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The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between formal ethics and ethics in practice in the empirical context of real estate agents (REAs) working in the residential housing market, including owner-occupied houses and owner-occupied apartments, in Sweden. The paper investigates problems with the Swedish middleman model of real estate agency with regard to the acceptance among REAs of borderline professional behavior.

We report on a survey distributed to all Swedish licensed residential REAs to investigate their attitudes towards eight scenarios displaying borderline ethical behavior. Firstly, the means of each scenario were calculated, investigating signs of distance between formal ethics and ethics in practice. Secondly, logistic regressions were run for each scenario separately, thereby investigating factors affecting misconduct among REAs.

The empirical results show a clear difference between formal ethics and ethics in practice and also illustrate that some scenarios of borderline ethical behavior are creating greater problems for the REAs.

In Sweden, the seller is the principal, assigning the REA to sell a house or apartment, but the regulation is clear on the role of the licensed REA as responsible for promoting an informed and fair sales process where the buyer is safe to act without their own representative. Our study contributes with information to policymakers on possible areas for the development of the middleman model.

The paper is the first to empirically investigate the middleman model of a Swedish real estate agency in relation to the business ethics of the agents. The use of scenarios in close relation to the everyday working context of REAs as tests of ethics of practice is also of original methodological value to investigate possible diversions of professionals from national regulations.

This paper seeks to deepen and improve our understanding of business ethics in services by developing a typology that reconciles and integrates disparate and often conflicting ideas and viewpoints while providing practical guidance for ethical decision-making.

The paper examines current theoretical approaches in ethics to provide an understanding of the ethical theories, how they have been applied and how they have evolved in businesses and marketing. It discusses conceptual issues related to ethical dilemmas and the available typologies.

Based on the axioms of the Triple-A Framework for Ethical Service Research, the Typology of Ethical Dilemmas in Services (TEDS) is proposed. The typology identifies three types of dilemmas based on four dimensions considering all service interactions guided by normative ethics (virtue, deontological and consequentialism).

The proposed DILEMMAS process illustrates the practical application of TEDS.

This paper extends the ethics and services literature by offering a novel theoretical and practical approach to addressing ethical dilemmas. TEDS is authentic, advances our knowledge and applies to all service organizations that aim to manage ethical dilemmas effectively.

This study aims to investigate the influence of two perceived organizational ethics systems (perceived ethics training quality and integrity-based climate) on the ethical decision-making (EDM) of tax accountants in Ghana. The study also examines the moderating role of the decision-makers’ financial situation on the quality ethics training–EDM relationship.

Survey data from 356 tax accountants were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique.

The results show that the two ethics systems influence EDM, but their extent of influence varies across the stages of EDM. Specifically, quality ethics training is a better predictor of EDM at the ethical issue recognition stage, whereas integrity-based climate is a better predictor of EDM at the ethical intention stage. The study also found that decision-makers’ financial situation predicts the ethical recognition stage of EDM but does not moderate the quality ethics training–EDM relationship.

This study recommends the concurrent deployment of quality ethics training and an integrity-based work climate to improve ethical behavior. Policymakers should also emphasize a work climate that promotes honesty, conscientiousness and ethical principles (integrity-based climate) to improve ethical intentions.

This study applied the interactionist theory by capturing the relative effects of two organizational ethics systems and an individual-level situational factor in a single model. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that tests the moderation effect of decision-makers’ financial situation on the ethics training–EDM relationship in a developing country context.

Research done to date has produced a wide range of perspectives that center on the junction between the specific function and responsibility of the entrepreneur when applying ethical dimensions to the field of entrepreneurship. By combining a bibliometric analysis with the literature review, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of entrepreneurship ethics and its contribution to sustainable development goals, along with future research directions on the topic of entrepreneurship and ethics.

The research looked for literature based on entrepreneurship ethics from the Dimension database. The authors accumulated 2,279 articles for the period of 2002–2022 for analysis. The authors used bibliometric analysis for analyzing the topic with the use of VosViewer and Excel.

By combining a bibliometric analysis with a literature review, this study aimed to provide an overview of the ethics and entrepreneurship and contribution to sustainable development goals. The most influential author and journal are Vanessa Ratten and the Journal of Business Ethics, respectively. The top sustainable development goals (SDGs) being contributed by entrepreneurship ethics are SDG4, SDG8, SDG16, SDG11 and SDG3. By contrasting these two interpretations, the authors have demonstrated that the entrepreneurship environment involves various ethical issues connected to personal, organizational and societal sectors.

The current study may serve as a general guideline for future investigation into this topic.

Regarding the practical ramifications, the findings can help entrepreneurs who are preparing to launch a business or are already doing so. The findings provide a comprehensive framework of success variables that must be considered to improve the venture’s performance.

This study’s originality is from presenting a structured and in-depth literature review that describes the current state of entrepreneurship ethics and its contribution to sustainable development goals. A complete analysis of the data gathered on entrepreneurship ethics is offered to establish that it is sustainable.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the mediating effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the relationship between organizational ethics and workplace incivility.

