Ethical Behaviour and Performance of Selected Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Calabar Municipality

Abstract

The inability for sustainable ethical culture affects business behaviour, reputation and its priority for ethical practice as measure for performance goals of SMEsin Calabar Municipality. The study examined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Governance Principles (CGP) as elements of ethical behaviour of SMEs required for improved performance. The study was guided by Deontology Theory and the population of the study consisted of 807 staff with a sample size of 267 staff determined with the use of Taro Yamane sampling formular. Stratified sampling method and Bowley‟s proportional allocation formular were adopted in the study. Factor analysis was used to ascertain the validity of the constructs while Pearson-Product-Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses with the use of SPSS version 23. Findings revealed that Firms‟ reputation is achieved through the helpof CSR and CGP to minimize business risk and also influence positively the economic, environmental and social impact with increase resource productivity of the enterprise. The implication of the findings was the rejection of the null hypotheses. The study concluded thatethics as tool for firm reputation has attracted investors and stakeholders for sustainable performance of SMEs and this prevent economic and financial crisis in the business. The study recommended that ethical culture should be a choice of SMEs to enhance the reputation of the enterprises with high sales revenue for long term sustainability.