The intention is to provide a forum for the publication of scientific articles in the field of business ethics. It is the first journal of business ethics on the African continent. The aim of the journal is to contribute to the expansion and establishment of business ethics as academic field in Africa.

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The Globethics library contains articles of the African Journal of Business Ethics (AJoBE) as of vol. 1(2005) to current.

Recent Submissions

  • From feasting to fasting: An autoethnography of Njangis

    Nukunah, Chimene (African Sun Media, 2023-09-26)
    IIn this article, I use autoethnography to share my personal experiences with Njangis in Cameroon, Central Africa. ‘Njangi’ is an old business practice where members of a community contribute money to assist one another turn by turn. There is literature on the concept of Njangis, however, autoethnography has not been used to share the rich African values that underpin this concept. Using reflexivity as a postmodernist technique,I describe my experiences with Njangis as both a child and adult, while contrasting this with a conventional ‘Western’ banking system. The aim of this emancipatory exercise is to give voice to an African practice as it relates to business and ethics.
  • Strong business–state alliances at the expense of labour rights in Ethiopia’s apparel-exporting industrial parks

    Ali, Mohammed Seid; Ademe, Solomon Molla (African Sun Media, 2023-09-26)
    In the past decade, Ethiopia has demonstrated a strong ideological convention to the East-Asian model of ‘developmental state’, which stands for state-led industrialisation as its underlying industrial policy premise. Nevertheless, the labour rights externalities of this industrial policymaking have been overlooked in the existing academic and practical policy debates.  Hence, using qualitative empirical data, the article attempts to address the research gap by analysing why and how Ethiopia’s state-led industrialisation and the corporate behaviours of apparel-exporting firms, as well as their respective global brand buyers, have contributed to the existing poverty wages and repressive practices against the associational rights of local industrial workers at those selected apparel-exporting industrial parks of the country. The maxim of industrialisation with a human face has increasingly become a promising alternative to the neoclassical intellectual view of labour relations following its fundamentals towards achieving a more sustainable industrial development in a given state. In light of this human right imperative, the finding revealed Ethiopia’s stateled industrialisation has firmly embraced strong business-state alliances, thereby curbing the power of local industrial workers. The Ethiopian government employs diverse de facto or de jure labour control mechanisms across those selected apparel-exporting industrial parks of the country. This is manifested through poverty wages and repressive measures todeny the associational rights of workers. Further, the flawed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of employing firms and their respective global brands have contributed to the ongoing labour abuses across those selected apparel-exporting firms.  Hence, Ethiopia’s industrial policy is expected to navigate a reasonable balance between facilitating industrial catch-up and ensuring labour standards for more viable and sustainable labour relations.
  • The predicament of the unprotected: Why lack-lustre legislation fails South African whistleblowers

    Radulovic, Ugljesa (African Sun Media, 2023-09-26)
    Inadequate legal provisions in South African state law have left whistleblowers vulnerable. Despite the existence of the Protected Disclosures Act (and its amendment) aimed at safeguarding whistleblowers, the law has numerous loopholes.  The participants in this qualitative study expressed the view that the law is indeed ineffective. While calls are being made to amend state law for adequate whistleblower protection, such efforts would be futile unless provisions are adapted from reliable instruments for implementation in the South African context. This article recommends incorporating provisions from the Serbian Law on Protection of Whistleblowers as a means of offering adequate protection to South African whistleblowers.
  • Strong business–state alliances at the expense of labour rights in Ethiopia’s apparel-exporting industrial parks: collective voices of local industrial workers

    Ali, Mohammed Seid; Ademe, Solomon Molla (African Sun Media, 2023-09-26)
    In the past decade, Ethiopia has demonstrated a strong ideological convention to the East-Asian model of ‘developmental state’, which stands for state-led industrialisation as its underlying industrial policy premise. Nevertheless, the labour rights externalities of this industrial policymaking have been overlooked in the existing academic and practical policy debates.  Hence, using qualitative empirical data, the article attempts to address the research gap by analysing why and how Ethiopia’s state-led industrialisation and the corporate behaviours of apparel-exporting firms, as well as their respective global brand buyers, have contributed to the existing poverty wages and repressive practices against the associational rights of local industrial workers at those selected apparel-exporting industrial parks of the country. The maxim of industrialisation with a human face has increasingly become a promising alternative to the neoclassical intellectual view of labour relations following its fundamentals towards achieving a more sustainable industrial development in a given state. In light of this human right imperative, the finding revealed Ethiopia’s stateled industrialisation has firmly embraced strong business-state alliances, thereby curbing the power of local industrial workers. The Ethiopian government employs diverse de facto or de jure labour control mechanisms across those selected apparel-exporting industrial parks of the country. This is manifested through poverty wages and repressive measures todeny the associational rights of workers. Further, the flawed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of employing firms and their respective global brands have contributed to the ongoing labour abuses across those selected apparel-exporting firms.  Hence, Ethiopia’s industrial policy is expected to navigate a reasonable balance between facilitating industrial catch-up and ensuring labour standards for more viable and sustainable labour relations.
  • The predicament of the unprotected: Why lack-lustre legislation fails South African whistleblowers: Why lacklustre legislation fails South African whistleblowers

