Developing a framework for determining when a company should introduce a new ethical norm

Abstract

When should a company introduce a new ethical norm? This article uses the value‐belief‐norm theory to argue that the more an ethical issue threatens a company's ethical value and the more the company has an ethical responsibility to protect such value against such threat, then the more desirable it is for a company to establish ethical norms to protect said value. Distinguishing seven characteristics of an ethical issue and four conditions for a company's ethical responsibility helps identify the situations in which a company should introduce a new ethical norm. The resulting framework, with corresponding guidelines, specifies two accelerators and one inhibitor that influence the desirable speed for introducing new norms.