Προσδιοριστικοί παράγοντες της επιχειρηματικής ηθικής: μερικές ενδείξεις από την Ελλάδα

Abstract

The literature that deals with the level and the evolution of entrepreneurial morality focuses primarily on the behavior of managers in large multi-product enterprises. This emphasis is justified by the fact that in developed countries the preponderant percentage of GNP is produced by enterprises in the operations of which a large variety of stakeholders, such as employers, stockholders, banks, customers etc. takes interest. Yet in many countries like Greece the dominant form of enterprises are small in the sense that they are controlled and managed by their owners. In these business concerns entrepreneurial morality is not determined by the institutions of Corporate Governance, but from the processes that shape the personality and the character of entrepreneurs. However, the available literature on this issue is very scanty and this explains our motivation to undertake this research.
In order to investigate the determinants of entrepreneurial morality we adopt a theoretical model and estimate it using data that were collected in the Spring of 2006 through a questionnaire addressed to small-scale enterprises controlled and managed by their owners. More specifically, the data used in the estimation of the model come from 1728 enterprises that are fairly proportionately distributed in the various regions of Greece As the dependent variable, i.e entrepreneurial morality, was measured on a Likert scale, the model was properly estimated using the method of ordered probit and the results turned out as expected. We found that generalized morality, the family, as well as the educational environment, and the level of education determine entrepreneurial morality in a statistically significant way. By contrast, even though we experimented with such other influences such as the age and the scale of enterprises, the gender of entrepreneurs, the location of schools where they had been educated during their youth, etc., none had an impact with a statistically significant sign.
Drawing on the calculations that were performed with the most representative version of the estimated model we found that the probability for entrepreneurial morality to advance through improvements in its determinants depends on its level. For example, it was found that if entrepreneurial morality is low, improvements in the educational and family environment increase the probability of entrepreneurial morality to improve. On the contrary, if entrepreneurial morality is high, the effects follow the inverse direction.