CORPORATE ETHOICS PROGRAMS AS CONTROL SYSTEMS: INFLUENCES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

摘要

Our study asked why corporations introduce formal programs to manage ethics and why those programs display varying characteeristics. We used control theory to delineate an ethics program's scope and its orientation toward compliance- and valuesbased control. Managerial choice theory suggests that environmental factors and management's ethical commitment will influence these dimensions. Environmental factors were the stronger infleunces on scope, but management commitment was the stronger deterinant of control orientation. Reasearch and policy implications are discussed.