Knowledge Management of Business Ethics in Lithuanian Companies

Abstract

The never-ending series of ethical scandals in companies in various industries across the countries show that business ethics problems are not diminishing, so means to develop business ethics need to be sought to better serve the interests of stakeholders and society. As in other areas of management, knowledge and understanding of business ethics need to be developed, knowledge accumulated, transferred and applied, and knowledge management models and processes can be applied to this in societal, associative, organizational, and individual levels. Therefore, the aim of the research is to evaluate business ethics knowledge management in order to suggest for companies relevant business ethics knowledge management solutions. The survey is conducted in the case of Lithuanian companies by the method of a quantitative questionnaire survey of companies’ employees. Although the companies demonstrate a high level of ethical knowledge of how to behave in a business environment, the study reveals some gaps in ethical knowledge management related to a mercantilist approach to knowledge management when business ethics knowledge is developed, consolidated, disseminated and applied when corporate representatives see it’s. benefits. However, there is a lack of systematic knowledge sharing and transparency, knowledge accumulation and understanding of how to put ethical knowledge into business in practice. The study show high importance of moral leadership and leading by example in knowledge management of business ethics.