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German ethical banks have experienced a significant increase in customers, deposits, and lending. They aim to establish a fairer banking system. But the simultaneous pursuit of social, ecological, and economic goals leaves them vulnerable to conflicting orders of worth. The authors examine the normative foundations that ethical bank employees refer to when they describe their everyday practices and identify the specific problems that arise from negotiating between moral principles and economic demands to provide insights into the impacts, constraints, and paradoxes of normatively oriented business practices. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the sociology of critique, the authors assume that moral categories, social processes of interpretation, and justification are an essential part of markets. Ethical banking is characterized by the need to meet both market-limiting and market-expanding requirements, and this particularly becomes contentious when dealing with economic growth. By analyzing ethical banks’ freely accessible documents, the authors first outline the institutional guidelines. In a second step, the authors analyze 27 qualitative interviews with employees of ethical banks to gain insights into everyday lending practices and action-guiding normative orientations. The goal of this chapter is to examine the tensions that may arise from applying normative guidelines under the condition of increasing economic requirements and to disclose the way that ethical banks negotiate between mechanisms of expansion and limitation. The analysis of this chapter points out a paradox of ethical banking: due to the banks’ economic expansion, investments corresponding to their ethical commitments tend to become a luxury they cannot afford.

The internet offers an opportunity for researchers to engage participants in research in a cost-effective and timely manner. Yet the use of the internet as a research tool (internet research) comes with a range of ethical concerns, and the rapidly changing online environment poses challenges for both researchers and ethics committees. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the key ethical issues of using the internet to recruit, retain and trace participants in public health research, from the perspectives of researchers and human research ethics committee (HREC) members.

This study employed a qualitative design using semi-structured interviews with eight public health researchers and seven HREC members in Australia to explore the key ethical issues of using the internet to engage research participants.

The study identified commonalities between researchers and HREC members regarding the utility and ethical complexity of using the internet to recruit, retain and trace research participants. The need for guidance and support regarding internet research, for both groups, was highlighted, as well as the need for flexibility and responsiveness in formal ethical processes.

This research contributes to the understanding of how the internet is used to engage participants in public health research and the ethical context in which that occurs. Supporting the ethical conduct of internet research will benefit those involved in research, including researchers, HRECs, organisations and research participants.

International development and humanitarian work, including research and evaluation practice, relies upon the development of strong and trusting relationships between practitioners, researchers, local partners and communities. Due to these relationships, research conducted in developing countries and particularly in relation to development practice raises distinct ethical issues and dilemmas. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the importance of the consideration of ethics in international development and humanitarian research and how organisations can incorporate a culture of ethical inquiry into research and evaluation practice. It will highlight that good intentions and policy documents are alone not enough for when practitioners are working in development. It will also examine how principles and guidelines drafted expressly for and by the Australian international development sector is being used as a facilitator of ethical inquiry and good practice.

This study aims to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of PhD students in India regarding research ethics and institutional review boards (IRBs), assess awareness levels, identify training gaps, examine ethical priorities and understand challenges in the IRB application process.

A quantitative approach was used, and a self-evaluator questionnaire was distributed electronically to PhD students. Data collection occurred between 1 March 1 and 30 March 2024, with analysis conducted using SPSS software.

The study reveals a significant gap in formal training on IRB procedures within PhD programs and challenges in completing IRB applications despite recognising ethical priorities such as informed consent and confidentiality.

This study provides insights into PhD students’ perspectives on research ethics and IRBs in India, highlighting the need for enhanced education and awareness initiatives to promote responsible conduct and safeguard research participants.

This paper aims to explore the ethical perspectives surrounding adopting metaverse technologies in libraries. It focuses on critical areas such as privacy, security, intellectual property, accessibility and equity, providing insights into the challenges and opportunities these technologies present for library services.

This study uses a theoretical analysis of existing literature and ethical frameworks related to digital privacy, intellectual property and digital inclusion. Drawing on prominent theories and guidelines, this paper examines how libraries can navigate the ethical implications of integrating metaverse technologies into their services.

Integrating metaverse technologies into libraries presents significant ethical challenges, including protecting user privacy and security, managing intellectual property rights and ensuring equitable access and inclusion. Libraries must develop comprehensive ethical guidelines, invest in robust data protection measures and advocate for digital inclusion to address these challenges effectively.

This paper comprehensively analyzes the ethical implications of metaverse technologies in libraries, highlighting the need for tailored ethical guidelines and practices. It contributes to the ongoing discourse on digital ethics in library services and offers a framework for libraries to responsibly navigate the complexities of virtual environments.

