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JTMC
9,2
Ethics and values
A comparison between four countries
(United States, Brazil, United Kingdom
and Canada)
108
Jonelle Feikis and Avery McHugh
Jindall School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson,
Texas, USA, and
Samuel Lane
Lane Import, Parkland, Florida, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences in the ethics and
values seen within the USA, Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom. By comparing these three
countries to the USA, we can conclude the appropriate means in which to conduct business and research
with any of the corresponding countries. This, in turn, will serve as a major asset to global business alike
and prove to be monumental in the ways it breaks down cultural barriers to promote the sanctity of
business worldwide.
Design/methodology/approach – The USA, Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom were
examined extensively on each of their ethics and values to fully grasp what the literature of previous
empirical research stated. Throughout the literary research, data and surveys can be found to further
emphasize the value and reliability of empirical research. Through the collaboration of thoughts and the
literature that was discovered, we can draw conclusions about the similarities and differences between
the USA, Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom. It is clear that among the different countries ethics,
values and cultural norms come into play when partaking in business.
Findings – There were many similarities and differences that lied between the different countries. Of
those similarities, it was especially noticeable between the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom. This
is due to the fact that these three countries have similar forms of common law governmental systems
that are established and help form moral guidelines and parameters for doing business. Despite the fact
that both the United Kingdom and Canada are under the rule of a Constitutional Monarchy, it is
apparent that because the USA, United Kingdom and Canada have a free market economy all three
operate at a similar capacity in terms of business.
Originality/value – This paper is original and provides value by taking a unique review of literature
and reviewing previous research on the topic. Specific suggestions for future research are offered at the
end of this paper.
Keywords China, Management effectiveness
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Journal of Technology Management According to the article, “Ethics must be global, not local”, in Bloomsberg Business
in China Week, “to build a truly great, global business, business leaders need to adopt a global
Vol. 9 No. 2, 2014
pp. 108-122 standard of ethical practices” (George, 2008). That being said, the study of ethics and
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited values are very important in participating in international business and communication.
1746-8779
DOI 10.1108/JTMC-08-2014-0053 Knowing the proper way to conduct oneself can lead to benefits and an increase in
productivity in business. By researching ethics and values between the USA, Canada, A comparison
Brazil and the United Kingdom, we can conclude what their cultural norms are and
compare results to come up with similarities and differences between the four. Through
between four
the use of various peer reviewed articles and scholarly papers, we hope to be able to countries
come to a conclusion on what the real differences and similarities are between the USA,
Canada, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
109
Values
According to a study done by two psychologists, Thurston and Spranger, values are:
[…] standards and objectives that appear in the explicit behavior of the individual and in the
conscious and unconscious feelings that enter the individual’s life that are connected to
determining the meaning of human life.
Values, a lot like ethics, are “essential pillars of culture in every society”. Alelaimat and
Taha (2013) state that values signify the motives that direct a person’s behavior and
determine a person’s relationship with his society.
In the article “Ethics: nursing around the world: cultural values and ethical conflicts”
cultural values are defined as “enduring ideals or belief systems to which a person or a
society is committed” (Ludwick et al., 2000). Values are something instilled in the
definition of ethics. The different values of individuals and cultures affect the way they
perceive situations and how they create ethical criteria for certain situations. This leads
to ethical decision making which is seen worldwide in not only the business world but
also in a vast majority of transnational relations.

