South African corporate ethics codes: establishment and communication

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is on the top 500 companies in South Africa (as per the TopCo, 2014 list) that have a code of ethics, to see the current state of development in this area after 20 years of focus by the government and business on making corporate South Africa a more ethical environment, in which to conduct business. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire survey method was used to gather the data and it was directed to the company secretaries of these top 500 companies. Findings Many companies in South Africa have a well-established set of protocols to enact the ethos of their code of ethics, indicating that they are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits to them of having a code. South African companies are, therefore, implementing both a code of ethics and strategies that contribute to creating an ethical corporate culture. Research limitations/implications This study provides an opportunity to further research assessing and comparing other companies in non-Western and emerging economies. Practical implications After 20 years of endeavours by business people and lawmakers to improve the ethical framework of South African business, there is still plenty of work to be done, as so many top companies do not appear to have a code of ethics. Originality/value There have been limited studies in the area of business ethics in South African companies. This study is the first of its kind in the South African context and establishes the current practice 20 years after the King I report.

On the nexus between code of business ethics, human resource supply chain management and corporate culture: evidence from MENA countries

“…Elevated levels of faith within an organization have made it clear that it can reduce the risk and even decrease operational costs (Gungor and Aksoy, 2021). Moreover to that, elevated levels of belief depict a positive impact on workplace safety (Vallaster et al, 2019), success in the economy (Sharma and Sharma, 2013;Price and van der Walt, 2013), worker efficiency, organizational citizenship behaviors (Jermsittiparsert and Srihirun, 2019), satisfaction in the job (Roberts-Lombard et al, 2019) and generally better satisfaction and gratification (DeConinck, 2015). Above all that, elevated levels of faith in the organization can decrease workers coming and going (Ben Khaled et al, 2022), along with promoting organizational JICES 22,1 citizenship behaviors (Hwang and Chung, 2016).…”

“…Russell (2019) underscores that ethics’ code seems to be uniquely a bunch of principles regarding (un)ethical behavior but also comprises a set of core values, expected professional performance and rules to guarantee public safety. According to Roberts-Lombard et al (2019), corporate code ethics can offer guidelines for stringent ethical business practices. That is why a code of ethics can be considered a substantial step for boosting corporate ethical standards (Hasnas, 2013) and enhancing the ability of employees to be responsible in their actions (AL-Shboul, 2023; Price and van der Walt, 2013).…”

“…Liu et al (2019) reveal that the severity of the ethical issues and CC can be considered determinants for boosting ethical conduct in SCM. A strong CC in which employees can deeply know the importance of the ethical code might readily evolve and implement ethical codes among the SCs (Roberts-Lombard et al , 2019) and affect personal values (Verhezen, 2010). Adopting an ethical orientation enhances the company’s performance (Myer et al , 2016).…”

Code of Conduct for Top Management and Board: An Exploratory Study on Indian Listed Firms

“…In the 2010s, the researchers started focusing on the CCE of the firms from emerging markets as well. For example, Saygili and Öztürkoğlu (2017) and Roberts-Lombard et al (2019) studied the CCE of Turkish and South African firms, respectively.…”