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Codes of conduct have been adopted very broadly on both sides of the Atlantic in the last two decades. They have been introduced for both elected representatives and appointed officials. Though the accountability mechanisms vary, elected politicians prefer self-policing and enforcement. For appointed officials who carry out specialized functions with exposure to particular, clearly identifiable, ethical risks, where the need for public trust and confidence is great, it is important but also relatively straightforward to develop codes of practice. For generalist public servants, the situation is different. The range of ethical risk to which civil servants are exposed is broader. It is less easy to be specific about the risks involved.

This paper aims to unveil the general nature of virtual chat groups in multi-ethnic societies like Nigeria towards knowing whether and how diversity inclusiveness codes of conduct are encouraged and managed among virtual chat group participants.

Data in this research was collected via five virtual focus groups of five to eight discussants each and was complemented by virtual field surveys. Responses were validated through verification of registered personal mobile phone numbers. Each design was implemented to cover Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. The research was broadly framed – according to the uses and gratification theory, social inclusion hypothesis and utilitarian theory of ethics.

The research shows how virtual chat groups can enhance understanding of diversities. However, virtual chat-group outcomes are better managed if anticipated gratifications are predictable and based on the utilization of stated conduct codes.

Given Nigeria’s vast population, the sample size for this study is not adequate nor systematic enough towards generalizations. However, the diverse background of focus group discussants enhances the vista for understanding inclusive virtual chats in diverse societies. Moreover, the instruments of research data collection were validated.

This research points out that virtual chat groups’ codes of conduct are most effective when participants can anticipate collective gratifications. However, firmness and fairness in the implementation of code of conduct principles are essential for long-term virtual group chat sustenance.

Code of conduct principles are essential for the long-term virtual chat group sustenance. When this is achieved, some of the social problems of Nigeria may be solved, and the social, ethnic and religious differences may not hinder the proper development of the country.

The research exposes the nature and role of virtual chat group communication inclusivity codes of conduct amidst participants’ demographic diversity.

This paper explores different approaches to regulating corporate social responsibility (CSR) patterns of adopting codes of conduct, and discusses the approach that courts should embrace.

Case studies from various legal systems will be examined. The paper presents new typology relating to different patterns of the Corporate Social Performance (CSP) model, based on aspects of the CSR pyramid, namely, legislative CSR and ethical CSR. Legislative CSR includes adoption of thin codes which reflect compliance within current legal standards of the criminal code, while ethical CSR includes codes reflecting ethical norms and corporate social citizenship beyond mere compliance. The paper also includes the interplay of different patterns of CSR and three approaches to regulation regarding these patterns.

Both the Israeli negative CSR regulatory approach and the American legislative CSR regulatory approach present difficulties.

The paper introduces a theory for regulating CSR within criminal law, drawing on the pyramid of CSR. It presents an original discussion of distinct approaches to regulation of corporate liability, while further developing the institutional theory of CSR and the interplay of regulation and CSR. The paper suggests a novel solution regarding the regulation and acceptance of CSR: the granting of protection from criminal liability to corporations who adopt CSR.

This paper aims to focus on an analysis of industry‐based voluntary codes of conduct in the international arena with special reference to the operations of the global mining industry.

The paper examines the working of the mining industry's voluntary code of conduct, i.e. International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) sustainable development framework. The paper develops an analytical framework, which sets forth some of the necessary preconditions that must be met for such a code to be credible and effective in meeting societal.

An in‐depth analysis of the data produced by ICMM conclusively proved that the industry had substantially failed in meeting any of its objectives in terms of adequacy of principles, establishment and implementation of the framework, allocation of sufficient financial and human resources, and independent external monitoring for compliance verification. The result is that despite spending millions of dollars, industry has failed to gain any public credibility. Instead, industry's code effort is viewed with disdain as a largely public relations exercise.

The paper provides important lessons and specific guidelines that can help companies and industries in creating meaningful and effective codes of conduct. A failure to do so would exacerbate the problem of public distrust in the industry and would lead to greater restraints on the industry's modus operandi and opportunities for growth and profitability.

To protect information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and resources against poor cyber hygiene behaviours, organisations commonly require internal users to confirm they will abide by an ICT Code of Conduct. Before commencing enrolment, university students sign ICT policies, however, individuals can ignore or act contrary to these policies. This study aims to evaluate whether students can apply ICT Codes of Conduct and explores viable approaches for ensuring that students understand how to act ethically and in accordance with such codes.