Ethics
Ethics and values are both compared in the article, “Psychological ethics codes: a
comparison of twenty-four countries”, it states that:
[…] ethical codes are built partially on values within particular countries, and further analyses
using value structures may assist researchers in understanding culturally specific and
culturally universal ethical standards and principles (Leach and Harbin, 1997).
Although it is an unfortunate discovery, it is said that ethics is a growing concern in the
world today. “In recent years, the trend has been towards increased emphasis on the
importance of ethical judgment”, specifically in the engineering, health, business and
law professions (Barry and Ohland, 2009). With that being said, it is safe to make the
generalization that ethics can be defined in a multitude of ways. Powers and Vogel
(1980) describe business ethics as “a type of applied ethics which is concerned to clarify
the obligations and dilemmas of actors (managers) who make business decisions”.
Likewise, Gandz and Hayes say it is “the study of those decisions of managers and
corporate management which involve moral values” (Barry and Ohland, 2009). To
summarize all the different terminologies of the word “ethics”, we can say that ethics
refers to “a set of moral norms, principles or values that guide people’s behavior
(Sherwin 1983)”. According to Brunk, individuals decided whether an action is right or
wrong “by referring to higher moral duty, norms, or the law”. The decision is considered
ethical or unethical based on the norms applied by the decision maker (Brunk, 2012).
This choice between ethical and unethical can be taken as a decision that is considered
morally accepted based on the culture from which the decision-maker decides on (Corey
and Millage, 2014). Often times, this can be based on the norms of religious views or
JTMC possibly even that of government institutions that impose restrictions on what is ethical
and what is not.
9,2 According to, “Culture and ethics management: whistle-blowing and internal
reporting within a NAFTA country context”, ethics management is defined as “the
artifacts, tools, activities and concepts that people use to influence the moral climate or
direction of their organization” (MacNab et al., 2007). Basically, we have learned that
110 ethics are the guidelines for business and other areas of conduct that a society will use to
decide what is right or wrong (MacNab et al., 2007). There are two different ethics
management tools that we are aware of to help individuals and groups operating in
relation to organizations: Whistle-blowing and Internal Reporting. Whistle-blowing is
“communication or information sharing that is unauthorized by the target organization
and often voluntary”, while internal reporting is “communication or information
sharing authorized by the target organization and may or may not be voluntary”
(MacNab et al., 2007). While these two concepts are very similar in nature, there are still
many differences and can both end up being beneficial to the organization in the long
run due to the correction to the issue at hand. However, internal reporting seems to be the
more effective procedure for an organization because whistle-blowing seems to be
potentially more risky for the organization due to legal costs and negative publicity
(MacNab et al., 2007).
Ethics have become “one of the most important research directions for international
business”, according to, “Management students’ attitudes toward business ethics: a
comparison between France and Romania” (Bageac et al., 2011). We can grasp a better
understanding of this statement by integrating ethics and the always growing economic
globalization because it creates visible challenges that traditional methods offer only a
small amount of solutions (Bageac et al., 2011). The study that is discussed in,
“Management students’ attitudes toward business ethics: a comparison between France
and Romania”, began by collecting data from France and Romania to try to see if there
was a significant difference in management students attitudes within Europe even
though the two countries share the same cultural heritage in several respects. Through
the use of a questionnaire survey, data were collected from 220 business students of
French and Romanian descent that showed that “French students valued Moral
Objectivism in business ethics more than Romanian students and that Romanian
students valued Machiavellianism more than French Students” (Bageac et al., 2011).

Literature review
With the definitions compiled above of ethics and values, this literature review will
compare articles lead to a better understanding about ethics and values in the USA, the
United Kingdom, Canada and Brazil. Hopefully, this review will lead to conclusions
about the similarities and differences that will help inform the reader about the cultural
norms and acceptable ethics in these countries.

