| The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between professionals' background in publicly traded companies and their perception of unethical behavior (ethical risks) and awareness of ethical risk management (eRM) and enterprise risk management (ERM) programs. Three research questions explored the relationship between professionals' background information and their perception of ethical risks, their awareness of eRM programs for ethical compliance, and the overall ERM program or framework used at their companies. Von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations' ERM theory were used to form an eRM framework, which also incorporated the principles of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations, ethical risk factors, and Carnegie Mellon's Capability Maturity Model Integration. A quantitative design used a random sample of 40 professionals who completed a web-based, Likert-scale survey containing 80 questions. Data were analyzed using a combination of Mann-Whitney U tests, Spearman's Rho tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between professionals' gender and their perception of ethical risks, awareness of eRM programs for ethical compliance, and awareness of overall ERM programs. The proposed eRM framework is recommended for use in publicly traded entities to mitigate ethical risks. Future research employing a qualitative methodology is advised. This research may have implications for positive social change, in that leaders in publicly traded entities may be encouraged to (a) identify unethical behavior as a high business risk, (b) incorporate ethical risks in their organization's overall ERM, and (c) meet their corporate social responsibility. |