This paper explores the question of whether the identification of many wrongdoings in an organisation requires knowledge of the technical and operating mechanisms of that organisation. If such is the case, many ethical problems cannot be resolved by a generalist. They must be left to people with knowledge of that industry. In attempting to answer the question, the paper examines 11 different types of organisations. It then asks how the ethical issues in those organisations might be resolved. The organisations are veterinarians, pharmacies, media companies, engineering firms, doctors, general businesses, including two sub disciplines, marketing and accounting organisations, nursing institutions, political parties, scientific research organisations, legal firms and information technology companies. Each can be a small professional company, locally based, or a large organisation, possibly international. Each exhibits one or more ethical problems that are not easily resolved by accepted ethical theory. Accepted theory, as further defined in the text, is the mainline ethical theories that would be core components of most ethics texts or courses. The question arises then on how would ethics be taught if the ethical issues require specialised knowledge of that industry sector. After examining the 11 industries, the paper puts forth two views. One is that a number of wrongs can be identified in industries and organisations where the ethical problems are complex and difficult to resolve, and where the standard ethical theories are of little or no help. Resolving these issues requires action from the organisation, or from the industry association encompassing all companies within that sector. A further complication has developed in the near explosive growth in whistleblower protection systems. These systems, now introduced in close to 30 countries around the world, have their own lists of wrongdoings for which the whistleblower will receive administrative and legal support. These lists of wrongs are distinct from any moral theory One conclusion to be drawn is that new methods possibly need to be found for teaching the identification and resolution of ethical issues. A second is a consequence of the first – that the teacher of ethics in these courses has to be drawn from within the industry. Further questions then arise: One is whether this demand then requires that this industry specialist learn moral theory? A second is then how would generalist applied ethics causes be taught (in humanities departments for instance)? Alternate viewpoints on joint teaching by a moral specialist and an industry specialist have been put forward. The paper puts forward one possible approach for the industry courses – that the industry specialist has to present the course, with new methods and content, but that a theoretical content is taught by someone knowledgeable in ethical theory. For generalist courses, the moral theorist has to include a sufficiently wide sample of industry and organisational ethical issues to ensure that students are aware of the wide range of ethical concerns that can arise, as well as approaches to resolving them.

This paper aims to assess the ethical disclosure of Islamic banks (IBs) under different accounting regimes and to ascertain whether the adoption of an Islamic accounting standards (Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions [AAOIFI]) promotes the practice of ethical disclosure.

An ethical identity disclosure index was developed to serve as a benchmark to assess the level of the communicated ethical identity disclosure (CEID) of 47 IBs over 18 countries using annual reports.

The findings suggest that, overall, there is poor ethical disclosure practices and even banks that had some initiatives towards disclosures had no proper reference to benchmark for effective implementation of ethical reporting standards and had no plans for ethical and socially responsible schemes. There was no evidence to suggest that IBs that adapted the religious-based accounting regime (AAOIFI) had better levels of ethical disclosure.

Though poor practices of CEID are expected to increase reputational risks and the likelihood of loss of religious conscious customers and investors’ confidence and therefore market share and performance in the long-term, the current practice does not concur with this expectation. Furthermore, since there is no evidence to support the notion that the adoption of AAOIFI standards would support greater initiatives towards level of ethical identity disclosures, a mandatory requirement for effective disclosure through enforcement of AAOIFI’s financial reporting standards, specifically with regard to ethics and social and environmental commitment is needed.

In addition to introducing commonly accepted regulatory and supervisory guidelines and best practices that cater for the specificities of Islamic banking could significantly improve the level of CEID of IBs. In addition, the standardization of ethical (non-financial) reporting practices of IBs through guidelines and key performance indicators will facilitate CEID practices of IBs.

This paper contends that for Islamic bankers, ethics is an entrenched part of the business practice and should mitigate unethical behaviour, more so with the additional filter of Sharīʿah supervisory boards. Even if there are such practices due to ineffectiveness of Sharīʿah committees, management pressure to meet performance expectations and competitive pressures from peers in the conventional banking sector, it will not be in the interest of the banks to report them.

The purpose of this paper is to propose guidelines for business enterprises engaging with indigenous communities to protect their intellectual property rights, particularly indigenous art works produced for the souvenir industry.

Literature on indigenous art and souvenirs demonstrating exploitation of indigenous communities’ intellectual property was facilitated by a lack of knowledge of how to otherwise behave. The proposed guidelines for commercial entities wishing to engage ethically with indigenous communities draws on international exemplars.

A twelve‐point framework for ethical commerce in indigenous souvenirs between indigenous communities and businesses is proposed to ensure populations lacking economic and social power are not disenfranchised by limited experience in a market society.

The proposed guidelines contribute to achieving reconciliation between mainstream and indigenous people in various countries throughout the world.

This paper assists development of guidelines enabling ethical decision‐making in the souvenir industry applying a critical approach to the principles of corporate responsibility.

A need for increased attention to the ethical issues of organizational development has been voiced, and unless greater attention is given to ethical issues and problems, the continued potency of organizational development is in danger. While many disciplines train organizational development agents (e.g., psychology, sociology, communication, marketing, business, education), a need for an interdisciplinary code of ethics exists. In addition to proposing an interdisciplinary code of ethics for organizational development agents, the present paper discusses the ethical conduct of data collection, results publication, and change recommendations in the context of organizational development.

Criminology and criminal justice research in Australia that involves Indigenous peoples or has an Indigenous focus currently needs to follow guidelines of the National Health and Medical Research Council National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (Updated 2018) and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Guidelines for Ethical Research in Australian Indigenous Studies (2012). However, neither of these documents specifically focus on research or evaluations in the criminology and criminal justice space, resulting in discipline-specific gaps. Drawing from both the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous and post-colonial literature on research ethics, our chapter focuses on three core questions: (a) What does ‘free, prior and informed consent’ to participate in research mean and how should it be obtained and operationalised in criminology and criminal justice research involving Indigenous peoples and communities? (b) What does the requirement that research be ‘for the benefit of Indigenous peoples’ mean in the context of criminal justice research? and (c) How can ethical guidelines ensure that Indigenous-focussed criminological and criminal justice research and evaluation enhance and support Indigenous peoples’ empowerment and self-determination?