The USA
According to the article, “How ethical are USA business executives? A study of
perceptions”, “ethical issues have darkened the images of American businesses from
the beginning and corruption has been present since America’s founding”. Starting
from slaves and child labor, to the Enron and Arthur Andersen scandal, to present
day issues, the USA has always been involved with questionable ethical issues
(Stevens, 2013). Since 1976, a survey, created by George Gallup, has been given to A comparison
the American public to gauge their opinion concerning ethics and honesty in
numerous professions. Fifty-seven professions have been tested with a rotating list
between four
of 20 core professions; business executive being one of them throughout the past countries
30 years. The research done by Gallup surveys concludes that the American public
believes business executives in the USA are declining in their honesty and business
ethics (Stevens, 2013). 111
Regarding the information provided in the article “Ethics: nursing around the
world: cultural values and ethical conflicts”, the US culture has an emphasis on
“self-reliance and individualism.” With this, “importance is placed on individual
inputs, rights and rewards” (Ludwick et al., 2000). Individualism is similar to
autonomy which can be linked to the ethical principle of autonomy related to
self-determination, which is “the individual’s right to make decisions for him of
herself” (Ludwick et al., 2000). The USA can mainly be considered unique in this
aspect because many other countries do not have such vast autonomy laws.
“Dimensions of ethical business cultures: comparing data from 13 countries of
Europe, Asia, and the Americas” states that the “USA ethical business
organizations have, as a rule, clearly communicated ethics guidelines or codes of
ethics” (Ardichvili et al., 2010).
According to, “Compassion versus competitiveness: an industrial relations
perspective on the impact of globalization on the standards of employee relations
ethics in the USA”, globalization can be described as “the worldwide spread of
modern technologies of industrial production and communication of all kinds across
frontiers–in trade, capital, production and information” (Cambridge, 2001).
Globalization has proved to be important to employee relations ethics in the USA
because it highly influences the way employers and organizations treat their
employees (Cambridge, 2001).

Brazil
In “Ethics education in research involving human beings in undergraduate medicine
curriculum in Brazil”, it states that the teaching of ethics in Brazil began at the end
of the 19th century. Brazilians believe that creating an “ethical stance and reflective
thinking” could develop professionalism, which is an “ongoing responsibility”
(Novaes et al., 2013). An example of ethics at work can be seen in Brazil’s medical
practices involving human subjects. “All human research conducted in Brazil must
be evaluated by an Ethics research Committee (ERC) that takes into consideration
the regulations” of many other health organizations (Novaes et al., 2013). In a study
with 175 medical schools, it was found that there needs to be a better discussion of
the teaching of ethics in undergraduate education courses (Novaes et al., 2013).
In another article called, “Moral distress: an innovative and important subject to
study in Brazil”, they conducted a study with a sample of 247 nursing professionals
in two different hospitals. Five different constructs were realized:
(1) a lack of competence in the workplace;
(2) a disregard for the patient’s decisions;
(3) insufficient working conditions;
(4) denial of their nursing role to the patient; and
JTMC (5) the denial of their nursing role for terminally ill patients (Lunardi, 2013).
9,2 With this in mind, it shows that in conclusion:
[…] many professional nurses in Brazil, by choosing not to confront those situations […] by
speaking up […] choose to turn away from their values, beliefs, and ultimately, the very ideals
of the nursing profession (Lunardi, 2013).
112 According to the article, “Dimensions of ethical business cultures: comparing data from
13 countries of Europe, Asia, and the America’s” Brazil’s managerial culture is
characterized by “paternalism, power concentration, and loyalty to one’s in-group and
leader”. Likewise, flexibility plays an important role in establishing Brazil’s business
culture. “Flexibility in business reflects a realization that ‘there is an intermediary path
between what is and what is not allowed’” Also, according to the article, Brazil employee
advancement does not entirely depend on the employees behavior with company values
(Ardichvili et al., 2010).
In “Business ethics in Brazil and the USA: a comparative investigation”, we see the
vast differences between conduct in ethical decision-making in the USA and Brazil
which can be attributed to the differences in culture and values in the two countries
(Beekun et al., 2003). In this study, Hofstede identified a few different “value” dimensions
in which different countries see differently. Using this research, a cross-cultural survey
was created to “assess the relationship between his individualism/collectivism
dimension of national culture and ethical criteria” (Beekun et al., 2003). The results
confirmed the popular belief that Brazilian and US respondents differ culturally which
would affect the assessment of ethical content (Beekun et al., 2003).

