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ABSTRACT. Increasingly the business environment is tending toward a global economy. The current study compares the results of the Attitudes Towards Business Ethics Questionnaire (ATBEQ) reported in the literature for samples from the United States of America, Israel, Western Australia, and South Africa to a new sample (n = 125) from Turkey. The results indicate that while there are some shared views towards business ethics across countries, significant differences do exist between Turkey and each of the other countries in the study. Similarities and differences are discussed in terms of the countries' ratings on the Corruption Perceptions Index (as reported by the Internet Center for Corruption Research) and Hofstede's Theory of International Cultures. Recommendations for managers interacting with employees from differing countries are provided.
KEY WORDS: ATBEQ, business ethics, cross-cultural
1. Introduction
Increasingly the business environment is tending toward a global economy. With this trend comes excitement, opportunity, and unfortunately potential for problems associated with differing attitudes and practices commonly encountered when interacting with cultures different from our own. These cross-cultural differences within the business environment are compounded when the topic of business ethics is considered. Attitudes toward business ethics may vary so greatly even within one culture that trying to come to a consensus across cultures can become nearly impossible. "Culture not only influences learning, but also impacts what is perceived as right/wrong, acceptable/unacceptable, and ethical/unethical" (Lu et al., 1999, p. 92). In an attempt to further our understanding of business ethics across cultures, researchers have begun to gather information from as many different countries as possible. It is their, and our hope, that the sharing of cross-cultural ethics research will help managers and employees alike respond to cross-cultural ethical differences with full understanding and respect. Whipple and Swords (1992) suggest that the results of cross-cultural ethics research "can be informative in the development of education and training programs for prospective business managers with diverse cultural backgrounds" (p. 671). "A better informed understanding of the ethics of individuals in their environments has relevance to management development issues" (Whipple and Swords, 1992, p. 676).
The current study compares the results of the Attitudes Towards Business Ethics Questionnaire (ATBEQ) reported in the literature for samples from the United States of America, Israel, Western Australia, and...