    Radulovic, Ugljesa (African Sun Media, 2023-09-26)
    Inadequate legal provisions in South African state law have left whistleblowers vulnerable. Despite the existence of the Protected Disclosures Act (and its amendment) aimed at safeguarding whistleblowers, the law has numerous loopholes.  The participants in this qualitative study expressed the view that the law is indeed ineffective. While calls are being made to amend state law for adequate whistleblower protection, such efforts would be futile unless provisions are adapted from reliable instruments for implementation in the South African context. This article recommends incorporating provisions from the Serbian Law on Protection of Whistleblowers as a means of offering adequate protection to South African whistleblowers.
  • The use of non-financial performance metrics in determining directors’ remuneration: The case of listed companies in South Africa

    Matemane, Reon; Moloi, Tankiso; Adelowotan, Michael; Biswas, Pallab Kumar (African Sun Media, 2023-09-26)
    Despite the increasing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, it is not fully understood whether companies consider these factors when designing compensation plans for their directors. This study investigated the extent to which directors’ remuneration integrates ESG factors.  The study sample is made up of JSE-listed companies for the period 2015 to 2021. The estimated generalised least squares regression technique was used to analyse the data. The results show the shift towards the integration of ESG factors in directors’ compensation plans. It should be established which ESG factors are pertinent in the South African context.
  • Being ‘human’ under regimes of Human Resource Management: Using black theology to illuminate humanisation and dehumanisation in the workplace

    Megoran, Nick (African Sun Media, 2022-04-20)
    Critical studies have rightly faulted mainstream HRM for its failure to account for the meaning of being human under regimes of HRM. This article advances the field in this regard by drawing on African and broader black theological reflection on the meaning of being human, and by using visual research methods to interrogate the extent to which workplaces respect human dignity. Fifty-five (55) visual timeline interviews were conducted in a range of workplaces in the north-east of England. Data showed that allowing autonomy and freedom, mediating audit regimes, contractual affirmation, and creating communities of care were the key factors whose presence created humanising workplaces and whose absence signalled dehumanising ones. This research allows a richer understanding of structures and processes that produce either humanising or dehumanising workplaces.
  • Racial capitalism, ruling elite business entanglement and the impasse of black economic empowerment policy in South Africa

    Habiyaremye, Alexis (African Sun Media, 2022-04-20)
    The high rate of inequality in South Africa is rooted in colonial dispossession and racial exploitation, and still runs primarily along the racial divide. Policy initiatives taken to redress past economic injustices through the black economic empowerment (BEE) have failed to bring economic transformation. Using the twin lenses of epistemic violence and racial capitalism, this study analyses how entangled interests aimed to co-opt the ruling party elite by the apartheid-era business elite led to the BEE impasse. The pervasiveness of cultural alienation in BEE failure suggests that a shift to restorative justice is necessary to break from the impasse.
  • Occupational health and safety in small businesses: The rationale behind compliance

    Esterhuyzen, Elriza (African Sun Media, 2022-04-20)
    Occupational health and safety (OHS), as a fundamental human right, forms the basis of the obligation of employers to employees, requiring employers to do what is right. Responsible management practices encompass cognisance of sustainability, responsibility as well as legal, financial and moral aspects related to OHS compliance. As point of departure, an overview of core OHS criteria for small businesses is provided, with reference to awareness of these criteria in the G20 countries.  This article utilises quantitative and qualitative data analysis to examine the reasons why small business owners/managers comply with occupational health and safety directives, such as the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) and the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) in South Africa, determine if such reasons for compliance culminate in actual compliance, and determine the perceived effect of direct and indirect costs of OHS incidents. A total of 350 small business owners/managers took part in this study. The findings indicate that whilst small business owners/managers realise the rationale behind OHS compliance in terms of moral, legal and financial components, moral aspects related to OHS compliance are deemed most important. Small business owners/managers thus seem to realise the importance of OHS compliance. However, when it comes to adhering to their responsibility in terms of general safety regulations of the OHS Act and registration with the Compensation Fund as specified in the COIDA (as examples of actual compliance), small business owners/managers’ compliance does not reflect such realisation. A model to enhance OHS standards in small businesses, encompassing legal, moral and financial rationales, is proposed.
  • Towards an understanding of corporate (dis)engagement with social justice advocacy