The study employed cross-sectional survey design. Data were obtained from 209 employees from the telecommunication sector. The structural equation model was employed as the analytical tool to test the hypotheses of the study.

Organizational ethics was negatively related to workplace incivility. Both transformational and transactional leadership styles mediated the relationship between organizational ethics and workplace incivility.

Human resource developers and managers can employ, appraise, train and develop managers who can ethically demonstrate transactional, and transformational leadership behaviors to deal with workplace incivilities.

The paper makes an important contribution to the existing organizational literature by establishing the relevance of transformational and transactional leadership styles as mediators of the nexus between organizational ethics and workplace incivility in the telecommunication sector.

This chapter addresses a significant topic in Algeria, namely the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), by examining the use of business ethics codes. In recent years, there has been growing interest among companies in implementing practices that can justify their CSR efforts, including the development of corporate business ethics codes. These codes play a crucial role in formalizing the integration of CSR strategies. In Algeria, several companies have adopted business ethics codes; one such example is the companies in the oil and gas sector, the leading oil industry company in Algeria. These companies have implemented a business ethics code to provide justification and guidance for their CSR practices. The main objective of this chapter is to demonstrate the commitment of companies to CSR through the development of their business ethics codes. It presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of the business ethics codes of Algerian companies in the oil and gas sector. The approach involved the development of an analytical framework with various criteria and an objective examination of the business ethics code to yield results that aligned with these criteria. The study concludes that the business ethics codes of these companies serve as sources of internal regulation that primarily address ethical concerns and reflects the existing Algerian regulations at the organizational level.

This chapter explores the vital connection between ethics and community development, underlining the fundamental role of ethical considerations in shaping fair, just, and sustainable communities. It begins by emphasizing that community development is inherently ethical and delves into the concept of ethics, examining ethical theories like consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics in the context of community development. Real-world case studies from diverse countries, such as South Africa, Australia, and India, are interwoven throughout the chapter to provide practical insights. These case studies illustrate the complexities of ethical implementation in community development, from navigating power dynamics to addressing conflicts of interest and balancing immediate needs with long-term sustainability. The chapter also explores macro-level considerations, highlighting the need for systemic change to create a more just and equitable society. It guides practitioners on integrating ethics into their work, establishing a strong moral framework for community development. Continuous learning, reflective practice, and adaptability are underscored as essential in responding to evolving societal contexts, norms, and challenges.

This research aims to explore the research data ethics governance framework and collaborative network to optimize research data ethics governance practices, to balance the relationship between data development and utilization, open sharing, data security and to reduce the ethical risks that may arise from data sharing and utilization.

This study explores the framework and collaborative network of research data ethics policies by using the UK as an example. 78 policies from the UK government, university, research institution, funding agency, publisher, database, library and third-party organization are obtained. Adopting grounded theory (GT) and social network analysis (SNA), Nvivo12 is used to analyze these samples and summarize the research data ethics governance framework. Ucinet and Netdraw are used to reveal collaborative networks in policy.

Results indicate that the framework covers governance context, subject and measure. The content of governance context contains context description and data ethics issues analysis. Governance subject consists of defining subjects and facilitating their collaboration. Governance measure includes governance guidance and ethics governance initiatives in the data lifecycle. The collaborative network indicates that research institution plays a central role in ethics governance. The core of the governance content are ethics governance initiatives, governance guidance and governance context description.

This research provides new insights for policy analysis by combining GT and SNA methods. Research data ethics and its governance are conceptualized to complete data governance and research ethics theory.

A research data ethics governance framework and collaborative network are revealed, and actionable guidance for addressing essential aspects of research data ethics and multiple subjects to confer their functions in collaborative governance is provided.

This study analyzes policy text using qualitative and quantitative methods, ensuring fine-grained content profiling and improving policy research. A typical research data ethics governance framework is revealed. Various stakeholders' roles and priorities in collaborative governance are explored. These contribute to improving governance policies and governance levels in both theory and practice.

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.

This study aims to identify causes of (un)ethical behaviour in research and how they influence adherence to research ethics.

The authors developed and tested a conceptual model that includes mediation and helps to understand the mechanism of adherence to ethical standards of research based on the “social judgment theory” (SJT). In Study 1, the authors conducted an exploratory study using the exploratory factor analysis technique to identify factors responsible for adherence to research ethics. In Study 2, the authors used SJT to provide support for establishing a relationship between key variables.

Two factors, “Proclivity to Egoism” and “Proclivity to Emotivism”, were identified based on the personal beliefs of researchers. These factors were found to play an important role in determining the tendency towards adherence to standards of research ethics (Belmont Report and COPE). SJT successfully explains the mechanism of adoption of ethical standards. Adherence to Belmont principles was seen to mediate relationship between factors identified and tendency to adhere to COPE.

Majorly, this study is unique as it establishes and guides to incorporate researchers’ point of view in formulating ethical standards and guidelines, apart, from various other important theoretical and societal implications.