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In the past decade, policy-makers in science have been concerned with harmonizing research integrity standards across Europe. These standards are encapsulated in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Yet, almost every European country today has its own national-level code of conduct for research integrity. In this study we document in detail how national-level codes diverge on almost all aspects concerning research integrity-except for what constitutes egregious misconduct. Besides allowing for potentially unfair responses to joint misconduct by international collaborations, we argue that the divergences raise questions about the envisaged self-regulatory function of the codes of conduct. ispartof: BIOETHICS vol:35 issue:5 pages:414-428 ispartof: location:England status: published

Aim This study explores Australian clinical nurses' and midwives' familiarity with a new code of conduct and understanding in what ways the code is important for nurses as they carry out clinical practice. Background Codes specify the expectations of nurses' responsibilities, legal requirements, behaviour and conduct. Being familiar with the code is central to being a professional nurse or midwife. As nursing continues to advance, updating the code is crucial to maintain professional and safe practice. Design This project utilized a cross-sectional descriptive design. Methods A survey was developed incorporating Likert-type scale assessments of the 7 value statements from the 2018 Australian Nurses' Code of Conduct for familiarity and importance. The survey included open-ended questions to elicit clinical nurses' experiences of conduct breaches, opinions regarding usefulness and relevance of the code for current practice. Data were collected at an acute care hospital in Sydney during January 2018. Results Significant differences relating to cultural and patient-centred approaches were revealed in the study. The new value involving the role of research was least understood and ranked least important by nurses and midwives. Professional 'integrity' resonated with participants when considering the behaviour of nurses, and short, unambiguous values were the most popular. Additionally, a substantial number of participants had no knowledge of the code or were not aware of the recently revised version. Conclusion and implications for nursing A code of conduct provides structure and guidance for workplace values and principles. A respected code is important to the nursing profession to help prevent inappropriate and incompetent behaviour and as a guide for nursing performance. Nurses in this study claimed the code was highly relevant to their work as a nurse and was incorporated into their daily practice.

Objectives/hypothesis Postinterview communication between residency programs and applicants is common during the US residency match process. To date, current communication practices between otolaryngology residency programs and applicants have not been studied. The objectives of this study were to characterize the frequency and type of postinterview communication and perceptions of how this communication influences ranking behavior of match participants. Study design Survey. Methods A national survey of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited otolaryngology programs was distributed via the Otolaryngology Program Directors Organization. Results Program directors were surveyed regarding methods and content of postinterview communication, perceived impact that communication has on final rank lists, and current interpretations of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Code of Conduct. Thirty-three of 106 program directors (31.1%) responded. Thirty-eight percent of programs that responded initiate at least some form of postinterview communication. The program director most commonly initiated communication, typically in the form of an email. A minority of respondents (12.1%) indicated that specific information is revealed regarding rank status. Thirty-two percent of respondents indicated that communication initiated by applicants may influence final rank list. Twenty percent of respondents interpret the current NRMP Code of Conduct as allowing programs to reveal rank positions to applicants, and 63.6% of respondents as allowing applicants to reveal intended rank positions. Conclusions The results of this study demonstrate that postinterview communication practices within otolaryngology vary widely. Program directors perceive that postinterview contact between applicants and programs has limited impact on ranking behavior. NRMP rules for postinterview communication between programs and candidates are interpreted variably by program directors. Level of evidence NA Laryngoscope, 129:607-612, 2019.

In this article, the focus is on developing a governance concept built on integrating the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility (SR) standard with an “employee social responsibility” (ESR) concept developed by the authors. To this end. The authors propose to compliment the voluntary, organizationally adaptable, ISO 26000 SR standard for the organization/firm with a seamlessly integrated—and equally adaptable—ESR concept for the individual/employee of that organization/firm. An SR/ESR governance concept emerges, with an emphasis on implementing a SR‐based business enterprise code of conduct and ESR‐related functional‐level codes of conduct, the latter firmly ensconced in an organization's ethical climate. The conclusion section discusses the strengths and weaknesses of our proposed SR/ESR governance concept.

Issue addressed The narrow representation of body image in the media has been linked to body dissatisfaction, particularly among readers of women's fashion magazines. Some countries have made efforts to improve body image diversity in the media and the fashion industry. This has included attempts to regulate minimum body size of models (eg, Israel, France), and the development of codes of practices such as the Australian Industry Code of Conduct on Body Image. However, there is little evidence of whether these efforts have impacted media content. Method This study aimed to gauge the state of body image diversity in the print media 5 years after the introduction of the Australian Code of Conduct via a content analysis of 13 Australian women's fashion magazines published in 2015. Results Results revealed low levels of diversity in body size, ethnicity and age among models depicted in fashion magazine images. Models were predominantly young, white and underweight. Conclusion The results suggest that efforts to improve body image diversity have had little impact on print media. Further research is needed to understand the barriers to increased diversity in the representation of body image in the media so that the industry and regulatory bodies can further address this important issue. This is increasingly pressing given the proliferation of content now enabled through online media platforms.