    Jones, Louise; Smit, Arnold (African Sun Media, 2022-04-20)
    If it can be argued that companies should engage with social justice advocacy, what factors might deter them from doing so?  This question is pursued in a qualitative research study with participants from corporate and social justice organisations.  Six inhibiting factors are identified: a lack of understanding of social justice concepts; fear of reputational risk; short-term profit orientation; a compliance mindset; disconnectedness from operating environment; and recognition that business purpose will determine its societal engagement. This research extends the theoretical and practice boundaries of corporate social responsibility, while also advocating for an intensified engagement of management education with social justice in practice.
  • Perspectives on business ethics in South African small and medium enterprises

    van Wyk, Ireze; Venter , Peet (African Sun Media, 2022-04-20)
    SMEs are the driving force of economies. However, they face challenges that affect their long-term survival, such as developing ethical business environments. Business ethicsrelated research is underdeveloped in SMEs, thus limiting our understanding of business ethics in SMEs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how business ethics is conceptualised in SMEs, using the Delphi Technique.  In SMEs, business ethics is viewed as doing the right thing, having integrity, being transparent, trustworthy, and behaving responsibly towards internal and external parties. The contribution of this article is that business ethics is perceived as upholding quality, being transparent and trustworthy.
  • Integrity and vulnerability as building blocks of perceived moral character and leader profile attractiveness

    Prinsloo, Jantes; De Klerk, Jeremias Jesaja (African Sun Media, 2020-12-19)
    Integrity is often regarded as cardinal to moral character and thus a desirable leadership attribute. However, integrity that is not moderated through an adjunctive virtue such as vulnerability can produce leaders who are self-righteous. Through a vignette experiment, the contribution of integrity and vulnerability towards the perception of moral character and the attractiveness of a leader’s behavioural profile was assessed. Results confirm that integrity contributes even more strongly to both perceived moral character and attractiveness of a leader’s behavioural profile when combined with vulnerability. The findings provide new insights into integrity and vulnerability as adjunctive virtues and building blocks of perceived moral character and ethical leadership attractiveness.
  • Understanding of and attitudes to academic ethics among first†year university students

    Thomas, AdeÌ€le; Van Zyl, AndreÌ (African Sun Media, 2014-07-17)
    This study aimed to explore the understanding of and attitudes towards academic ethics of first†year students at a South African University using a paper†based survey that yielded 3611 respondents. A degree of confusion and ambivalence regarding academic ethical issues exists. The relative wealth of respondents also appears to influence the understanding of and attitudes to academic ethics. Millennial students have a tendency to disregard ownership of knowledge. There is a need for instruction in academic ethics to instil an awareness of integrity in academic pursuit, coupled with an understanding of the world views of millennials. 
  • An adapted measure of ethical climate in organisations – a South African study

    Grobler, Anton (African Sun Media, 2017-05-10)
    A study was conducted to analyse the ethical climate typology of the Ethical Climate Questionnaire empirically, in order to develop a unique South African typology. This typology was tested for the equivalence of the construct between the private and public sector. A three ethical climate type solution was found (in contrast with the initial nine, and later five type typology). The results suggest that the construct is equivalent for both the private and public sectors. The findings could be used as a foundation for future studies, as well as for ethical climate measurement within the South African context.
  • “The great unspoken shame of UK Higher Education†: addressing inequalities of attainment

    Ross, Fiona Mary; Tatam, John Christian; Hughes, Annie Livingston; Beacock, Owen Paul; McDuff, Nona (African Sun Media, 2018-06-26)
    UK universities are achieving some success in attracting increasingly diverse undergraduate cohorts, although distributed unevenly across different types of institutions. It is therefore a concern that once at universities, overall students from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds perform less well in their final degree classifications, even when entry qualifications, subject of study and student characteristics are taken into account. This paper firstly, reviews the research on what is understood about the BME attainment gap, described by an independent university governor as “the great unspoken shame of higher education†and secondly tells the story of institutional change initiated by Kingston University, which is a large, “modern†and widening participation institution in South West London. The multifaceted change involved: defining the problem; establishing an institutional key performance indicator; engaging the university leadership and academy; using a value added metric; and measuring attainment outcomes over a three year period. Results show significant improvement in attainment and qualitative evidence of improved staff awareness. The paper discusses the ethical challenges of complex and institutional change for example, the importance of committed leadership, the value of data as a vehicle for initiating engagement when staff are reluctant to discuss race, equality and social justice, the implications for moving away from a student deficit to an institutional deficit model through developing inclusive cultures and an inclusive curriculum. Finally the paper concludes with describing Kingston University’s role in influencing change across the sector. The approach to changing inequalities in student attainment will be rolled out to six other institutions, supported by a large award from the funding council.
  • Overcoming constraints imposed by fiduciary duties in terms of justice as a “Leadership Challenge that Matters†.