The authors designed a between-subjects experiment involving 260 students’ responses to five scenario-pairs that involve breach/non-breach of a university’s ICT policy following a priming intervention to heighten awareness of ICT policy or relevant ethical principles, with a control group receiving no priming.

This study found a significant difference in students’ responses to the breach versus non-breach cases, indicating their ability to apply the ICT Code of Conduct. Qualitative comments revealed the priming materials influenced their reasoning.

The authors’ priming interventions were inadequate for improving breach recognition compared to the control group. More nuanced and targeted priming interventions are suggested for future studies.

Appropriate application of ICT Code of Conduct can be measured by collecting student/employee responses to breach/non-breach scenario pairs based on the Code and embedded with ethical principles.

Shared awareness and protection of ICT resources.

Compliance with ICT Codes of Conduct by students is under-investigated. This study shows that code-based scenarios can measure understanding and suggest that targeted priming might offer a non-resource intensive training approach.

Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.

Highlights similarities among the codes of ethics promulgated by professional societies in the United States such as The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), and the EDP Auditors Association (EDPAA). Takes the Code of Ethics of the Institute of Internal Auditors, an international professional association, as an example to demonstrate that most of the articles of professional codes do not reflect the cultural dimensions of Asian, European, and other countries. Since one single universal code of ethics may not meet the needs of an international group, international professional societies may wish to consider alternatives to incorporate in their codes of ethics, especially the cultural dimensions of other countries. Cultural differences often limit the effectiveness of a uniform international code of ethics because they create a lack of consensus within a profession as to what constitutes acceptable behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the contents of ethics codes from Spanish manufacturing companies disclosed on their corporate web sites. The analysis of these contents will reflect the main ethical concerns faced by Spanish organizations in the current business context.

A sample of companies listed on the Madrid Stock Market was used. The initial sample was made up of all the quoted companies. Firms belonging to the finance and insurance sectors were removed, leaving a final population made up of 117 corporations from different sectors. The Pearson's correlations were analysed to detect the sign of the relationships and some non‐parametric tests of mean differences – Mann–Whitney U and Wilcoxon W – were run to validate the statistical significance of the relationship.

The findings stress that the drawing up of codes in Spain is relatively recent and highlight that Spanish codes have received a dual influence. On one hand, they set out responsibilities and principles towards stakeholders and many of them reflect corporate social responsibility, as do many other European codes. On the other hand, their nature is mainly prescriptive and they set out desirable conduct for employees, as many US codes do.

From the analysis, it can be deduced that the main ethical concerns in Spanish corporations have to do with the adherence to law, protection of inside information, search for product quality and good relationships with customers and suppliers, conflicts of interests, the workplace and environmental issues.

This paper is the first study that examines the codes of ethics in Spanish corporations.

The purpose of this study is to explore the presence of ethical standards in the content of international hospitals codes of ethics disclosed in their websites.

Firstly, the focus is on developing an integrated framework of universal values and hospital responsibilities for the content of hospitals’ codes of ethics documents. A list of key ethical issues was determined through an examination of the American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics (2016), the WAMA (2017), International Code of Medical Ethics and relevant peer-reviewed journal articles (Finseschi, 1997; Vergallo, 2016; Suhonen et al., 2011; Reader et al., 2014). Based on the detailed literature review, 48 concepts, which were evenly, classified under two groups; professional conduct issues and patients’ rights. In the second stage, the issues were ranked related to professional conduct and patients’ rights from most to least frequent for the proposed conceptual framework, using World Global Hospitals codes of ethics.

It was found that only 62% of the top 100 hospitals have an ethics code report in their websites. The findings of the study have significant theoretical and practical implications. First, most of the hospitals’ ethical codes extensively emphasize professional conduct and patients’ rights, whereas they differ in what they include or exclude from their codes and the wording used. The number and frequency of the professional conduct issues is higher than patients’ rights. Emerging ethical issues, such as physicians’ and patients’ freedom of choice, sperm donation and artificial reproduction, were not widely mentioned, whereas abortion, euthanasia, human rights and transplantation issues were disregarded entirely.

This study provides a benchmark for hospitals to assess their codes against other hospitals’ codes in terms of the specific items they address.

The results of this study provide a benchmark for evaluating and developing ethical codes for hospitals in light of the international health standards and norms.

To the best of the knowledge, no previous study has theoretically or practically analyzed hospitals’ codes of ethics.