Informal and Formal Institutional Measures of Business Ethics Implementation at Different Stages of Enterprise Life Cycle

During its activity, an enterprise passes through different life cycle stages, which differ in terms of management systems, formal structures, control systems, documentation of transactions, and number of procedural hurdles. Therefore, our main research problem focused on the differences in informal and formal institutional measures of business ethics implementation. We used the case study research methodology to explore the differences of informal and formal institutional measures of business ethics implementation at different stages of the enterprise life cycle. The pre-designed questionnaire was used to conduct face-to-face interviews with 40 managers who were in most cases also owners of the studied enterprises.

[1]  Philip L. Cochran,et al.  Corporate Ethics Practices in the Mid-1990's: An Empirical Study of the Fortune 1000 , 1999 .

[2]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[3]  Kenneth J. Smith,et al.  Opening the Black Box: Corporate Codes of Ethics in Their Organizational Context , 1997 .

[4]  Christopher K. Bart,et al.  Sex, Lies and Mission Statements , 1997 .

[5]  Sara A. Morris.  Internal Effects of Stakeholder Management Devices , 1997 .

[6]  Urs Fueglistaller,et al.  Führen - Gestalten - Leben : KMU in Bewegung. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit lebenszyklusorientierter Unternehmensführung , 2006 .

[7]  Frank Halter,et al.  Führen - Gestalten - Leben: KMU in Bewegung. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit Klein- und Mittelunternehmen (KMU) und lebenszyklusorientierter Unternehmensführung. Reader 05/06 , 2005 .

[8]  Randi L. Sims,et al.  Determinants of Ethical Decision Making: The Relationship of the Perceived Organizational Environment , 1999 .

[9]  Janet S. Adams,et al.  Ethics in Family and Non-Family Owned Firms: An Exploratory Study , 1996 .

[10]  John Dalla Costa.  The Ethical Imperative: Why Moral Leadership Is Good Business , 1998 .

[11]  Muel Kaptein,et al.  The Effectiveness of Business Codes: A Critical Examination of Existing Studies and the Development of an Integrated Research Model , 2007 .

[12]  Linda Klebe Trevino,et al.  The Social Implications of Punishing Unethical Behavior: Observers' Cognitive and Affective Reactions , 1992 .

[13]  Linda Klebe Trevino,et al.  Corporate Ethics Practices in the Mid-1990s: An Empirical Study of the Fortune 1000 , 2013 .

[14]  Knut Bleicher.  Normatives Management : Politik, Verfassung und Philosophie des Unternehmens , 1994 .

[15]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[16]  María de la Cruz Déniz Déniz,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility and Family Business in Spain , 2005 .

[17]  C. C. Verschoor,et al.  A Study of The Link Between a Corporation's Financial Performance and Its Commitment to Ethics , 1998 .

[18]  Cuno Beat Pümpin,et al.  Management der Unternehmensentwicklung : phasengerechte Führung und der Umgang mit Krisen , 1991 .

[19]  Matjaz Mulej,et al.  Requisitely holistic ethics planning as pre-condition for enterprise ethical behaviour , 2010, Kybernetes.

[20]  Mojca Duh,et al.  Core Values, Culture and Ethical Climate as Constitutional Elements of Ethical Behaviour: Exploring Differences Between Family and Non-Family Enterprises , 2010 .

[21]  P. Bryant,et al.  Self-regulation and moral awareness among entrepreneurs , 2009 .

[22]  John Dalla Costa.  THE ETHICAL IMPERATIVE , 1998 .

[23]  Emrah Acar,et al.  Organizational culture: the case of Turkish construction industry , 2007 .

[24]  Linda Klebe Trevino,et al.  Moral Person and Moral Manager: How Executives Develop a Reputation for Ethical Leadership , 2000 .

[25]  Karren Kowalski,et al.  The power of storytelling. , 2003, Nursing outlook.

[26]  Diana C. Robertson,et al.  Corporate Ethics Initiatives As Social Control , 1997 .

[27]  Avshalom M. Adam,et al.  The Methods Used to Implement an Ethical Code of Conduct and Employee Attitudes , 2004 .

[28]  Janet S. Adams,et al.  Codes of Ethics as Signals for Ethical Behavior , 2001 .

[29]  Mojca Duh,et al.  The Influence of a Family on Ethical Behaviour of a Family Enterprise , 2009 .

[30]  Eighty exemplary ethics statements , 1998 .

[31]  Stefano Pogutz,et al.  Developing corporate social responsibility : a European perspective , 2006 .

[32]  Thomas L. Wheelen,et al.  Strategic Management and Business Policy , 1983 .

[33]  Polona Tominc,et al.  The Importance of Family Enterprises in Transition Economies , 2009 .

[34]  Gene R. Laczniak,et al.  Curbing Corporate Crime: Managerial and Ethical Implications of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations , 1999 .

[35]  Patrick E. Murphy,et al.  Corporate ethics statements: Current status and future prospects , 1995 .

[36]  Matjaz Mulej,et al.  Enterprise ethical climate changes over life cycle stages , 2009, Kybernetes.

[37]  Jeff Allen,et al.  The Ethical Context of Entrepreneurship: Proposing and Testing a Developmental Framework , 2002 .