bart, 2006. "Crime, Transitory Poverty, and Isolation: Evidence from Madagascar," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(3), pages 579-603, April.
    16. Janet Adams & Armen Tashchian & Ted Shore, 2001. "Codes of Ethics as Signals for Ethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 199-211, February.
    17. Chakrabarty, Subrata, 2009. "The influence of national culture and institutional voids on family ownership of large firms: A country level empirical study," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 32-45, March.
    18. Subrata Chakrabarty & Liang Wang, 2012. "The Long-Term Sustenance of Sustainability Practices in MNCs: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective of the Role of R&D and Internationalization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 205-217, October.
    19. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Indicators 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2315, December.
    20. Amy Verbos & Joseph Gerard & Paul Forshey & Charles Harding & Janice Miller, 2007. "The Positive Ethical Organization: Enacting a Living Code of Ethics and Ethical Organizational Identity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(1), pages 17-33, November.
    21. James C. Brau & Gary M. Woller, 2004. "Microfinance: A Comprehensive Review of the Existing Literature," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 9(1), pages 1-28, Spring.
    22. Rahman, Aminur, 1999. "Micro-credit initiatives for equitable and sustainable development: Who pays?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 67-82, January.
    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. Nyarko, Samuel Anokye, 2022. "Gender discrimination and lending to women: The moderating effect of an international founder," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4).
    2. Henry, Colette & Lewis, Kate V., 2023. "The art of dramatic construction: Enhancing the context dimension in women’s entrepreneurship research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    3. McAdam, Maura & Crowley, Caren & Harrison, Richard T., 2019. "“To boldly go where no [man] has gone before” - Institutional voids and the development of women's digital entrepreneurship11The title is taken from the original titles voice-over for the TV series St," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 912-922.
    4. Franczak, Jennifer & Lanivich, Stephen E. & Adomako, Samuel, 2023. "Filling institutional voids: Combinative effects of institutional shortcomings and gender on the alertness – Opportunity recognition relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    5. Dan S. Chiaburu & Subrata Chakrabarty & Jiexin Wang & Ning Li, 2015. "Organizational Support and Citizenship Behaviors: A Comparative Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(5), pages 707-736, October.
    6. Helen Wei Hu & Lin Cui & Preet S Aulakh, 2019. "State capitalism and performance persistence of business group-affiliated firms: A comparative study of China and India," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(2), pages 193-222, March.
    7. Sutter, Christopher & Bruton, Garry D. & Chen, Juanyi, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as a solution to extreme poverty: A review and future research directions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 197-214.
    8. Sarah Castaldi & Miriam M. Wilhelm & Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Taco Vaart, 2023. "Extending Social Sustainability to Suppliers: The Role of GVC Governance Strategies and Supplier Country Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 123-146, February.
    9. Hota, Pradeep Kumar & Bhatt, Babita & Qureshi, Israr, 2023. "Institutional work to navigate ethical dilemmas: Evidence from a social enterprise," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1).
    10. Blanco-Oliver, A.J. & Irimia-Diéguez, A.I. & Vázquez-Cueto, M.J., 2023. "Is there an optimal microcredit size to maximize the social and financial efficiencies of microfinance institutions?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    11. Marek Hudon & Marc Labie & Patrick Reichert, 2020. "What is a Fair Level of Profit for Social Enterprise? Insights from Microfinance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 627-644, March.
    12. Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce, 2021. "The Role of Institutional Context for Sustainability Cross-Sector Partnerships. An Exploratory Analysis of European Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Aaron H. Anglin & Hana Milanov & Jeremy C. Short, 2023. "Religious Expression and Crowdfunded Microfinance Success: Insights from Role Congruity Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 397-426, June.

    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. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    2. Subrata Chakrabarty & A. Erin Bass, 2015. "Comparing Virtue, Consequentialist, and Deontological Ethics-Based Corporate Social Responsibility: Mitigating Microfinance Risk in Institutional Voids," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 487-512, February.
    3. João Paulo Coelho Ribeiro & Fábio Duarte & Ana Paula Matias Gama, 2022. "Does microfinance foster the development of its clients? A bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-35, December.
    4. Chliova, Myrto & Brinckmann, Jan & Rosenbusch, Nina, 2015. "Is microcredit a blessing for the poor? A meta-analysis examining development outcomes and contextual considerations," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 467-487.
    5. Aggarwal, Raj & Goodell, John W. & Selleck, Lauren J., 2015. "Lending to women in microfinance: Role of social trust," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 55-65.
    6. A. Blanco-Oliver & A. Irimia-Diéguez, 2021. "Impact of outreach on financial performance of microfinance institutions: a moderated mediation model of productivity, loan portfolio quality, and profit status," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 633-668, April.
    7. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina & Giorgio Di Maio & Paolo Landoni & Emanuele Rusinà, 2021. "Money management and entrepreneurial training in microfinance: impact on beneficiaries and institutions," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(3), pages 1049-1085, October.
    8. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    9. Bos, Jaap W.B. & Millone, Matteo, 2015. "Practice What You Preach: Microfinance Business Models and Operational Efficiency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 28-42.
    10. Leif Atle Beisland & Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland & Trond Randøy, 2021. "Measuring Social Performance in Social Enterprises: A Global Study of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 51-71, June.
    11. Boehe, Dirk Michael & Barin Cruz, Luciano, 2013. "Gender and Microfinance Performance: Why Does the Institutional Context Matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 121-135.
    12. Raj Aggarwal & John Goodell, 2013. "Lending to women in microfinance: influence of social trust and national culture Lending to women in microfinance: influence of social trust and national culture," Working Papers (Old Series) 1317, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    13. Godfroid, Cécile & Otiti, Naome & Mersland, Roy, 2022. "Employee tenure and staff performance: The case of a social enterprise," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 457-467.
    14. Junyon Im & Sunny Sun, 2015. "Profits and outreach to the poor: The institutional logics of microfinance institutions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 95-117, March.
    15. Mohamed, Toka S. & Elgammal, Mohammed M., 2023. "Credit risk in Islamic microfinance institutions: The role of women, groups, and rural borrowers," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    16. Prabirendra Chatterjee & Sudipta, Sarangi, "undated". "Social Identity and Group Lending," Working Papers UWEC-2005-06-R, University of Washington, Department of Economics.
    17. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Yaron, Jacob & Meoli, Michele, 2017. "Assessing the financial and outreach efficiency of microfinance institutions: Do age and size matter?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 63-76.
    18. Tanjinul Hoque Mollah & Sharmin Shishir & Wahid Ullah & Takaaki Nihei, 2019. "Assessing NGOs micro-credit programs: a geo-spatial and socio-economic scenario from rural Bangladesh," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 66(2), pages 79-99, June.
    19. Blanco-Oliver, Antonio & Irimia-Dieguez, Ana & Reguera-Alvarado, Nuria, 2016. "Prediction-oriented PLS path modeling in microfinance research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4643-4649.
    20. Jannat Ara PARVEEN, 2009. "Sustainability Issues Of Interest-Free Micro-Finance Institutions In Rural Development And Poverty Alleviation. The Bangladesh Perspective," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 4(2(11)), pages 112-133, 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:119:y:2014:i:4:p:529-542. 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.