The Ethical Perceptions of Small Business Owners

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of an investigation into the ethical perceptions of small business owner/managers. The study has been conducted in Northwest region of Turkey and is the first investigation of ethical perceptions in Turkey. More than 99 percent of the companies in Turkey are small businesses and they play a key role in driving sustainable economic growth and job creation. However, they remain the largely unexplored area of ethics. Most of the findings of this study are mainly in concert with previous studies’ findings. Specifically, owner/managers of small size companies have more tolerable view towards unethical personnel practices. Moreover owner/managers of retail businesses have more tolerable views towards unethical marketing and personnel practices.