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This paper aims to validate a broader conceptualization of ethical leadership and a matching measurement scale (BELS) using survey data from 909 public servants in leadership positions in the Netherlands.

The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (using AMOS) and exploratory factor analysis were carried out with repeated CFA. A social desirability scale was used to check for model fitness.

Our findings support the notion that ethical leadership is broader in conceptualization and hence reject the theories that limit the role of ethical leaders within the confines of organizations. This study confirms that attributes like sustainability, leadership learning, ethical competency, diversity and resilience are part of ethical leadership. Such characteristics could not be measured with previous scales for ethical leadership. Also, ethical leadership is not separate from associated leadership styles.

A self-assessment scale for leaders was used for this study. Although there is no indication of social desirability bias, future research can also focus on follower assessments of their leaders. This study only focuses on the public sector context only.

Our results suggest that ethical leadership contains more subvalues than in the seminal definition. This study has, therefore, corroborated a broader definition of ethical leadership.

This study indicates the need for ethical leadership to be studied and assessed using a broader conceptualization and measurement scale.

Examines whether internal auditors and management accountants have different personal ethical philosophies. Also examines the possible presence of intervening variables such as personal (i.e. age, gender, experience, education, professional certification and salary) or environmental factors (i.e. industry and corporate ethical environment). Data were obtained from questionnaires returned by 474 internal auditors (47.4 per cent response rate) and 558 management accountants (37.2 per cent response rate) located in the southeastern United States. The results indicate that significant differences exist between the ethical philosophies of internal auditors and management accountants. Of the other factors tested, only corporate ethical environment was found to be related to the ethical philosophies of the respondents.

The decision‐making process in business frequently involves ethical considerations. Although ethics often come down to personal decisions, those decisions ultimately affect the corporate image of an organisation. It has been shown that sound ethics are good for business, and therefore it is important that managers encourage their staff to recognise and to implement the company′s ethical priorities. This article looks at practical ways for managers to establish ethical priorities at three levels: an individual level, a group level and an organisational level. Each of these levels is explored, and the benefits and disadvantages of different action‐related strategies for encouraging an ethical awareness will vary among companies, industries and cultures – no single method is universally appropriate. However, all managers should consider how ethical standards can best be introduced and communicated throughout their organisation. Ethics is not just a “flavour of the month” – it is here to stay, and presents a challenge to all managers.

This viewpoint aims to highlight the necessarily technical nature of ethics in software development, propose a label (ethical bypassing) for ethical analysis that does not lead to ethical action and introduce a philosophical foundation for technical analysis that leads to ethical software development.

The methodological approach is one of technical analysis that is aware of social science and philosophical knowledge bases.

The findings establish a clear technical foundation that is crucial to ethical analysis that will actually inform software development.

The idea that beginning with technical expertise is the best way to begin ethical reflection on a technical implementation has been often suggested, but not really empircally tested. Research using cases or other qualitative approaches would need to be done to add credibility to the claim.

This approach suggests that collaboration between technically informed ethicists and ethically informed technical experts should begin with the exploration of the technical questions rather than with ethical speculation.

A common approach to ethical education is to concentrate on ethical theory and its application in technical contexts. This approach suggests that this may lead to ethical bypassing by the student, the avoidance of the making technical decisions by extensive ethical reflection.

This paper introduces a new term, ethical bypassing, to the literature on the ethics of software development.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview for senior managers of the strategic importance of ethical values in organisations working in the profit‐making and not‐for‐profit sectors.

The paper examines the principles involved and contrasts them with examples of unethical behaviour in the news at present. The paper presents the practical application of ethical business values through case studies from different organisations where ethical values are part of a positive strategy to achieve competitive advantage. There is an analysis of the case against and for ethical values, a discussion of how business ethics can be part of an organisation's strategy, the evidence that non‐executive directors and others may find of ethical behaviour in business decisions, a discussion of ethics in an international context and a short checklist of questions to provide readers with a guide to the “ethical health” of the organisation.

The arguments in favour of defining ethical values within business are persuasive.

