Turkish companies’ ethical statements: content analysis with comparisons

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the ethical concept of the companies’ statements and correlations with each other. Therefore, content analysis with quantitative methods were applied to the formal and written documents of 192 companies. In addition, corporate characteristics were determined. Consequently, statements were determined in 36 different subject areas. Among these, “high quality production” is the most frequently mentioned subject, while “supplier satisfaction” and “union relations” are the least. Also, “human resources” is the most, while “environmental issues” are the least examined subjects in the context of business functions. Companies’ ethical statements are affected by their year of establishment, the number of personnel, market values and ISO certificates. © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited