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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.

This paper considers whether professional codes of ethics are enforceable, legitimate, and just. In analyzing codes of ethics in this way, one must consider whether they exist to benefit members of the profession, or society as a whole. The analysis shifts dramatically based on this question, as codes of ethics are typically created by members of the profession, not by representatives of the larger population, and where they are enforced, they are only enforced among members of the profession. However, professional codes of ethics have an impact on those outside the profession, or the larger society outside the smaller community that created them.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the presence of a code of ethics on the quality of auditors' judgments, within the context of the new International Standard on Quality Controls 1 (ISQC1).

A sample of 112 professional accountants and auditing students was employed to investigate the effect of the presence of a code of ethics (operationalised as the presence vs absence of an organisational code of conduct) on the quality of audit judgments, pertaining to an inventory writedown, using a 2 × 2 full factorial “between‐subjects” experimental design.

The results of this study indicate that the presence of a code of ethics has a positive impact on the quality of the judgments made by professional accountants, but not on students. This suggests that it is the code of ethics, in the context of greater general experience that leads to higher quality of judgments.

The results suggest that the requirements of ISQC1 are relevant to the quality control of accounting firms and have potential to positively impact the quality of audit performance.

This is the first paper to examine the impact of the presence of a code of ethics within an audit context. It is the first time that the interactive effects of the code of ethics and technical competency, which together form an integral part of standard‐setters' quality control standards, upon the quality of auditor judgments has been investigated.

Codes of ethics are a moral reflection centred on the duties and rights of a given profession that establishes the minimum moral standards required. These codes imply self-regulation and therefore an individual application on the conduct of professionals. In this chapter we reflect on the main values that guide PR practice based on Schwartz's theory of basic human values, which measures universal values that are recognised throughout all major cultures. A qualitative and quantitative content analysis was carried out of the codes of ethics of six national PR and communication associations and of the Global Alliance's code. The ethics codes were analysed to study the priorities of values stressed by PR professional associations and to highlight the motivational values that may be present in them. Findings show that values contained in the codes of ethics are based on a system of 32 human values; three of the values – the common good, integrity and truthfulness – are identified in all the codes; motivational values relating to universalism, benevolence and conformity are also covered to varying degrees in all the texts. It has been confirmed that the Global Alliance code is the only text that deals with the values of all the motivations described by Schwartz. The PR codes of ethics are based on a list of common ethical values of a collective nature, which are mostly contemplated by the Global Alliance; the main difference at the national level is that Latin countries include in their texts more principles of ethical universalism.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives and viewpoints of professional staff of the Sam Jonah Library in as much as the ethical aspects of their profession are concerned. The paper also seeks to determine the common ethical issues that confront these professionals and their default courses of action in dealing with these issues.

The descriptive survey design was used as the research methodology with the population of the study being all professional (post-graduate diploma and above) and para-professional (certificate, diploma and first degree) staff of the library. Due to the small number of professional staff (43) in the library, the census sampling technique was used.

Results indicated the existence of ethical dilemmas in the working lives of these professionals with guidance for dealing with these dilemmas emanating mostly from consultation of senior colleagues. Although the findings showed that the Ghana Library Association (GLA) had an ethics handbook, it was revealed that majority of the staff were not aware of its existence. It was also discovered that one of the major challenges of these professionals is the absence of a specific library code of ethics handbook to guide staff in case they are confronted with these ethical dilemmas. The study recommends a strong awareness creation initiative from the GLA to bring to the notice of members, the existence of a formal code of ethics document.

The paper provides information on specific ethical issues confronting staff of the library and their current modes of dealing with the dilemmas they encounter.

The purpose of this paper is to identify a shared set of professional values relevant to the special library professionals of India. This paper deals only with the process of compilation of a master list of relevant values which is a prerequisite for a survey to study preferences of values of the community of library professionals.

Review of literature, both Indian and international, and content analysis were undertaken to develop a set of common professional values relevant to the Indian special library professionals. Findings of empirical studies on core values and statements of core values of library associations provided the basis for identifying the values.

The final shortlisted 16 common core values relevant to the Indian special library professionals include: accountability, collaboration, confidentiality, copyright, cultural diversity, diversity of opinion, equality of access, information literacy, innovation, integrity, intellectual freedom, leadership, literacy, preservation of the record, professional neutrality and service. This master list of values has been derived from the merger of the lists of values derived from JOCLAI Code of Ethics and Koehler et al.’s list along with SLA’s statement of core values. This list can be also used with some modifications for study of preferences of core values of all sections of the Indian library professionals.

