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Business Ethics Research Guide

When to Use This Guide

Use this guide when exploring the moral or ethical issues that arise in business; some examples are deceptive advertising, insider trading, corruption, pollution caused by corporations, and job discrimination. Social responsibility of business and corporate governance are other terms used when discussing business ethics.

Finding General or Background Information on Business Ethics

Use general sources of business ethics information, such as those listed below, for background information and for help in refining your topic.

• Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society - R HF5387 .E53 2008, vol. 1-5
• The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Business Ethics - R HF5387 .B55 1997
• The Blackwell Guide to Business Ethics - HF5387 .B55 2002
• Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader- HF5387 .H663 2007
• Eighty Exemplary Ethics Statements - HF5387 .M876 1998
• International Business Ethics: Challenges and Approaches [electronic resource]

Subject Headings for Finding Information about Business Ethics in the Book and Media Catalog

• Business ethics
• Work ethic
• Social responsibility of business
• Integrity
• Corporate governance
• Organizational behavior moral and ethical aspects

Finding Articles About Business Ethics in Research Databases

Business Source Complete
Search here for articles about business ethics published in scholarly, trade, and general interest periodicals.

JSTOR
Contains a large collection of business journals with numerous articles on business ethics, social responsibility of business, and corporate governance.

The Conference Board
The Conference Board (TCB) is a non-partisan, non-profit business network that attempts “to bring leaders together to find solutions to common problems and objectively examine major issues having an impact on business and society.” TCB has reports, studies, and surveys on corporate governance and ethics.

Wilson OmniFile Full Text Select
Search Wilson for articles published in academic and professional publications.

Business Insights: Essentials (formerly Business and Company Resource Center)
To search for articles, go to Advanced Search and search for “business ethics” in “Subject” (rather than searching by keywords).

Selected Web Sites

Center for Ethical Business Cultures
The Center for Ethical Business Cultures publishes white papers on ethics, along with principles for ethical business behavior.

Business Ethics Magazine
The online Business Ethics magazine has selected articles in full text.

Corporate Governance Principles
OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) offers this internationally applicable benchmark for good corporate governance.

Transparency International
Transparency International (TI) is the leading global non-governmental organization devoted to combating corruption. The site contains business tools (guidelines), surveys, and studies of corruption at national and international levels.

Corporate Watch
San Francisco Bay Area-based CorpWatch educates and mobilizes people through various campaigns about consumerism, globalization, corruption, executive compensation, and more.

Small Business Administration (SBA)
http://www.sba.gov/managing/leadership/ethics.html
The U.S. Small Business Administration offers this short, example-based guide to developing an ethics policy for your company. It also includes an integrity self-test.

Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions
This site features links to ethics codes organized by profession.

Page Last Updated: February 14 2013