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Amid public acknowledgment of recurring ethical violations in the volatile financial service industry, internal auditing (IA) professionals do not seem to have done enough to perform their professional responsibility as a line of defense for their employing organizations. This chapter explores whether changes in an IA approach can effectively enable IA as a practice to fulfill its governance role in managing “conduct risk,” i.e., any behavior in a firm that could cause problems to consumer protection, market integrity or competition. We examine the ethical implications of the existing compliance-based IA approach and explain its ineffectiveness in auditing conduct risk within a turbulent environment. Using action research, we explain the germane changes necessary to define a new conduct-focused IA approach capable of predicting and preventing ethical wrongdoing. A conduct-focused approach launches auditors into unfamiliar but strategically critical areas to not only identify material risks but also add value to their organizations. The authors further examine how a change in the auditor’s mindset and other factors promote the effectiveness of the new IA approach in a sustainable way. This chapter contributes to the literature by investigating how internal auditors can better fulfill their professional responsibility when adopting a conduct-focused approach.

Rapid technological change in the transport sector is leading to a growing range of potential and actual ‘business models’ deployable for the movement of goods and people. Two key uncertainties arise from this proliferation: first, concerning which ones can be economically viable, and, second, whether they can be both simultaneously economically viable and contribute to the imperatives of more sustainable mobility. The present chapter reviews and appraises the emergence of these new business models, drawing on both literature review and empirical research with entrepreneurs involved in the new mobility sector. Specifically, the potential of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN, n.d.) as a device to structure and frame the debate about what constitutes a valuable contribution to sustainable mobility is considered. A framework is developed which captures how mobility and transport have dependencies with the SDGs. From this analysis, key sustainability concepts are derived which have either a subsistence function (maintaining the basics of human life) or an enhancement function (enabling citizens to realise their potential whilst reducing impacts on the planet). Five different innovations involving mobility sector business entrepreneurship are then characterised using this framework to exemplify its ability to deconstruct and test claims that ‘smart mobility’ is also good for sustainability as well as good for business. It is concluded that the framework could contribute to a wider architecture of sustainability interrogation. It could promote discourse around a wide range of actors, posing questions and surfacing tensions and contingencies effectively, whilst providing a holistic, strategic assessment to inform more targeted, scientific evaluations of sustainability metrics.

Professional and corporate codes of ethics (Codes) are commonly used, but they are not consistently effective. Research has indicated the importance of values included in Codes, but there is little research exploring how to improve the effectiveness of Code values. There are proven pedagogies that can be used in ethics training, notably, the values-focused approach known as value self-confrontation (VSC). VSC comes from the field of psychology and has been researched for over 50 years. This theory-based methodology is effective at increasing the importance of targeted values and positively changing attitudes and behaviors. Based on our thematic review of extant VSC literature, we develop a simplified VSC implementation strategy and instrument called code value self-confrontation (CVSC). CVSC involves a self-confrontation between a participant’s personal values and the values of the organization. This confrontation can create value dissonance in the participant, which can increase the importance given to the values of the organization. VSC has been effective at positively impacting pro-organization behaviors as well as societal issues such as equality, race relations, and environmentalism. By increasing the importance of ethical values, organizations can be rewarded with behavioral changes that translate into more ethical work behaviors and decision-making.