국제기업의 윤리수준 영향요인에 대한 연구

Recently the power of international firms throughout the world grew so radically that the firms have been accused of causing a number of social and ethical problems especially in the local countries. For this reason, the study on the international business ethics has augmented and is recognized as one of the important areas in the business administration field. Nevertheless, the study remains at an early stage because the paradigm of the field has not been established yet and also it has deep relations with neighbor academic fields such as philosophy, sociology, and ethics. Furthermore, systematic and quantitative studies can be hardly seen. This study is designed to examine the factors affecting the level of business ethics of international firms. For doing this, we assume that level of business ethics is determined by the opportunity cost more than the human characteristics, that is, firms keep rules or take charge of social responsibilities as long as the cost of doing so is lower than not. We also assume that the cost of keeping a rule or taking charge of social responsibility is different between national firms and international firms. Based on these two assumptions, a research model determining the level of business ethics of international firms is constructed and tested. Data were collected through a mail survey of firms involved in international business, which are listed in Overseas Direct Investment Statistics of Pusan published by the Bank of Korea. The response rate reached 35.1%. The collected data were analyzed through multiple regression analysis to test model. The statistics show that the model is significant. and the ethical level of host country, investment experience, and level of market involvement are turned out to be significant explanatory variables for the dependent variable, the ethical level of international firms in the host countries. The result means that the ethical level of Korean international firms is more influenced by firm specific factors such as experience of foreign involvement and mode of investment than the social specific factors. It partly implies that the ethical motive of firm is closely related to firm's interest