Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

Who Is Ethical?: The Code of Business Ethics in Korean Workplaces

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Corporate Social Responsibility in the Post-Financial Crisis Era

  • 1515 Accesses

Abstract

This study examines the presence of a code of business ethics across Korean workplaces. It uses neo-institutional theory and economic perspective to explain the presence of such a code. Based on data pertaining to 468 Korean workplaces, it uses a logistic regression model to identify the predictors of the presence of a code of business ethics. The findings suggest that Korean workplaces have a code of business ethics to respond to institutional pressures and to improve their market competiveness. The findings suggest, too, that even after the financial crisis of 1997, Korea still remains in the tradition of a strong state, a predicament which yields a difference between Korea and Western countries in terms of institutional arrangements among business and society.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baek, K. (2013). Corporate social responsibility department in Korean organizations. Survey Research, 14, 191–211 (In Korean).

    Google Scholar 

  • Baek, K. (2015). The diffusion of voluntary environmental programs: The case of ISO 14001 in Korea, 1996–2011. Journal of Business Ethics, 1–12. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2846-3

    Google Scholar 

  • Baek, K., & Kelly, E. L. (2014). Noncompliance with parental leave provisions in Korea: Extending institutional research to a new legal context. Law & Social Inquiry, 39, 176–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baek, K., Kelly, E. L., & Jang, Y. S. (2012). Work–family policies in Korean organizations: Human resources management and institutional explanations. Asian Business & Management, 11, 515–539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, J. N., Dobbin, F. R., & Devereaux Jennings, P. (1986). War and peace: The evolution of modern personnel administration in US industry. American Journal of Sociology, 92, 350–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baysinger, B. D., & Butler, H. N. (1985). Corporate governance and the Board of Directors: Performance effects of changes in board composition. Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 1, 101–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggart, N. W. (1991). Explaining Asian economic organization. Theory and Society, 20, 199–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delmas, M., & Montiel, I. (2009). Greening the supply chain: When is customer pressure effective? Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 18, 171–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobbin, F., & Sutton, J. R. (1998). The strength of a weak state: The rights revolution and the rise of human resources management divisions. American Journal of Sociology, 104, 441–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobbin, F., Sutton, J. R., Meyer, J. W., & Scott, R. (1993). Equal Opportunity Law and the Construction of Internal Labor Markets. American Journal of Sociology, 99, 396–427.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doh, J. P., & Guay, T. R. (2006). Corporate social responsibility, public policy, and NGO activism in Europe and the United States: An institutional-stakeholder perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 43, 47–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, L. B. (1990). Legal environments and organizational governance: The expansion of due process in the American workplace. American Journal of Sociology, 95, 1401–1440.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, L. B. (1992). Legal ambiguity and symbolic structures: Organizational mediation of civil rights law. American Journal of Sociology, 97, 1531–1576.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frumkin, P., & Galaskiewicz, J. (2004). Institutional isomorphism and public sector organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 14, 283–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gond, J.-P., Kang, N., & Moon, J. (2011). The government of self-regulation: On the comparative dynamics of corporate social responsibility. Economy and Society, 40, 640–671.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, G. G., & Biggart, N. W. (1988). Market, culture, and authority: A comparative analysis of management and organization in the Far East. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 52–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Han, J., & Koo, J. (2010). Institutional isomorphism and decoupling among Korean firms: Adoption of performance compensation system. Korean Journal of Sociology, 44, 27–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1977). The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 929–964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haveman, H. A. (1993). Follow the leader: Mimetic isomorphism and entry into new markets. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 593–627.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3, 305–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A. L., & Van Buren, M. E. (1996). Is bigger better? Explaining the relationship between organization size and job rewards. American Sociological Review, 61, 47–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kang, N., & Moon, J. (2011). Institutional complementarity between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: A comparative institutional analysis of three capitalisms. Socio-Economic Review, 10, 85–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, E. (2003). The strange history of employer-sponsored child care: Interested actors, uncertainty, and the transformation of law in organizational fields. American Journal of Sociology, 109, 606–649.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, E., & Dobbin, F. (1998). How affirmative action became diversity management employer response to anti-discrimination law, 1961 to 1996. American Behavioral Scientist, 41, 960–984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, E., & Dobbin, F. (1999). Civil rights law at work: Sex discrimination and the rise of maternity leave policies. American Journal of Sociology, 105, 455–492.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, E. M. (1997). Big business, strong state: Collusion and conflict in South Korean development, 1960–1990. Albany: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, C. H., Amaeshi, K., Harris, S., & Suh, C.-J. (2013). CSR and the national institutional context: The case of South Korea. Journal of Business Research, 66, 2581–2591.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knoke, D. (1994). Cui Bono? Employee benefit packages. American Behavioral Scientist, 37, 963–978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korea Press Foundation. Article search. Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://www.kinds.or.kr

  • Lee, Wonjae. (2005). The discover of strategic ethical management. Seoul: Samsung Economic Research Institute (In Korean).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, H. Y., Baek, K., & Jang, Y. S..(2007) The expansion of outside directorate in Korea: Agency control, resource dependency and neo-institutional perspective. Korean Journal of Sociology, 41, 27–66. (In Korean).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S. Y., & Rhee, S.-K. (2007). The change in corporate environmental strategies: A longitudinal empirical study. Management Decision, 45, 196–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2008). “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33, 404–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26, 117–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, P. (1974). Advertising as information. The Journal of Political Economy, 82, 729–754.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, C. (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16, 145–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne, D., Raiborn, C., & Askvik, J. (1997). A global code of business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 16, 1727–1735.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2006). The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 84, 78–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E., & Van der Linde, C. (1995). Toward a new conception of the environment-competitiveness relationship. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9, 97–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. (2013). Institutions and organizations: Ideas, interests, and identities. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, D. S., & Vitaliano, D. F. (2007). An empirical analysis of the strategic use of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 16, 773–792.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smeltzer, L. R., & Jennings, M. M. (1998). Why an international code of business ethics would be good for business. Journal of Business Ethics, 17, 57–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolbert, P. S., & Zucker, L. G. (1983). Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of organizations: The diffusion of civil service reform, 1880–1935. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 22–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. E. (1981). The economics of organization: The transaction cost approach. American Journal of Sociology, 87, 548–577.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sociology, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan

    Kyungmin Baek

Authors
  1. Kyungmin Baek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyungmin Baek .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset, UK

    Anastasios Theofilou

  2. Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset, UK

    Georgiana Grigore

  3. Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

    Alin Stancu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Baek, K. (2017). Who Is Ethical?: The Code of Business Ethics in Korean Workplaces. In: Theofilou, A., Grigore, G., Stancu, A. (eds) Corporate Social Responsibility in the Post-Financial Crisis Era. Palgrave Studies in Governance, Leadership and Responsibility. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40096-9_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation