Codes of ethics in corporate Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine and describe the use of codes of ethics in the top 100 companies operating in the Swedish corporate sector. This paper reports on the responses of those companies that possessed a code of ethics.

Design/methodology/approach – A three-stage research procedure was used. First, a questionnaire was sent to the public relations managers of the top 100 companies operating in the Swedish corporate sector (based on revenue). Companies were asked to answer up to 29 questions and to supply a copy of their code of ethics. The second stage involved content analysis of the codes of ethics supplied by survey respondents. The third stage involved a more detailed follow-up of a smaller group of firms that appeared to be close to best practice. Findings for Stage 1 of the research are reported in this paper. The areas of questioning were: how common are codes of ethics? Who was involved in the development of these codes? What are the reasons for the codes? How are they implemented? Do companies inform internal and external publics of the codes? What are the prescribed benefits of the codes?

Findings – It would appear that business ethics has only recently become a topic of interest in corporate Sweden and that many companies are in the early stages of code development and assimilation into company policies. The incidence of codes in the population (of 100) suggested by this survey (56 per cent) is lower than a US study finding (in 1995) that over 84 per cent of comparable US companies had codes of ethics. It would appear that Sweden today lags behind the US situation of 1995. When one investigates the special measures to support the inculcation of ethical values at the organizational level, there appears to be some shortfall. The supporting measures of ethics committees, ethics training committees, ethics training, ombudsman, an ethical audit and procedures to protect whistleblowers appear to be under-utilized in companies that possess codes. This lack of utilization tends to suggest that companies in Sweden, as yet, either have not developed a high commitment to supporting business ethics in their corporations, or they may have developed other methods to support their codes in their organizations that they view are as beneficial as the traditional methods practised in other western industrial democracies.

Research limitations/implications – This research was limited to internal ethical expectations. The commitment to business ethics is usually explored in terms of internal ethical expectations, but the simultaneous consideration of the external ethical expectations in the marketplace (e.g. among suppliers and customers or other publics) is desirable. A dyadic approach considering a company's internal ethical expectations and the external ethical expectations of a company's business activities may give a more balanced and in-depth approach.

Practical implications – Evidence is now available to show that codes of ethics are well developed in many of Sweden's largest corporations: organizations that, from their responses, appear to see a diverse range of benefits in developing the area of business ethics. Companies are beginning to implement not only a code of ethics, but other complementary initiatives that reinforce the need for the culture of the organization to be ethical. Codes of ethics are perceived by organizations to have assisted them in their dealings in the marketplace and many companies use their ethical values to underpin their strategic planning process. It appears that many companies now see the formalisation of business ethics as an integral part of their commercial practices.

Originality/value – This study is the first one of its kind on codes of ethics in corporate Sweden. It will enable all sectors of Swedish business to benchmark their efforts against the major companies in the Swedish corporate sector.

A public sector scale for codes of ethics classification

This article examines the results of a study conducted of the top 100 public sector units in Sweden. These units comprise 40 entities of government, 40 municipalities, and 20 county councils. The aim of the study was to examine and describe the codes of ethics in these Swedish public sector units. This research reports on the responses of 27 public sector units that possessed a code of ethics. The principal contribution of this work is a customized PUB SEC-scale to measure and evaluate the content of codes of ethics artefacts in public sector units. The PUB SEC-scale differs to a large extent from the current private sector-scales (PRlSEC-scales) in literature, due to the specific characteristics of the public sector.

The use of codes of ethics in the corporate marketplace: the case of Australia and Sweden

Business ethics is a subject that recently has been thrust again into prominence in industrialised economies around the world, due to the revelations of the practices of some of the major corporations operating within the USA. In Australia, corporate collapses such as HIH and Onetel and in Sweden, the scandals with the top executives of Skandia and also Systembolaget have brought in to sharp focus that these practices are not confined to the USA. Since the early 1960s, codes of ethics have been in evidence in many organisations in the USA, whilst in Australia, as in Britain, the interest in codes of ethics was piqued by the stock market crash of 1987. In Sweden, however, this concept of the use of codes of ethics in the corporate sector had not been investigated prior to this study. This paper examines the use of codes of ethics in the marketplace by the top companies operating in corporate Australia and corporate Sweden. The outcome of this research shows that in both Australia and Sweden that large organisations indicate a substantial interest in codes of ethics and value the use of their codes in the marketplace. There are, however, differences in the ways that the companies in each country implement their codes of ethics in the marketplace and the benefits that they see as being derived from them.

Codes of ethics in Sweden's largest public sector organizations : communicating the intent of the code within the organization

The aim of the study was to examine the ways that public sector organizations in Sweden communicated the intent of their codes of ethics to their employees. Primary data was obtained via a self-administered mail questionnaire distributed to a census of the top 100 organizations.

The study identified a range of methods used by organizations to integrate the ethos of codes into corporate culture. These methods included communication of the code, company induction of new staff, consequences for a breach of the code, ethical performance, an ethics ombudsman, the support of whistleblowers, a standing ethics committee, ethics education, and an ethics education committee.

Whilst many organizations have instituted ethical behaviour initiatives, activities specifically targeted at exposure, education and support for staff to perform ethically were found to be underdeveloped.

