<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article focuses on the perception of the importance of business ethics among Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs (this includes business owners and managers) within the SME sector. The comparison is based on an analysis of the approach to business ethics according to a set of parameters, namely company size, years in business, and the gender and education of the entrepreneurs. Empirical research was conducted in 2020 on a sample set consisting of 454 respondents in the Czech Republic and 368 respondents in Slovakia. The most important outcome of the research was the finding that business ethics is considered extremely important in both countries. The research results not only revealed that just over 90% of Czech entrepreneurs and 88% of Slovak entrepreneurs within the SME sector agreed that they should take into account the moral and ethical consequences of their decisions, but that the structure of their answers was very similar. Also, of interest were the findings that women were more aware of business ethics than their male counterparts, as were those entrepreneurs who possessed a higher education over those with a secondary education.</p></abstract>

This article focuses on the perception of the importance of business ethics among Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs (this includes business owners and managers) within the SME sector. The comparison is based on an analysis of the approach to business ethics according to a set of parameters, namely company size, years in business, and the gender and education of the entrepreneurs. Empirical research was conducted in 2020 on a sample set consisting of 454 respondents in the Czech Republic and 368 respondents in Slovakia. The most important outcome of the research was the finding that business ethics is considered extremely important in both countries. The research results not only revealed that just over 90% of Czech entrepreneurs and 88% of Slovak entrepreneurs within the SME sector agreed that they should take into account the moral and ethical consequences of their decisions, but that the structure of their answers was very similar. Also, of interest were the findings that women were more aware of business ethics than their male counterparts, as were those entrepreneurs who possessed a higher education over those with a secondary education.

Perceptions of the importance of business ethics in SMEs: A comparative study of Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs

Alexander Dubček University in Trenčín

Ethics & Bioethics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This article focuses on the perception of the importance of business ethics among Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs (this includes business owners and managers)...

Perceptions of the importance of business ethics in SMEs: A comparative study of Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs

Published Online: Jun 12, 2020

Page range: 96 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2020-0010

Keywords
business ethics, small and medium-sized enterprises, Czech Republic, Slovakia

© 2020 Jaroslav Belás et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Perceptions of the importance of business ethics in SMEs: A comparative study of Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs

Published Online: Jun 12, 2020

Page range: 96 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2020-0010

Keywordsbusiness ethics, small and medium-sized enterprises, Czech Republic, Slovakia

© 2020 Jaroslav Belás et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
business ethics, small and medium-sized enterprises, Czech Republic, Slovakia