Fostering a culture of business ethics: a roadmap for responsible management through codes of ethics based on the experience of Spanish companies

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the role of the code of ethics as a critical element of responsible management and posits it as a tool that integrates ethics, sustainability and attention to stakeholders. This proposed tool can be a facilitator of integrated management of these dimensions. Design/methodology/approachA survey was developed to answer the research questions, and descriptive and factor analyses were carried out. A non-probabilistic sampling technique, purposive sampling, was used. The survey, sent by e-mail, was addressed to managers and decision makers of Spanish companies belonging to associations explicitly committed to corporate social responsibility and ethics; 73 questionnaires were answered. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 26.0 software. FindingsThe findings highlight that companies that are showing leadership in ethical management are using their codes of ethics as a key instrument in the business ethics strategy. Codes of ethics go beyond being a guide to ethical conduct to being an instrument at the service of stakeholder relations, sustainability and ethics. The keys that these companies agree on are the design of participative processes of responsible management, the multidimensional content of their codes of ethics and a code management oriented to generate a proactive ethical culture in the company. Practical implicationsThis paper proposes a series of recommendations that may be useful to all those companies that wish to promote effective and integrative ethical management through their code of ethics, as much as if they already have one, as they are developing it. Originality/valueThis research highlights the role of code of ethics as an integrative tool for ethics, sustainability and stakeholder responsibility. For that, the keys that these companies agree on are the design of participative processes of responsible management, the multidimensional content of their codes of ethics and code management oriented to generate a proactive ethical culture in the company.