    Eccles, Neil Stuart (African Sun Media, 2018-11-16)
    This paper focuses on the issue of justice as a challenge facing business and society. I advance a simple deductive argument based on two premises. The first emerges out of theories of justice and holds that fairness, as a foundational basis for justice, demands impartiality or the avoidance of bias. The second emerges out of fiduciary law and holds that the duty of loyalty owed by managers to serve the interests of investors is fundamentally partial or biased. The conclusion is the troubling fact that the fiduciary duty of loyalty owed by managers to serve the interests of investors appears to be incompatible with the demands of justice. Having presented this, I describe the impartiality tools of Rawls’ veil of ignorance and Adam Smith’s impartial spectator and discuss how these might be applied in this context. I speculate that while Smith’s impartial spectator is absolutely incommensurable with managers’ fiduciary duty of loyalty, Rawls’ veil of ignorance might be used to imagine a synthesis between this duty of loyalty and the impartiality demands of justice – in theory at least. And finally, as a parting shot, I wonder whether the real “Leadership Challenge that Matters†isn’t the gap between theory and reality.
  • “First, do no harm†? An overview and ethical evaluation of South Africa’s climate change mitigation commitments in light of the Paris Agreement

    Steenkamp, Lee-Anne; Naude, Piet (African Sun Media, 2018-11-16)
    South Africa ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016 and thereby committed to reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) concentration levels as part of its self-determined goals in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). This articleviewed the targets in the NDC through an ethical lens. It was demonstrated that the commitment below the ‘business-asusual’ (BAU) level allowed for large increases in South Africa’s emissions without explaining how these were consistent with a specific understanding of what equity required. Also, the NDCtargets were found to be highly insufficient. Consequently, South Africa’s climate change mitigation commitments were deemed inconsistent with the ethical ‘no-harm’ principle.
  • Contribution of integrity and vulnerability to perceived moral character and a leader’s behavioural profile attractiveness

    Prinsloo, Jantes; De Klerk, Jeremias Jesaja (African Sun Media, 2020-12-19)
    Integrity is often regarded as cardinal to moral character and thus a desirable leadership attribute. However, integrity that is not moderated through an adjunctive virtue such as vulnerability can produce leaders who are self-righteous. Through a vignette experiment, the contribution of integrity and vulnerability towards the perception of moral character and the attractiveness of a leader’s behavioural profile was assessed. Results confirm that integrity contributes even more strongly to both perceived moral character and attractiveness of a leader’s behavioural profile when combined with vulnerability. The findings provide new insights into integrity and vulnerability as adjunctive virtues and building blocks of perceived moral character and ethical leadership attractiveness.
  • “Un†trepreneurship : Undoing the Myth of Entrepreneurship as a Development Apparatus

    Smit, Maria; Pretorius, Marius (African Sun Media, 2020-12-19)
    The current theoretical framing of entrepreneurship includes a number of diverse phenomena under the same conceptual umbrella, yet the terms are often conflated and used interchangeably. Based on the assumption that anything included under this conceptual umbrella contributes to economic development and job creation, entrepreneurship has become appropriated as a development tool in the Global South where poverty and unemployment are rife. This study introduces the term entrepreneurship as a development apparatus (EDA) and defines it as the implementation of entrepreneurship support interventions (such as training, incubation and funding) in economically marginalised communities, based on the assumption that these interventions lead to economic development and job creation. EDA is then taken out from under the conceptual entrepreneurship umbrella, and placed in a post-development theory context, showing that insight can be gained when the critical debate on entrepreneurship is moved beyond the constraints of the mainstream entrepreneurship paradigm. Drawing from the development debate, this paper argues that the current theoretical entrepreneurship paradigm has proven unable to provide answers to the failure of EDA, and thus calls for the rejection of the entire notion of EDA as a form of entrepreneurship.

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