Can codes of ethics really produce consistent behaviour?

Abstract

The paper investigates the effectiveness of codes of ethics to influence the behaviour of employees. Vignettes are not part of the methodology as the core data come from the direct observations of behaviours reported by 25 top managers and 545 employees from eight large Australian enterprises. One aim of the research is to measure the consistency of the obserued behavioural patterns among employees and to investigate the possible association of high consistency with particular ethics strategies. The research models are based on medians and tallies of percentage frequencies of behavioural patterns. Two matters of importance are concludedfrom the investigation. First, there is no discernible association between the consistency ratings of the enterprises and their particular strategies in ethics. Second, the analysis suggests that the strongest ethical culture affecting behaviour in the respondents comes from an external, shared source.