The United Kingdom

Over the past 20 years, the United Kingdom began to see many ethical scandals in
business (Boyd, 1996). It began to be known that managers, who were higher up in the
company and had their own self-interest in mind, could manipulate the structure of the
business for their own self gain at the expense of the other shareholders (Boyd, 1996).
The rising ethical issues in the United Kingdom sparked the “code of best practice”,
according to, “Ethics and corporate governance: the issues raised by the Cadbury report
in the United Kingdom” (Boyd, 1996). This “code” basically makes suggestions that can
help companies become more ethical. For example, it suggests things such as having
separation between the CEO and the role of chairperson, or rotation of directors within
the company to ensure that no single person can manipulate the structure of the
company. Although the code was edited to ensure that it would be effective, there were
still some major critics of the code who say that it is not effective. It is noted that
although it covers some of the basic topics in ethical issues that it fails to address many
other issues that have been known to happen in the United Kingdom corporate
governance (Boyd, 1996).
According to, “An international look at business ethics: Britain”, ethical conduct in
businesses has been a growing interest in Britain for quite a while. However, business
ethics is quite new compared to other areas of economic ethics such as the drug or food
industry (Mahoney, 1990). British businesses have responded to the lack of ethical
procedures by creating organizational structures, and there are particularly two that
have paved the way. The British Institute of Management has over 70,000 members and
has a Professional Standards Committee that regularly addresses a wide range of ethical A comparison
issues that may arise within a British organization (Mahoney, 1990).
between four
countries
Canada
Ethics used in Canadian businesses have been molded by pressure from several
different areas such as the Canadian society or self-interest of executives in large
corporations (Brooks, 1997). The Canadian society has been particularly concerned 113
about “health, conscience the environment and for good corporate governance”, which
although different from most concerns that are experienced in the USA, have been
slightly influenced by those seen in the USA (Brooks, 1997). Other pressures that have
been noticed in Canadian businesses are those coming from the directors, executives and
employees of a company. As in any country, we know that the leaders of a company feel
the need to protect their company from any possible threats to the organization as a
whole because, in turn, any threat to the company itself is a threat to that particular
person’s job and overall welfare. To help alleviate this issue, Canada has come up with
codes of ethics/conduct and a select few have even created an ethical corporate culture to
act as a guide to all employees of a company to give a better perspective on the issue
(Brooks, 1997).
According to, “The SINS in business negotiations: explore the cross-cultural
differences in business ethics between Canada and China”, business negotiations
involve a lot of uncertainty on what is morally correct in business conduct (Ma, 2010).
However, it becomes even more difficult to correctly conduct oneself in negotiations
when said negotiations are between people of different cultures. With the many different
countries and cultures that deal with each other in business negotiations to do, it
becomes especially difficult to know what the correct way to conduct oneself is
Ma (2010). Although the attempt was made to create a set of ethical standards that are
acceptable internationally, the differences in the different countries were too vast to
categorize into any single set of standards. Of these drastically different countries, some
of the most different are Canada and China. In an effort to try to bring together two
different countries, the Self-reported Inappropriate Negotiation Strategies (SINS) scale
was created (Ma, 2010). This scale was designed to “assess the appropriateness of
ethically questionable strategies often used in business negotiations” (Ma, 2010).
According to the article, Canadians have a low context culture, where they use explicit
and direct language. Like the USA, Canada’s culture in Hofstede’s model “lies in the level
of individualism” (Ma, 2010).