This paper focuses on Non-Governmental Organisations’ (NGOs) broader social accountability, investigating their public disclosures on climate change commitment and performance. Using a synthesised disclosure index, we analyse the annual reports of 30 NGOs, all signatories to the Australian Council for International Development’s (ACFID) Code of Conduct. Overall disclosure rates from 2008 to 2013 were higher for commitment than performance, but were very low overall. However, the number of NGOs disclosing information rose markedly over the period. Although it is not directly possible to attribute the change in disclosure levels to the implementation of the Code, the enactment of the new Code could be one of the motivating factors for NGOs’ disclosure practices and their demonstrations of greater social accountability.

[Graphic][1] Manuel Magalhaes-Sant’Ana is a European specialist in animal welfare science, ethics and law. He received his DVM in 2001 from the University of Porto, Portugal, his MSc in bioethics in 2008 and his PhD in veterinary ethics education in 2014. He was Newman Fellow in veterinary ethics between 2014 and 2016 at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Ireland. He is currently a researcher at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the University of Lisbon, Portugal. #### The dilemma As an equine practitioner, you have been asked to work for a film company. The role will involve the sedation and/or short general anaesthesia of a horse for the purpose of filming. Your excitement of the prospect of working for the film industry is at odds with your ethical intuition regarding the procedure. You look for guidance in the RCVS Code of Conduct but find little information. What should you do? Animals have been used in films since the dawn of cinema. For decades, harmful use of animals was permitted and even considered acceptable. Particularly notorious events were the killing of about 150 horses in Fred Niblo’s 1925 film ‘Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ’ … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif

In this article, we examine three different cases in which health activists lobbied the World Health Organization and its member states to regulate the marketing practices of multinational companies. The campaign against tobacco manufacturers resulted in a binding treaty; the campaign against manufacturers of infant formula resulted in a non-binding code of conduct; and the campaign against pharmaceutical manufacturers failed. We show that existing arguments regarding the success of global social movements and transnational advocacy networks fail to explain the divergent outcomes in these three cases. Instead, we argue that the effectiveness of global advocacy in these cases depended on the level of perceived legitimacy of the knowledge supporting the advocates' claims and on the prestige of the experts participating in the campaigns.

In this article we seek to problematize the presence of the requirement within the Teachers' Standards (DfE 2012), that they “should not undermine fundamental British values” in the context of initial teacher education in England. The inclusion of this statement within the Teachers’ code of conduct has made its way from the counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent and raises questions about Britishness, values and the re-lationship between the State and the profession more generally. We argue that the in-clusion of the phrase within a statutory document that regulates the profession is de facto a politicization of the profession by the State thereby instilling the expectation that teachers are State instruments of surveillance. The absence of any wider debate around the inclusion of the statement is also problematic as is the lack of training for pre-service and inservice teachers since it means this concept of fundamental British values is unchallenged and its insidious racialising implications are unrecognized by most teachers.

Private labor regulation emerged as an international governance tool to enforce international labor standards. More recently doubts have been expressed concerning the potential of these systems to effectively improve labor conditions in supply chains. The top-down auditing form of enforcing standards is considered not appropriate to enforce international labor standards. This article assesses whether the design of these systems can be strengthened in order to better enforce international labor standards. In this context, attention turns to systems which empower stakeholders such as complaint systems. The article discusses the possibilities and constraints of these systems.

Nursing codes of ethics and conduct are features of professional practice across the world, and in the UK, the regulator has recently consulted on and published a new code. Initially part of a professionalising agenda, nursing codes have recently come to represent a managerialist and disciplinary agenda and nursing can no longer be regarded as a self-regulating profession.This paper argues that codes of ethics and codes of conduct are significantly different in form and function similar to the difference between ethics and law in everyday life. Some codes successfully integrate these two functions within the same document, while others, principally the UK Code, conflate them resulting in an ambiguous document unable to fulfil its functions effectively. The paper analyses the differences between ethical- codes and conduct-codes by discussing titles, authorship, level, scope for disagreement, consequences of transgression, language and finally and possibly most importantly agent-centeredness. It is argued that conduct codes cannot require nurses to be compassionate because compassion involves an emotional response. The concept of kindness provides a plausible alternative for conduct-codes as it is possible to understand it solely in terms of acts. But if kindness is required in conduct-codes, investigation and possible censure follows from its absence. Using examples it is argued that there are at last five possible accounts of the absence of kindness. As well as being potentially problematic for disciplinary panels, difficulty in understanding the features of blameworthy absence of kindness may challenge UK nurses who, following a recently introduced revalidation procedure, are required to reflect on their practice in relation to The Code. It is concluded that closer attention to metaethical concerns by code writers will better support the functions of their issuing organisations.

Emma Culjat-Vukman is a third-year veterinary student from Glasgow university. #### The dilemma As an equine practitioner, you have been asked to work for a film company. The role will involve the sedation and/or general anaesthesia of a horse for the purpose of filming. Your excitement of the prospect of working for the film industry is at odds with your ethical intuition regarding the procedure. You look for guidance in the RCVS Code of Conduct but find little information that is of any help. What should you do? ( IP , May 2020, vol 42, pp 245-246) The initial consideration of whether animals should be used in filmmaking at all reminded me of a discussion I once had with a supervisor in regards to whether zoos were ethically acceptable. Although there …

The seven articles included in this special issue address two major themes in the study of moral emotions in contemporary Asia. The first theme concerns the important role of moral emotions in moral choices and moral behaviours, and the second theme concerns the effects of culture on the connection between moral judgment and moral emotions. In this introduction, these common themes are introduced and a lay theory perspective to inspire future research is proposed. In particular, it is postulated that, in every society, some people (lay descriptive theorists) view morality as the code of conduct put forward by society and accepted by most members of society. Others (lay normative theorists) view morality as the universal guide that all rational individuals accept for governing the behaviour of all moral agents. In this introduction, it is further proposed that in Asia the lay descriptive theory is more prevalent, although the cultural changes that accompany modernization might have increased the acceptance of lay normative theory.

