Elementos para establecer una infraestructura ética en pymes

Abstract

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to make an innovative contribution to the identification of elements, with which the manager of a small and medium sized enterprise can articulate an ethical infrastructure in its organization. The initial question that gave origin to this research was the explore what elements can be set by the founder/manager of an SME, so that the ethical structure of the company, can survive him or stay beyond the personal values of the founder. The research is sequenced in three phases: an initial phase for literature review and elaboration of a specific theoretical framework to place the questions and hypothesis of the research; a second phase, more exploratory and developed with qualitative methodology, with the purpose of identifying the elements that compose the ethical infrastructure, and the factors that can promote or hinder its implementation and a third, more confirmatory phase, with quantitative methodology, in order to evaluate the influence of such ethical infrastructure on specific aspects of the culture of the company and on its ethical orientation, as well as to weight the different contribution of the elements of the ethical infrastructure. Several research methodologies have been combined, both qualitative, such as interviews, focus groups, and the use of quantitative tools for qualitative analysis (Atlas.TI), with quantitative tools, such as the collection of data through online questionnaires, statistical factor analysis and SEM-PLS techniques. The use of these mixed methodologies allows to offer an expanded analysis of the results, and is regarded especially useful in the case of business ethics research in small and medium-sized enterprises. The planning, data collection, analysis and preparation of this work have taken place also in different stages, from the end of the year 2012 until the year 2016. In total 28 companies were participants in the qualitative phase, while 148 valid questionnaires have been collected for the quantitative phase, corresponding to frm 65 companies, all of them SMEs. The results of this doctoral work contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the area of business ethics research in SMEs, developing the concept of ethical infrastructure and establishing its influence in the company. It offers a series of new tools such as the final questionnaire, which can be further developed and used in future comparative studies. Finally, it provides a number of useful additional findings to understand the reality of ethics and CSR in SMEs in Spain, and offers a series of practical indications, aimed at the managers of such enterprises.