Conclusions
Through the literature review, it is evident that there are immense similarities and
differences between ethics and values in business throughout the globe. Similarities are
always good but with differences come conflict. A couple of suggestions to decrease
ethical conflicts from the article, “Ethics: nursing around the world: cultural values and
ethical conflicts” include: you must recognize that values and beliefs vary across and
within cultures and one should learn as much as you can about the different aspects of
different cultures (language, beliefs, customs, etc.) (Ahmed et al., 2014; Ludwick et al.,
2000).
JTMC Similarities
“Internationally, there is agreement on the importance of the fundamental relationship
9,2 between knowledge and ethical and humanistic skills in a professional context” (Novaes
et al., 2013). One similarity is that in all the articles concerning ethics of different types
of businesses located throughout the world, they state that they are trying to implement
strategies to increase ethical awareness in undergraduate education. For example, in the
114 article “How ethical are USA business executives? A study of perceptions”, they explain
that the majority of the most elite business schools in the USA teach courses that focus
of the legalities of business but only touching on the importance ethics (Stevens, 2013).
More similarities can be seen between the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom
because they are part of the Anglo cluster. According to, “Dimensions of ethical business
cultures: comparing data from 13 countries of Europe, Asia, and the Americas”, they
share cultural heritage. For example, those three countries are located in the high
individualism, low uncertainty avoidance dimension of Hofstede’s model (Ardichvili
et al., 2010). This suggests that the Anglo cluster’s ethical business cultures “are based
on alignment between formal structures, processes, policies, formal training and
development programmes, and consistent value-based ethical behavior of top
leadership” (Ardichvili et al., 2010).
In 2008, a study was performed at the Kenexa Research Institute that sampled more
than 23,000 managers and employees of business organizations in 13 different countries.
Ultimately, this survey was taken to assess work-related attitudes and behaviors. This
study proved that the Anglo cluster, indeed, were similar but significantly different
from other countries except India. Researchers believe this is due to the common
heritage as member of the British Empire. “All have a legal system based on common
law […] and is not based on executive orders and statutes” (Ardichvili et al., 2010). Also,
in these countries top leadership is “perceived as playing a stronger role in promoting
ethical cultures than in the other countries studied” (Ardichvili et al., 2010).
“Psychological ethics codes: a comparison of twenty-four countries” states that
“when analyzing categorical Standards, the Canadian ethical code was most consistent
with the USA code” (Leach and Harbin, 1997).

Differences
Although there are many similarities in the way the USA and United Kingdom interpret
ethics and values there are some differences. According to Meyer’s (2012) ethics report,
about 25,000 US and United Kingdom physicians were surveyed in how they would
react to current situations. The largest percentage difference can be seen in “Would you
ever go against a family’s wishes”. It can be concluded that in the UK “patients and
families expect doctors to make decisions. In the USA [it is] defer[ed] to the patients and
the family” to make the decision (Meyer, 2012). The article states that several factors
could contribute to the difference in survey responses. For example, “different views
toward patient-centeredness; different medical liability climate; the way physicians are
paid; national religious attitudes; and the nature of the relationship between physicians,
patients, and patient’s families” (Meyer, 2012). Through this study, it can be concluded
that although these countries land in the same cluster sometimes the cultural norms
affect the attitude of professionals. Dr Brian Jarman states that, “the big difference is the
way the system is funded and the culture of the United Kingdom” (Meyer, 2012).
 According to the study mentioned in the article, “Dimensions of ethical business A comparison
cultures: comparing data from 13 countries of Europe, Asia, and the Americas”, Brazil
was a tad different than the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom. Brazil fell into the
between four
middle category cluster meaning that the senior management supports and practices countries
high ethical standards on a mediocre level, whereas the other countries listed practiced
at a higher level. This is due to the fact that in Brazil’s employees’ advancement barely
depends on the alignment of their behavior and company values (Ardichvili et al., 2010). 115
With Brazil also being a moderately free market economy, which is inward-sloping, and
is relatively still developing to its full potential, it is apparent why they differ so much in
ethical business culture. Despite being in the top five of the largest economies in the
world, Brazil is still trying to learn the ropes while other powerhouses are more or less
perfecting them.