The accuracy of appraisals came into scrutiny during the housing crisis, and a set of policies and regulations was adopted to address the conflict-of-interest issues in the appraisal practices. In response to an investigation by the New York State Attorney General's office, the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) was agreed to by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Using unique data sets that contain both approved and nonapproved mortgage applications, this study provides an empirical examination of the impact of the HVCC on appraisal and mortgage outcomes. The results suggest that the HVCC has led to a reduction in the probability of inflated valuations, although valuations remained on average inflated, and induced a significant increase in the incidence of low appraisals. The well-intentioned HVCC rule made it more difficult to obtain mortgages to purchase homes during the housing price crash, possibly exacerbating the fall in prices.

This article explores how large international companies in the breakfast cereal, snack, and beverage industries address the issue of obesity, and how their strategies are governed by various forms of self-regulation. In a first step, we study websites of ten companies and identify five different dimensions: (i) mission statements, (ii) educational commitment statements, (iii) nutrition labeling, (iv) marketing code of conduct, and (v) education initiatives aimed at professionals. Based on a coding of these activities, we conducted hierarchical cluster analysis and selected five case companies for in-depth investigation. This analysis reveals different types of self-regulation strategies, reflecting differences in levels of commitment and instrumentation. Some companies pursue defensive strategies, some with an element of “blame-control,” whereas others adopt offensive strategies to promote their products. Differences in market communication strategies can be attributed to variations in product portfolio and market orientation, and can also be seen as attempts to forestall public regulation.

Since 2001, there has been a growing consensus that sexual exploitation and abuse of intended beneficiaries by humanitarian workers is a real and widespread problem that requires governance. Codes of conduct have been promoted as a key mechanism for governing the sexual behaviour of humanitarian workers and, ultimately, preventing sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA). This article presents a systematic study of PSEA codes of conduct adopted by humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and how they govern the sexual behaviour of humanitarian workers. It draws on Foucault's analytics of governance and speech act theory to examine the findings of a survey of references to codes of conduct made on the websites of 100 humanitarian NGOs, and to analyse some features of the organisation-specific PSEA codes identified.

Western psychiatry has a history of pathologising and attempting to ‘cure’ same-sex attraction, the legacy of which can still affect mental health practice today. Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people have greater risk of experiencing certain types of mental distress, self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviour as well as at risk of experiencing discrimination within mental health services. The minority stress model is important for understanding the higher levels of mental distress among LGB people.\ud \ud A type of discrimination in mental health services is appearing that has its origins in certain practitioner religious beliefs where same-sex attraction is interpreted as sinful. This has led to the reappearance of the idea that LGB people can be cured of their same-sex attraction, but with religious rather than psychiatric conceptual underpinnings. This may have particular implications for mental health nursing practice, where nurses have religious beliefs that bring them into conflict with the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Conduct that forbids discrimination, and their legal obligation to work within the UK Equality Act 2010.

Facing accusations about weak military discipline following the supposedly poor behavior of American soldiers held captive during the Korean War, President Dwight Eisenhower instituted a Code of Conduct for the Armed Services in 1955. In response, military leaders hired numerous social and behavioral scientists to investigate the nature of the prisoner-of-war (POW) experience. These researchers not only challenged official government accounts of POW activities but opened up a new field of study-stress research. They also changed military training policy, which soon focused more on stress inoculation training, and, in so doing, helped lead the shift in psychology away from behaviorism to ego and cognitive psychology. In this sense, my article ties shifts within the social and behavioral sciences in the 1950s to the military history of the early Cold War, a connection generally missing from most accounts of this period.

