Exploring business ethics research in the context of international business

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to examine the scope, level and content of business ethics research in three leading international business (IB) journals: Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), Journal of World Business (JWB) and Management International Review (MIR). A subsequent examination of comparable themes published in the Journal of Business Ethics (JBE) is performed to establish commonalities and gaps on the topic of IB ethics between the leading IB journals and the leading business ethics journal.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 42 articles are identified in JIBS, JWB and MIR that are deemed IB ethics research, and 62 articles in JBE over the same timeframe. A content analysis of these articles is conducted.Findings – The main thematic clusters in the three IB journals are ethical judgment analyses, violation of laws and regulations, national moral environments, and corporate governance. Codes of ethics are an underlying issue across many of these themes but this is not expl...