Implementation, communication and the benefits of corporate codes of ethics in Taiwan and Turkey : a comparison across contexts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the corporate codes of ethics (CCE) that are put in place by companies in Taiwan and Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach – This study examines the use of CCE among the top companies in Taiwan and Turkey. It is a replication of a study performed in Australia, Canada and Sweden and a follow-up study.

Findings – The empirical findings show many similarities with top companies in Australia, Canada and Sweden, but more importantly identify key differences distinctly unique to each of the two countries under investigation. Statistical analysis suggests that the implementation, communication and benefits of CCE are paramount to Turkish companies operating in a domestic environment where the aspiration to participate globally and join the European Union is high, whereas in Taiwan it is low in favor of more traditional business practices (similar to the Chinese concept of guanxi) that focus on individual relationships in favor of formalized regulatory frameworks (such as CCE).

Originality/value – This study makes a complementary contribution to the accumulated knowledge in the area of CCE, particularly given the cultural and historical differences these countries possess in comparison to each other and those previously studied and documented in the literature.

Examination of the codes of ethics artefacts in top Taiwanese companies

This study examines the use of codes of ethics artefacts among top companies in Taiwan. This research reports on the responses of those top Taiwanese companies that possessed a code of ethics. The empirical findings are compared to the findings of previous research. Top Taiwanese companies appear not to be drastically different from top companies in other countries in terms of the areas examined. Several similarities have been revealed. This study provides valuable insights into a previously unexplored corporate territory in terms of codes of ethics artefacts. Furthermore, it provides a seed and guidance for further research in other corporate cultures worldwide. Two parts of interest to business practices may be distinguished in terms of corporate codes of ethics artefacts, namely a regulatory one and one that supports staff. It also provides a valuable point of reference to previous research of corporate codes of ethics artefacts.

Comparing codes of ethics among the top companies in Australia, Canada and the USA

In the twentieth century, industrialized economies around the world enacted legislation to protect free and fair trade. These legislative initiatives were often precipitated by exposure to unethical business practices. With the fairly recent corporate business scandals around the world, ethics is once again at the forefront of concerns about commercial exchanges. This situation has become more complex with the globalization of commercial trade. Subsequently, there have been various attempts by international organizations to regulate the conduct of global corporations. One key technique to try to regulate the conduct of corporation is the use of codes of ethics. This study examines corporate codes of ethics and the measures in place to communicate the ethos of the codes to both internal and external stakeholders in three countries. A questionnaire that was non-sponsored and unsolicited was sent to the top companies operating in the private sector within Australia, Canada and the USA. Nine key areas of corporate ethics are examined and they are divided into two categories as follows:

Regulation
Consequences for a Breach
Ethical Perfonnance Appraisal
Conduct Ethical Audits

Staff Support
Support of Whistle blowers
Guide to Strategic Planning
Ethics Committee
Ethics Training Committee
Staff Training
Ethics Ombudsman.

Implementation, communication and benefits of public sector codes of ethics : a longitudinal study of Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation, communication and benefits of codes of ethics in the public sector of Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a longitudinal approach. It examines the ethos of codes of ethics in the largest public sector organizations of Sweden in 2001-2002 and 2005-2006.

Findings – Only a few of the largest public sector organizations in Sweden have indicated that they possess codes of ethics. This finding may be explained by the current judicial legislation that governs Swedish society. The public codes of ethics have been established both recently and, in part, years ago.

Research limitations/implications – A suggestion for further research would be to examine the implementation, communication and perceived benefits of public sector codes of ethics in other countries. Another area of further research would be to replicate the reported surveys in the future to examine the existence of potential trends.

Practical implications – When it comes to the perceived benefits of public sector codes of ethics there appears to be only minor acknowledgement of the code being used to resolve ethical problems in society. However, there is a strong conviction that the code of ethics positively influences the operations of public sector organizations.

Originality/value – The paper examines the ethical implementation, communication and benefits put in place by private companies to embed codes of ethics into their organizations.

Communicating the ethos of codes of ethics within the organization : a comparison of the largest private sector organizations in Sweden and Turkey

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine the ways that the largest private sector organizations in Sweden and Turkey communicate the intent of their codes of ethics to their employees.

Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were obtained via a self-administered mail questionnaire distributed to a census of the top 500 private sector organizations based on revenue in each country.

Findings – The research identified some interesting findings that showed that the small group of companies in Turkey that have a code may appear to be more “advanced” in ethics artifacts usage than Sweden. Such a conclusion is counter-intuitive as one would have expected a developed nation like Sweden to be more advanced in these measures than a developing nation such as Turkey. Culture may play a large role in the implementation of ethics artifacts in corporations and could be a major reason for this difference.

Research limitations/implications – As this is such a new area of investigation in Turkey, the responses amount to only 32 companies that have a code. The small sample is indicative of the formative evolution toward having codes of ethics within companies operating within Turkey.

Practical implications – This study enables those organizations that comprise corporate Turkey to view the current state of codes of ethics in Turkish companies and to compare these with the responses of a developed country of the European Union. Originality and value – A review of the literature indicates that this is the first time that such an international study specifically focused upon codes of ethics and the artifacts to inculcate the ethos of the code into every day corporate affairs has included Turkey as one of the participating countries.