Voluntary approaches have been recently used in the horticultural sector to deal with the introduction and spread of invasive alien plants. In Belgium, the first Code of conduct has been developed within the frame of the AlterIAS project, a LIFE+ “Information & Communication” project aiming at raising the awareness of horticulture professionals and gardeners on the invasive plants issue. The Belgian Code was prepared in consultation with representatives from the ornamental sector, public authorities and the scientific community. The Code was promoted throughout the country with a specific communication campaign entitled “Plant different”. Thanks to communication efforts, a positive dynamic of involvement was observed over time. Surveys were performed to assess the changes of attitudes and the perception of the Code by the target audience of the project. Positive results were achieved for horticulture professionals. However, the Code will require more time to be widely adopted by the ornamental sector in Belgium. Code de conduite volontaire sur les plantes envahissantes en Belgique: resultats et retour d'experience du projet AlterIAS LIFE+ Les approches volontaires ont ete recemment utilisees dans le secteur horticole pour limiter l'introduction et la dissemination des plantes exotiques envahissantes. En Belgique, le premier Code de conduite a ete mis au point dans le cadre du projet AlterIAS, un projet LIFE+ « Information & Communication » visant a favoriser la prise de conscience des questions liees aux plantes envahissantes chez les professionnels de l'horticulture et chez les jardiniers. Le Code belge a ete prepare en concertation avec des representants du secteur des plantes ornementales, des autorites publiques, ainsi que de la communaute scientifique. Ce Code a ete mis en avant dans l'ensemble du pays avec une campagne de communication specifique « Plantons autrement ». Grâce aux efforts de communication, une dynamique d'implication positive a ete observee au cours du temps. Des etudes ont ete menees pour evaluer les changements d'attitudes et la perception du Code par son public cible. Des resultats positifs ont ete obtenus aupres des professionnels de l'horticulture. Le Code demandera cependant plus de temps pour etre adopte de maniere plus large par le secteur ornemental en Belgique. Дoбpoвoльный Кoдeкc пoвeдeния в oтнoшeнии инвaзивныx чyжepoдныx pacтeний в Бeльгии: peзyльтaты и ypoки, извлeчeнныe из пpoeктa AlterIAS LIFE+ Дoбpoвoльныe пoдxoды нeдaвнo иcпoльзoвaлиcь в ceктope caдoвoдcтвa для paбoты c интpoдyкциeй и pacпpocтpaнeниeм чyжepoдныx инвaзивныx pacтeний. B Бeльгии пepвыe кoдeкcы пoвeдeния были paзpaбoтaны в paмкax пpoeктa AlterIAS LIFE+ «Инфopмaция и Кoммyникaция», нaцeлeннoгo нa пoвышeниe ocвeдoмлeннocти пpoфeccиoнaлoв плoдoвoдcтвa и caдoвoдoв в oтнoшeнии пpoблeмы инвaзивныx pacтeний. Бeльгийcкий Кoдeкc был пoдгoтoвлeн в xoдe кoнcyльтaций c пpeдcтaвитeлями ceктopa дeкopaтивныx pacтeний, opгaнoв гocyдapcтвeннoй влacти и нayчнoгo cooбщecтвa. Блaгoдapя нayчнo-пpocвeтитeльcкoй кaмпaнии пoд нaзвaниeм «Caжaй c oглядкoй», кoдeкc pacпpocтpaнялcя пo вceй cтpaнe, и в тeчeниe дoлгoгo вpeмeни oтмeчaлacь пoлoжитeльнaя динaмикa вoвлeчeннocти. Были пpoвeдeны oпpocы, пoзвoляющиe oцeнить измeнeния пcиxoлoгичecкиx ycтaнoвoк и вocпpиятия Кoдeкca цeлeвoй ayдитopиeй пpoeктa. B oтнoшeнии пpoфeccиoнaлoв плoдoвoдcтвa были дocтигнyты пoлoжитeльныe peзyльтaты. Oднaкo пoтpeбyeтcя бoльшe вpeмeни для шиpoкoгo пpинятия Кoдeкca ceктopoм дeкopaтивныx pacтeний в Бeльгии.

Recent trends in the project finance industry include an increasing volume and a growing awareness of sustainable development. This has raised the question of whether and a how voluntary code of conduct such as the Equator Principles (EP) could enhance its impact on the project finance industry. We apply an event study methodology, and also consider the market model and conditional variance. We find positive abnormal returns for financial institutions adopting the EP, which supports the reputational risk hypothesis. Furthermore, we document that adopters outperform the global project finance market, especially in terms of market share. However, we do not find evidence that non-adopters are excluded from lending syndicates. Results include practical recommendations for environmental policy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This paper reports recent developments in Rapfish, a normative, scalable and flexible rapid appraisal technique that integrates both ecological and human dimensions to evaluate the status of fisheries in reference to a norm or goal. Appraisal status targets may be sustainability, compliance with a standard (such as the UN code of conduct for responsible fisheries) or the degree of progress in meeting some other goal or target. The method combines semi-quantitative (e.g. ecological) and qualitative (e.g. social) data via multiple evaluation fields, each of which is assessed through scores assigned to six to 12 attributes or indicators: the scoring method allows user flexibility to adopt a wide range of utility relationships. For assessing sustainability, six evaluation fields have been developed: ecological, technological, economic, social, ethical and institutional. Each field can be assessed directly with a set of scored attributes, or several of the fields can be dealt with in greater detail using nested subfields that themselves comprise multidimensional Rapfish assessments (e.g. the hierarchical institutional field encompasses both governance and management, including a detailed analysis of legality). The user has the choice of including all or only some of the available sustainability fields. For the attributes themselves, there will rarely be quantitative data, but scoring allows these items to be estimated. Indeed, within a normative framework, one important advantage with Rapfish is transparency of the rigour, quality and replicability of the scores. The Rapfish technique employs a constrained multidimensional ordination that is scaled to situate data points within evaluation space. Within each evaluation field, results may be presented as a two-dimensional plot or in a one-dimensional rank order. Uncertainty is expressed through the probability distribution of Monte-Carlo simulations that use the c.l. on each original observation. Overall results of the multidisciplinary analysis may be shown using kite diagrams that compare different locations, time periods (including future projections) and management scenarios, which make policy trade-offs explicit. These enhancements are now available in the R programming language and on an open website, where users can run Rapfish analyses by downloading the software or uploading their data to a user interface.

