Business Ethics Perceptions of Working Adults: A Study in Thailand

Lam D. Nguyen, Kuo-Hao Lee, Bahaudin G. Mujtaba and Sorasak Paul Silanont
Additional contact information
Lam D. Nguyen: College of Business, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA, USA
Kuo-Hao Lee: College of Business, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA, USA
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba: H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Sorasak Paul Silanont: Webster University Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand

International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management (IJABIM), 2014, vol. 5, issue 2, 23-40

Abstract: Businesses nowadays face urgent demands to act ethically and socially responsibly. Some believe that ethically responsible companies design and use corporate governance that serves all stakeholders' interests to achieve competitive advantage and maintaining ethical behavior is very important through corporate governance. Thus, an ethical business environment is critical and ethical behavior is expected of everyone in the modern workplace. Companies devote many resources and training programs to make sure their employees live according to the high ethical standards. This study used Clark and Clark's (1966) Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) measure to examine the relationship between gender, age, management experience, ethics course taken, and ethics training to ethical maturity of Thai working adults. This research surveyed 236 Thai working adults to measure their Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES). Statistically significant differences were found in the variables of ethics course taken and ethics training. Gender, age, and management experience, however, did not lead to any significant differences. Consequently, Kohlberg's Cognitive Moral Development theory regarding ethical maturity is partly supported since respondents with more ethics education and training have higher business ethics scores than those without ethics education and training. In this study, Thai background and cultural dimension, as well as literature on moral development and ethics, are presented along with practical applications, suggestions and implications for educators, managers, and employees.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve. ... 18/ijabim.2014040103 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:igg:jabim0:v:5:y:2014:i:2:p:23-40

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management (IJABIM) is currently edited by Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos

More articles in International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management (IJABIM) from IGI Global
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journal Editor ().