Bank Ethics: An Empirical Investigation of the Banking in China

Business ethics is considered critical for the reputation and competitive power of banks, especially in China after WTO Entry. This study applied the theory and research on ethical practices of successful managers and ethics control mechanisms to identify the ethical climates that result in ethical behaviors in the banking. 141 employees from different banks in Shanghai, China, completed measures of all scales in the survey. The results support the theorizing of the value of well-formed business ethics in the banking in China. The correlation and structural equation analysis suggests that ethical practices of successful managers and ethics control mechanisms of banks reinforce three ethical climates of ‘service’, ‘law and rules’ and ‘caring’ that promote the ethical level of employees, and the independence and instrumental climate on the contrary. This study also found that there are three ethics control mechanisms most commonly used in the banking and ethics-focused reward system is believed to be a mostly effective one by the employees of banking in China.