The Role of Top Management in Institutionalization of Business Ethics

Even though it has been around more many years, many people believe that business ethics is a recent concept because of increased attention to the topic in management literature. Business ethics was written about even 2,000 years ago at least since Cicero wrote about the topic in his "On Duties." Nonetheless, business ethics has become a serious challenge for businesses because of bribery, insider trading, corruption, nepotism, abuse of power, fraud, and financial scandals in recent years. Particularly, an ethical business is more likely to build a good reputation, which is more likely to bring financial rewards over the long term. In this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the role of top management in the institutionalization of business ethics. In particular, it discusses ethics, business ethics, the importance of business ethics, the ethical intentions of managers in global scale, and the role of top management in institutionalization of business ethics.