Our cities are increasingly becoming the sites where children socialize, observe, and learn how society functions and many local and global activities have impacted children's health and well-being. The Child-friendly Cities initiative, launched by the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 1996, draws in diverse stakeholders to place children at the center of the urban agenda. Based on social work research, this article analyzes the acclaimed status of Biratnagar Sub-metropolitan city, Eastern Nepal, as a child-friendly city. Despite its efforts, the city of Biratnagar is yet to meet the required criteria to claim itself as a child-friendly city. Further improvements by the city administration in achieving children's participation in decision-making, child-friendly legal environment, and code of conduct are essential. Based on the evidence, the authors advocate for bottom-up approaches that include children's voices and their real participation in city governance and a strong political will to craft child-friendly cities, not as a policy rhetoric but for real. Enabling children to fulfill their potential as equal participants in crafting child-friendly cities will require adults to relinquish some of their hegemonic powers of decision-making on behalf of children.

The work of admissions officers serves clients who include prospective students and their families and the college or university they represent. This chapter presents tenets toward a code of conduct for admissions work that safeguards the welfare of such clients.

Study Type – Therapy (evaluation of information materials) Level of Evidence 3b What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Patients are highly likely to access the Internet for health information, and studies have reported that inaccurate or low-quality information may alter patients’ expectations and negatively impact informed decision-making. In a unique collaboration with the Health On the Internet (HON) Foundation, we evaluated the top 20 search results for the urology search term ‘partial nephrectomy,’ and identified the highest and lowest scoring criteria to increase awareness of areas of concern and improvement. Objective To further evaluate the quality of information available on the Internet with regard to the management of localized renal cancer, we evaluated websites providing information on ‘partial nephrectomy’ in conjunction with the Health On the Internet (HON) Foundation. Many patients now utilize the Internet as a resource to provide further information on disease, treatments and outcomes, and health information on the Internet is largely unregulated. Inaccurate information may contribute to unrealistic expectations and dissatisfied patients. Patients and Methods A google.com search identified the top 30 websites for the search term ‘partial nephrectomy’. The HON Foundation evaluated each website according to the eight principles for Health on the Internet code of conduct (HONcode) certification and reported the overall frequency of certification, as well as individual website compliance with each of the principles. Results Overall, seven (23.3%) of 30 websites met the requirements of HONcode certification and an additional two (6.7%) websites were under review to maintain their certification based on updating their resources. The remaining 21 (70%) websites did not meet the standards for certification. The lowest performing criteria included proper citation of medical information and a clear distinction of advertising from editorial content. Conclusions The low rate of HONcode compliance for these websites illustrates the poor quality of information that patients may encounter when researching options for nephron-sparing surgery, which may have a significant impact on patient decision-making and treatment choices. Physicians should be aware of the quality of Internet resources and how to best use these tools to help guide patients to websites with valid information.

In recent years, there has been increasing managerial and academic attention given to a variety of mechanisms for companies to respond to stakeholder concerns about global business ethics. One area that merits further analysis is the role of industry‐level cooperation regarding issues in global business ethics such as labor practices. There are two main issues that we will address in this article: institutional pressures that predict when an industry will create a code of conduct and institutional complements for an industry‐level code of conduct to be “successful” with regard to responding to stakeholder concerns about international business operations. We offer a number of propositions - bringing together work from both the corporate social responsibility and (neo)institutional theory literatures - with regard to both predictors and complements of industry self‐regulation in reference to labor practices.

Aims and objectives. To develop an instrument to measure nurses’ ethical sensitivity and, secondarily, to use this instrument to compare nurses’ ethical sensitivity between groups. Background. Professional codes of conduct are widely accepted guidelines. However, their efficacy in daily nursing practice and influence on ethical sensitivity is controversial. Design. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants. One hundred and forty-three registered nurses from Barcelona (Spain) participated in the study, of whom 45·83% were working in primary health care and 53·84% in hospital wards. Methods. A specifically designed confidential, self-administered questionnaire assessing ethical sensitivity was developed. Knowledge of the nursing code and data on ethical sensitivity were summarised, with the quality of the questionnaire assessed using Rasch analysis. Results. Item on knowledge of the code showed that one-third of nurses knew the contents of the code and two-thirds had limited knowledge. To fit the Rasch model, it was necessary to rescore the rating scale from five to three categories. Residual principal components analysis confirmed the unidimensionality of the scale. Three items of the questionnaire presented fit problems with the Rasch model. Although nurses generally have high ethical sensitivity to their code of conduct, differences were found according to years of professional practice, place of work and knowledge of the code (p

Recreational fishing constitutes the dominant or sole use of many fish stocks, particularly in freshwater ecosystems in Western industrialized countries. However, despite their social and economic importance, recreational fisheries are generally guided by local or regional norms and standards, with few comprehensive policy and development frameworks existing across jurisdictions. We argue that adoption of a recently developed Global Code of Practice (CoP) for Recreational Fisheries can provide benefits for moving recreational fisheries toward sustainability on a global scale. The CoP is a voluntary document, specifically framed toward recreational fisheries practices and issues, thereby complementing and extending the United Nation's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries by the Food and Agricultural Organization. The CoP for Recreational Fisheries describes the minimum standards of environmentally friendly, ethically appropriate, and—depending on local situations—socially acceptable recreatio...