Suggestions for future research

There are many opportunities for future research in a multitude of areas due to the broad
definition of ethics and values. After much research it is suggested that researching how
to instill better ethics and values at a younger age in all countries. Although there is no
agreement about the proper way to do such an act, it is imperative that ethics and values
are introduced in early education like elementary school (Novaes et al., 2013). Starting at
a younger age will eventually increase the ethics and values for generations to come and
improving the way of life for people around the world. According to Alelaimat and Taha
(2013), it is important to teach values in the school curriculum because “through it, the
learner is raised to behave correctly in a responsible and moral manner”. When thinking
back to the most basic forms of ethics, much of it would have never been known had
there not been someone there to relay or teach that very knowledge. In the possibility of
adding an ethics class to the fundamental curriculum of an elementary school student,
there is potential that it will help that child grow to be a much more ethical-minded
human being. An illustration of an attempt to teach global ethics can be seen on the web
site business-ethics.org. This website is run by the International Business Ethics
Institute (IBEI) and was founded in 1994 “in response to the growing need for
transnationalism in the field of organizational ethics and integrity”. Along with training
tools, they produce publications that help educate people on ethics and integrity
worldwide as well (International, 2014). This is a great resource for professionals, but if
this was taught in earlier education programs then these kinds of Web sites would not be
as crucial from training purposes.
Future research should also be performed which would examine the degree to which
values and ethics vary not just between countries and cultures but also within countries
and what might explain these differences. Jain et al. (2013) have suggested examining
the relationship with leadership effectiveness as have Singer and Millage (2013) and
Welsh and Krueger (2012). Peng and colleagues (Peng, 2004; Peng and Dess, 2010; Peng
and Jiang, 2010; Peng et al., 2008a) have also suggested taking a look at institutional
theoretical perspectives when it comes to differences within countries rather than
cultural differences.
Another suggestion for future research can be to find a way to make a universal
ethics code to be followed internationally during for various forms of business. This
would be a challenging code to develop, but in doing so it would allow for the
consideration of differences in cultural beliefs, morals, values and ethics. There can be
JTMC trifling similarities that can be agreed on between nations much like the Geneva Code is
followed in times of war, there could be a code of ethics that is promoted by the United
9,2 Nations and made into a code of international ethics. This would allow for a much more
unified form of communication between different countries that wish to do business
with one another but may not be completely affluent with the cultural differences they
would face in doing such. By having a form of recourse like a unified code, it eliminates
116 that confusion and helps the nations focus on what really matters, business. An example
of this practice at work can be seen through the management at Hasbro, Inc. Hasbro has
created a Global Business Ethics Principles list that cover topics such as, forced and
child labor, working hours and compensation, health and safety, abuse/discrimination,
communication, environmental impact and compliance (Global Business Ethics
Principles, 2013). If many of the observed differences actually are due to institutional
differences rather than cultural differences, this could increase the likelihood that
research like this could be productive.

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Chang, Y.-Y., Gong, Y. and Peng, M.W. (2012), “Expatriate knowledge transfer, subsidiary
absorptive capacity and subsidiary performance”, Academy of Management Journal,
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Chao, C.C., Peng, M.W. and Saparito, P. (2002), “Collectivism, individualism and opportunism: a
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Global Business Ethics Principles (2013), available at: http://csr.hasbro.com/has08global-
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Globerman, S., Peng, M.W. and Shapiro, D. (2011), “Corporate governance and Asian companies”,
Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 1-14.
Jiang, Y. and Peng, M.W. (2011a), “Are family ownership and control in large firms good, bad or
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Jiang, Y. and Peng, M.W. (2011b), “Principal-principal conflicts during crisis”, Asia Pacific Journal
of Management, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 683-695.
Khoury, T. and Peng, M.W. (2011), “Does institutional reform of intellectual property rights lead
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Vol. 46 No. 3, pp. 337-345.
Lee, K., Peng, M.W. and Lee, K. (2008), “From diversification premium to diversification discount
during institutional transitions”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 47-65.
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real options perspective”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 257-272.
Lee, S.H., Yamakawa, Y., Peng, M.W. and Jay, J.B. (2011), “How do bankruptcy laws affect
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Mudambi, R., Peng, M.W. and Weng, D. (2008), “Research rankings of Asia Pacific business
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improve firm performance? An exploratory study in Russian privatization”, Journal of
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Corresponding author
Samuel Lane can be contacted at: samuell547@yahoo.com

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