There are examples from experience together with clear guidance about how to manage ethical values in business. Readers could start with the ethical health checklist of questions, decide how their ethical values statement, if any, compares with the examples in the papers, conduct an audit of an existing ethical strategy to identify if their values statement is being translated into behaviours throughout the organization, and test the impact of the ethical values strategy on the competitive position of the business.

The paper is educational and therefore provides value to senior managers and directors in a concise but comprehensive overview of the topic that is of current concern in the business world. It points to practical actions they can take in this respect. It could be a thought starter to managers discussing the topic at an away day for example, or for strategic leaders to discuss how to use ethical values to develop a competitive position.

Ethics have always played a crucial role in the realm of business and commerce. This paper aims to extract the principle factors of ethical practices to develop a model for competitive advantage in banking and to show the relation between ethical practice and customer satisfaction and the linked reason for satisfaction as a tool for competitive advantage.

Based on the literature review, ethical issues in banking have been identified as a foundation work. Then an empirical study using survey research has been completed. The survey questionnaire has been designed using the literature and pilot survey input. Factor analysis has been conducted to derive ethical factors for competitive advantage from the survey data, which included 186 responses. χ² tests were also carried out to show the linked relationship between ethical practice, customer satisfaction and reason for satisfaction.

From the analysis, two principle factors have been extracted: the cost leveraging factor; and the value leveraging factor which lead to competitive advantage. More over, it also revealed that high ethical practice results in high customer satisfaction and performance.

This study develops a guideline of competitive advantage for bank management through ethical practice.

The paper extracts how ethical factors create competitive advantage in banking and the linked reason of ethical practice and performance of banks which has not often received much focus from previous studies.

This study examines the relationship between ethical reputation, CEO compensation and firm performance for the top corporate citizens as rated by Business Ethics magazine. The results show that there was not a direct relationship between CEO compensation and firm performance, that a high level of CEO compensation combined with a high ethical reputation did not impact the financial performance of the firm, and firms with a high ethical reputation had only average financial results, while firms with low ethical reputations displayed both high and low financial performance. Furthermore, CEOs of unfirms had, on average, higher compensation levels than firms that were profitable. These findings bring useful inputs for CEO on how they can justify high levels of compensation even during periods when the firm is not profitable or has a low level of profitability. An interesting sidelight of the study is that three CEOs in the sample whose firms were profitable did not accept any compensation during 2002, probably because the financial performance was below expectations.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine if participation in a four-year ethics curriculum strengthened college students’ confidence in their own ethical reasoning ability. A longitudinal cohort of college students was followed over four years from their freshman (n = 779) to senior year (n= 545). Students’ confidence in their own ethical reasoning abilities were assessed before and after completion of the curriculum with results indicating an increase in students’ confidence.

The purpose of this study is to determine if members of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) use the IMA Code of Ethics in recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas. We accomplish this objective by examining the relationship between the IMA members’ rating of IMA code elements as “possible guiding principles” and IMA members’ ethical perception and judgment. This study also determines the relationships between IMA members’ personal ethical philosophy, corporate ethical values, age, and certification, and IMA members’ ethical perception and judgment. Thus the study uses an atomistic‐deontological approach to ethics as classified by Baker. The results indicate that a statistically significant relationship exists between IMA members’ rating of IMA code elements and IMA members’ ethical perception and judgment. Further, the study found only weak associations among IMA members’ ethical perception and judgment, and personal ethical philosophy, corporate ethical values, age and certification.

Aims to profile the ethical decision‐making foundations and referents which influence ethical decision making for small hotel operations in the USA. Reviews the precepts of egoism, benevolence and principle used as criteria in decision making and the main referent sources of individual, local and cosmopolitan used when applying these precepts. Research consisted of 1,500 operators in nine different regions and a response rate of 40 percent. The questionnaire consisted of the Ethical Climate Questionnaire plus demographic variables such as: gender, experience, education level, property type and position classification. Findings included: managers/owners mostly operate from an egoism perspective and an individual referent. Develops a model to explain these ethical precepts and referents.