Ho, C M F (2013) Communication makes a corporate code of ethics effective: Lessons from Hong Kong. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(2), pp. 128-137. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Ten years after the start of a major business ethics campaign spearheaded by the Hong Kong Ethics Development Centre and the Hong Kong Housing Department in 2001, the relationships were examined between different methods of communicating the corporate code of ethics within a particular organization and the attitudes of the employees toward that code. An attitude survey was employed to identify the relationships. Some communication methods were more effective in influencing employee attitudes than others. Use of informal communication channels together with formal sources of information were generally more highly valued by employees. Employees considered that they received less ethics-related information than they actually needed irrespective of whether the channel of communication was formal or informal. A corporate code of ethics must be communicated in the correct manner if it is to influence the ethical behavior of employees.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communication; corporate code of ethics; ethics management; Hong Kong construction industry |
| Index terms: | housing, ethical behaviour, survey, business ethics, construction industry, employee attitude, communication method, ethics, Hong Kong |
| Subjects: | Geography, professional development, management, industry analysis, construction type, data collection methods, professional practice, ethical practice, ethical issues |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Ethics, Construction Technology, Information Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here