Ethics May Lead to Higher Market Values

As reported by HRI: An ethical corporate culture is good for the bottom line, according to a DePaul University study cited by ISR in its 2005 white paper Predicting and Preventing Unethical Behavior: Fixing Problems Before They Happen. ISR said the DePaul study showed that companies with a strong, public commitment to ethics had a higher market value when compared with organizations that adopted an ethics code and did nothing else and with corporations that had no ethics policy. Those with a public commitment to ethics had an added market value of $10.6 billion. Companies that had adopted an ethics code and did nothing else had an added market value of $8.1 billion. Those organizations that had no code had the lowest added market value - $3.24 billion. Another benefit of actively promoting good conduct is to produce more highly motivated and productive employees who are more likely to remain with their employer for the long term. (Best Practices in HR, April 15, 2006, p. 1)