This paper is about an original initiative undertaken to develop a set of core values relevant to both the special library professionals and the Indian library professionals in general.

The purpose of this study was to examine the ethical perspectives of library and information science professionals prior to their entry into the profession.

The population consisted of 46 graduate students enrolled in a library and information science program during summer 2003. Three scenarios related to general, legal, and health ethical issues were used. Participants were randomly assigned to a scenario. First, they read the scenario and provided initial reactions. Second, they read the professional code of ethics related to the scenario. Finally, they re‐read the scenario and provided reactions based on the professional code of ethics.

The initial reactions of participants to the scenarios were similar to their reactions after reading and applying the assigned code of ethics. For example, participants initially reported that the library director should permit staff to attend the American Library Association conference in Toronto even with the SARS issue (85 percent), After reading the Health Sciences Code of Ethics, they selected promoting access to health information and working without prejudice to support their positions.

The findings of this study illustrate the influence of codes of ethics on students' ethical perspectives. Investigating the professional ethics of future library and information science graduate students is of value to students and faculty.

This paper investigates professional translation practice in Saudi Arabia with a particular focus on translation ethics. Following an examination of varying opinions and contentious concepts relating to translation, this paper suggests that Saudi Arabia should establish a code of ethics for translation services. It investigates the ethical challenges that translators encounter during their professional work and considers their responses to these challenges.

A quantitative methodology was adopted to collect data from forty participants. This self-completed survey uncovered 11 ethical dimensions that translators encounter during the translation process and the researchers used descriptive analysis to calculate the mean and standard deviation of their frequency and importance. Participants' responses to the multiple-choice questions were categorised as personal, professional ethics or sociopolitical activism, and their overall percentages calculated.

For all 11 dimensions, the mean scores fell in the mid-frequency range between 2.74 and 3.88, inferring that the respondents faced these ethical challenges neither particularly frequently nor infrequently. Regarding the importance rankings, the mean scores varied between 1.58 and 2.04, consistently lower than the experience frequency rankings, which indicates that these challenges were considered important regardless of their frequency. The majority (40.27%) related to professional notions of ethics, followed by personal ethics (35.22%) and sociopolitical and activist conceptions of ethics (24.14%), while less than 1% (0.37%) reflected mixed motivations.

The study's concept and methodology are both novel. The researchers believe that this is the first study to examine professional translation ethics in the Saudi context. Unlike most studies in this field, this study adopted a quantitative approach, thus calling for the development of an effective professional code of ethics for translators.

The absence of a formal code of ethics for librarians in Britain until 1983 meant that ethical values were passed on by example rather than precept. Increased interest in ethical issues in the 1970s, when the profession was seen as in crisis, resulted in discussions within the Library Association and a draft code was issued in 1981. Despite strong criticism of the draft, it became the basis of the formal Library Association code. It has seldom been tested as a disciplinary instrument. Renewed interest in ethical issues and the need for a Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) code, after the creation of the new organisation in 2002, have returned codes into the area of debate. It is suggested that a new code, rather than standing alone, might form part of a group of related codes from other organisations, all of which could be endorsed by CILIP. This would be intended to encourage ethical maturity in the profession, rather than simply acting as a basis for professional discipline.

This study aims to explicate the characteristics of ethical knowledge according to a knowledge management theoretical framework that conveys ethical knowledge as a form of tacit knowledge that is personal, subjective, intangible, and difficult to communicate to others.

The study is based on a survey with 350 public relations practitioners in the USA.

The findings show that ethical knowledge in public relations, as a professional construct, is tacit only to the extent that it is a personal body of knowledge grounded in individual actions and experiences, but it is explicit in that it is tangible and could be communicated and shared in the workplace. Age, work experience and the number of ethics courses taken in an individual's public relations career are some of the significant determinants shaping the public relations practitioners' conceptualizations of ethical knowledge.

The study reinforces the importance of a holistic approach to ethics, where structured and formal training programs and codes of ethics are supported directly by a congruence between formal initiatives and public relations professionals' personal values.

By explicating the characteristics of ethical knowledge and its implications on knowledge transfer of ethics in public relations, and in understanding the determinants shaping public relations professionals' conceptualization of ethical knowledge, this study offers an empirical contribution to an area of study that has received mostly normative and philosophical discussion.