International organisations, like the UN and EU, have encouraged their Member States for years to increase civil servants' compliance with particular codes of conduct. Romania represents probably one of the most advanced countries in attempting to legislate on civil servant ethics through its Code of Conduct Law. Yet, the Romanian Code of Conduct Law possesses significant weaknesses, emanating both from the inherent difficulties of using hard law in a soft law area (like civil servants' ethics) and the Law's silence as to specific procedures, which government agencies should use in implementing the Law. Given these weaknesses, Romanian government agencies should adopt regulatory instruments that compensate for these weaknesses at the legislative level. In this paper, we present the provisions—particularly related to the establishment of agency‐level ethical doctrines—which regulatory drafters can use to implement these codes of conduct in a civil law system without running afoul of the basic requirements of civil law jurisprudence for clarity and predictability. We discuss the legal basis in Romanian administrative law for the elaboration of specific ethics‐related doctrines and the ways in which such a ‘doctrinal approach’ to administrative ethics can help achieve the objectives of the flawed Code of Conduct Law. We specifically discuss the ways in which Romanian governments can adopt such regulatory instruments and the types of provisions that should be included in order to help overcome the flaws of the Code of Conduct Law.

In 1989 the UK's Geologists' Association (GA) published the Code of Conduct for Rock Coring, a best practice guide to rock sampling by means of coring. The preparation of a code in the UK was required following acts of thoughtlessness by some researchers that permanently defaced outcrops ruining their photographic value. Despite the existence of the GA Code the vandalizing effects of irresponsible coring continue to this day and the cumulative effects are becoming increasingly apparent to even the most casual observers. As well as damaging exposures, irresponsible coring is tarnishing the reputation of geological science and there is concern that relations with landowners may be threatened by irresponsible coring, which may impact upon future sampling and research in the worst affected areas. Consequently, there is an urgent requirement for the reestablishment and promotion of a ‘Code of Conduct for Rock Coring’ based on the principles of the GA Code. To maximize awareness of the code and to ensure good practice guidance is not lost with the passage of time, its ethos could become enshrined in Earth science educational programmes. Just as importantly, adherence to the code could become an integral component of the standard ethical procedure conditions, attached to research funding for projects involving rock sampling.

This is the concluding volume of the United Nations Intellectual History Project (UNIHP). In his Foreword to the book, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his gratitude to the project’s directors ‘for their unstinting efforts to document how UN ideas have been among the world organization’s most important achievements. I am certain that the project will continue to inspire innovation and scholarship for many decades to come’ (p. xv). Over the past decade (1999-2009), the project has sought to provide a history of the ideas and concepts for human progress formed and launched at the UN, which hitherto had been lacking. Directed by Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly and Thomas Weiss, all with long and distinguished academic and UN careers, whom Kofi Annan described as ‘independent thinkers who have an inside knowledge but who write in their personal and professional capacities’, it was also guided by an ‘International Advisory Council’ of 11 distinguished authorities, and financed by funds from eight governments and six foundations. The UNHIP has been an ambitious undertaking. It has produced an impressive output, consisting of two parts. The first is a series of 15 volumes, all published by Indiana University Press. Of these, four overarching books have been produced by the directors themselves: Ahead of the Curve? UN Ideas and Global Challenges (2001); UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice (with Dharam Ghai and Frederic Lapeyre) (2004); UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice (with Tatiana Carayannis) (2005) and this concluding volume (2009). The remaining 11 were commissioned studies written by authorities in their respective fields and covering a wide array of subjects, including, in the order in which they were published: Unity and Diversity in Development Ideas: Perspectives from the UN Regional Commissions (2003); Quantifying the World: UN Contributions to Statistics (2004); The UN and Global Political Economy: Trade, Finance and Development (2004); Women, Development and the United Nations (2005); Human Security and the UN: A Critical History (2006); Preventive Diplomacy at the UN (2007); Human Rights at the UN: The Political History of Universal Justice (2008); The UN and Transnational Corporations: From Code of Conduct to Global Compact (2008); The UN and

