Ethical standards for human resource management professionals: A comparative analysis of five major codes

Abstract

Focusing on professional codes of ethics in HR, this article establishes a foundation for understanding the contents of these codes and for future research in this area. Five key professional ethics codes in HRM are analyzed according to six obligations. The resulting characterizations revealed that these codes advocate five principles related to integrity, legality, proficiency, loyalty, and confidentiality. Particular flaws in code content and implementation are identified with recommendations for addressing them. Also, suggestions for standardizing professional HR codes and for future research are discussed.