The evolution of business ethics in Japan and Korea over the last decade

Abstract

Both Japan and Korea have suffered painful economic recession and a series of corporate misconducts and scandals over the last decade. In the meantime, people's interests in business ethics and corporate social responsibility have remarkably increased. This study examines (1) Japanese and Korean managers' perceptions of business ethics, (2) the similarities and differences between the two countries in comparison with the US, and (3) the evolution of business ethics over the ten-year period. The study reveals that Japanese and Korean companies have made remarkable progress in making systematic measures to establish corporate ethics, but the managers' perceptions of ethics in both countries have not changed significantly over the last decade. The study also shows that Korean managers' way of perceiving ethics is a specific mixture of those of the US and Japanese managers.