An in-depth explanation of selected content of the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission’s ‘Code of Practice for Recreational Fisheries’ (CoP) is presented. The focus is on core areas that were intensely debated in the drafting the CoP. These include definition of recreational fishing, recreational fishing practices, fish welfare, recreational fisheries management and research. It is anticipated that the CoP for recreational fisheries promotes best practice and management principles for sustainable recreational fisheries, within the recreational fisheries sector and ancillary industries/sectors regionally, nationally, and ultimately globally. To be viable, the CoP for recreational fisheries must be adopted by the international community complementing the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Effective leadership involves more than developing and communicating the right strategic vision for the company. To encourage employees to carry out the corporate vision, companies must ensure consistency among the following three main components of their “organizational architecture:” • the allocation of decision-making authority (that is, who in the organization gets to make what decisions); • performance measurement systems (for evaluating the performance of individuals as well as business units); and • reward systems (the rewards for success, both financial and otherwise, and the consequences of failure). The authors illustrate the application of this framework with the case of Xerox's (eventually) successful attempt to create a customer-oriented workforce in the 1980s. But a more effective demonstration of the importance of these principles, as the authors go on to suggest, might well be the same company's well-known failure to realize the commercial promise of the many inventions by its research group in Palo Alto. This organizational framework is especially useful for evaluating the likely effects of major corporate initiatives such as “Six Sigma” or the “Balanced Scorecard.” For example, it could be used to help top management determine whether, and under what circumstances, decentralization is likely to improve decision-making and performance, as well as the changes in the firm's performance management and incentive systems that would be required to make decentralization work. Finally, the authors apply the framework to another important leadership issue: corporate ethics. In response to the scandals of the past decade and the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, many U.S. companies have issued formal codes of conduct, appointed ethics officers, and instituted training programs in ethics. But a key question for top management is whether the incentives established by the firm's organizational architecture reinforce or undermine the code of conduct. In this sense, ensuring consistency in organizational design is an important leadership function—one that is critical to encouraging ethical behavior as well as the pursuit of shareholder value.

Upon winning the 1996 election, John Howard became the first Australian prime minister to codify his understanding of individual ministerial responsibility by publishing A Guide on Key Elements of Ministerial Responsibility. This article examines how this ministerial code of conduct was applied to significant allegations of ministerial impropriety that occurred during the 1996–2007 Howard era, and highlights the relationship between the media, the Prime Minister's response and the ultimate outcome. It finds that Howard's early rigorous application of the Guide to allegations of conflicts of interest involved political pain and instigated its decline. Howard retreated, redefined ministerial responsibility as requiring deliberate wrongdoing and raised the threshold required for a minister's dismissal. His inability to firmly apply the Guide to instances of ministerial misconduct betrays the traditional view that ministers are responsible for their own actions. The contemporary practice is that ministers do not resign for departmental failures for which they are not personally responsible, irrespective of the gravity of that wrongdoing.

This case examines ethics issues related to the misrepresentation of facts in loan collateral certifications. These issues are faced by an employee and a minority shareholder, both of whom are certified public accountants (CPAs). The case requires that students recognize an ethical dilemma, evaluate alternative courses of action, and make a decision. The case also requires interpretation of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) code of conduct and other professional standards. The interpretation of the AICPA code is particularly challenging for students because they have to determine how the code applies to a CPA who is not an employee of the firm and not in public practice. Because the company conducts a portion of its business in the international environment, the case can easily be modified for use in coverage of international ethics standards established by organizations such as the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. The case is applicable for use in both undergraduate or graduate accounting classes and MBA classes. If the case is used early in the curriculum before students have been exposed to ethical reasoning models, the application of ethical decision models should be omitted from the learning objectives. The case is ideal for use as a course-embedded assessment of student learning objectives. Teaching Notes include critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and written communications assessment rubrics. RESUME Les auteurs examinent les questions d'ethique liees a l'inexactitude de l'information relative aux faits, dans le cadre des attestations de garanties d'emprunt. Il s'agit de questions auxquelles font face un employe et un actionnaire minoritaire, tous deux CPA. Dans la resolution du cas, les etudiants sont appeles a cerner un dilemme ethique, a evaluer les plans d'action possibles et a prendre une decision. Le cas exige egalement l'interpretation du code de deontologie de l'AICPA et d'autres normes professionnelles. L'interpretation du code est particulierement exigeante pour les etudiants, car ils doivent determiner comment le code s'applique a un CPA qui n'est pas employe de la societe et qui n'exerce pas l'expertise comptable. La societe exercant une partie de ses activites sur les marches internationaux, le cas peut facilement etre adapte a l'etude des normes ethiques internationales etablies par des organismes comme l'Institut Canadien des Comptables Agrees et l'Association des comptables generaux accredites du Canada. Le cas peut etre applique au contexte des cours de comptabilite de premier cycle aussi bien qu'a celui des cours de comptabilite de cycles superieurs, dont le MBA. S'il est utilise au debut du cours, avant que les etudiants aient ete exposes a des modeles de raisonnement ethique, l'application des modeles decisionnels ethiques devrait etre omise des objectifs d'apprentissage. Le cas propose est ideal pour l'evaluation didactique des objectifs d'apprentissage des etudiants. Les notes pedagogiques englobent les rubriques d'evaluation que sont la pensee critique, le raisonnement ethique et les communications ecrites.

The development of the insurance industry in Australia in the twentieth century was fundamentally shaped by a collusive code of conduct called the tariff. This arrangement, established to overcome problems of uncertainty, initially benefited both tariff and non-tariff firms by enhancing market stability. It also reduced competition. The collusive agreements gradually broke down, however, as new entrants and products entered the market in the 1950s. Self-regulation gradually gave way as the 'rules of the game' changed. The result was a period of instability before new competitive practices, and more direct and specific regulatory requirements emerged in the 1970s.

The introduction of a new corporate governance code in Sweden, modeled after prevailing Anglo-Saxon norms of corporate governance, offers the opportunity to investigate global regulatory convergenc ...

