The Relationship among Ethical Decision-Making by Individual, Corporate Business Ethics, and Organizational Performance: Comparison of Outstanding SMEs, SMEs, and Large Enterprises

Abstract

This paper is to examine the relationship among the ethical decision-making by individual, corporate business ethics, and organizational performance according to the reaction of employees in three groups: SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), outstanding SMEs (the Key Stone Award winners), and Large Enterprises. The purpose of the paper is to provide a reference for Taiwanese enterprises to evaluate the practice of business ethics.
The survey is in random sampling, 132 enterprises in the three groups. Among 1320 questionnaires, 524 are effective. The result to the survey can prove that the ethical decision-making by individual, corporate business ethics, and organizational performance are highly correlated. In other words, the higher level of business ethical performance and of the ethical decision-making by individual, the higher the organizational performance. In addition, there is a tendency that outstanding SMEs, comparing to SMEs, cannot ethically accept issues such as "padded expense account," "tax evasion," or "misleading advertising."