An Exploratory Study Of The Assessment Process Of The Ethical Conduct Of Top Executives In The For-Profit And Nonprofit Sectors

Abstract

Because this kind of study is filled with unique challenges from gaining direct access to an appropriate research sample to that of designing  an innovative survey that can be completed within strict time constraints, this research may be considered exploratory in nature.  Therefore, based on research findings derived from limited and constrained access to executive leadership in large publicly traded companies and their counterparts in the nonprofit sector, it was concluded that a very few organizations in either sector have a proactive ethics strategy or a formal approach to the assessment of leader ethics.  Correspondingly, whatever assessment process followed, the ethical criteria for assessing top executives focuses more on their behavior as individuals rather than those aspects having a systematic organizational impact on other subordinates.