What role can corporate codes of conduct play in monitoring compliance with international labour standards and improving working conditions in global supply chains? Addressing this question, the authors first summarize the results of research on factory audits of working conditions in 800 of Nike's suppliers in 51 countries and two intensive case studies. They then discuss how the codes fit into the broader array of institutions, policies and practices aimed at regulating and improving working conditions, suggesting an evolutionary and complementary approach to regulating working conditions in global supply chains. They outline additional research and institutional innovations needed to test these ideas.

We test the efficiency of the California electricity reserves market by examining systematic differences between its day- and hour-ahead prices. We uncover significant day-ahead premia, which we attribute to market design characteristics. On the demand side, the market design established a principal–agent relationship between the markets' buyers (principal) and their supervisory authority (agent). The agent had very limited incentives to shift reserve purchases to the lower priced hour-ahead markets. On the supply side, the market design raised substantial entry barriers by precluding purely speculative trading and by introducing a complicated code of conduct that induced uncertainty about which actions were subject to regulatory scrutiny. We use a high-dimensional vector moving average model to estimate the premia and conduct correct inferences. To obtain exact maximum likelihood estimates of the model, we develop a new EM algorithm that seamlessly incorporates missing data and applies directly to general moving average time series models. Our algorithm uses only analytical expressions: the Kalman filter and a fixed interval smoother in the E step and least squares-type regressions in the M step. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article analyses the successive attempts of the United Nations to ensure the responsible conduct of transnational corporations, and of business in general, with reference to the protection of the environment. The article will concentrate mainly on the UN draft Code of Conduct for Transnational Corporations, the 'partnership with business' approach of the Global Compact and the human-rights-based approach of the Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with regards to Human Rights. After considering recent developments at the UN Commission on Human Rights, the article evaluates the continued efforts, diverse strategies and multi-faceted institutional role of the UN in keeping the issue of corporate environmental responsibility on the international agenda and in trying to identify the international environmental standards directly applicable to business entities.

In 2003, the global toy industry started a new attempt to implement common standards on working conditions in the notorious ‘sweatshop-factories’ especially in China, where up to three million people from rural provinces produce toys for Western brand name companies. This article explores, why and how the common industry code of conduct (CoC) of the International Council of the Toy Industries (ICTI) gathered momentum and who will benefit from this dynamic. One reason for this harmonization is the uncontrolled growth of unilateral CoC in the industry, that makes it impossible for suppliers to comply with all the requirements, particularly when they deliver to many different brand name companies. Credibility gaps of- and critical reports about the CoC-record of major brand name companies like Disney, Mattel and Hasbro were continuously issued by Nongovernmental Organisations (NGOs) from Hong Kong (the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, HKCIC), its Northern network partner, the German Catholic Organization Misereor under the umbrella of the ‘fair-play’ campaign and, by several media reports in reputable newspapers in the USA. Since 2004, even Mattel as a widely acknowledged ambitious company on codes of conduct, supports the less ambitious sector code. Moreover, the ICTI CoC enjoys support from some big retailers like Karstadt-Quelle, Argos and Woolworth, that give the industry code real authority within the industry. ICTI negotiates with the biggest toy retailers Toys'R'Us and Walmart to accept the code like their own. The coordination between the big retailers and the brand name companies can potentially end current weaknesses of single codes of conduct, that leaves the managerial thesis about ‘first-mover-advantages’ or reputation effects for the brand name companies as a myth. In the long run, the major brand companies may benefit of a better reputation of the whole industry, due to the fact that the image of a brand is strongly connected with the image of the whole sector. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper examines the present value of the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief, in view of discussions on neutrality and the Western bias of the humanitarian aid system, and assesses how it can retain its relevance in future. The Code of Conduct was launched just after the Rwanda genocide of April 1994. A decade later, the crises in Afghanistan and Iraq have sparked renewed interest in humanitarian principles and in whether the code can serve as an instrument to define humanitarianism and guide humanitarian decision-making and coordination. More than 300 organisations have now subscribed to it. This paper is based on the findings of a survey of code signatories and the outcomes of a conference on the value and future of the code, held in The Hague, Netherlands, in September 2004 to mark its tenth anniversary.

In recent years, heated debate has arisen concerning the media practices of Australia's competition and consumer regulator (“the ACCC”), with a number of industry leaders asserting that the ACCC engages in “trial by media.” The public disquiet surrounding the ACCC's use of the media was so significant that the Australian Parliament established an independent committee of inquiry (“the Dawson Inquiry”) to investigate (amongst other things) whether Australian competition legislation “provides adequate protection for the commercial affairs and reputation of individuals and corporations.” In its report, the Dawson Inquiry observed that widespread misgivings about the ACCC's media practices had emerged from the submissions that it had received. In its recommendations to the Australian Parliament, the Dawson Inquiry recommended that the ACCC should develop a media code of conduct to govern its use of the media, particularly in relation to enforcement proceedings. In making these recommendations, the Dawson Inquiry drew from a hitherto unpublished research study conducted in 2002 that sought to identify the extent to which the ACCC engages in “trial by media.” This article documents the design, methodological bases, and findings of that study in order to facilitate broader dissemination of the research findings upon which the Dawson Inquiry's policy recommendations concerning the ACCC's use of the media were based.