Abstract
The current study draws from the literature on “direct deterrence” programs as a framework for preventing corporate crime. Direct deterrence programs focus on reducing crime by communicating the likelihood and severity of sanctions to potential offenders. We believe a similar strategy may be useful when designing ethics codes. Ethics codes are the most commonly applied aspect of corporate internal compliance programs, yet evidence supporting their effectiveness is mixed and rigorous evaluation of their impact rare. Here, we employed an experimental design to examine how the content of ethics codes impact ethical decisions. Results suggest that the presence of an ethics code can increase compliance, but that supervisors also play a critical role. Implications for research and internal compliance programs are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
