The Bible is the foundation of business ethics in the Western world although we don't usually recognize it as such. Even those who proclaim themselves secular have grown up in a society that bases its moral foundations on the Christian religion and have been raised in a society where right and wrong are defined by more than two thousand years of interpretation of the meaning of the old and new testaments.

Many businesses today articulate their ethical position through a written code of conduct and these will generally cover areas such as security of property, integrity, conflict of interest, confidentiality, duty of care and at the last consequences for breaching the code. At first glance it is hard to discern the link these concepts have to the Bible but on closer reading the relationship becomes clearer.

Ethical statements in respect of security of property will prohibit theft, fraud and deceptive conduct and it is easy to see the alignment with the seventh commandment "thou shalt not steal," in these statements. Integrity at its base requires honesty and this clearly aligns with the eighth commandment of not bearing false witness.

Not all areas covered by business ethics have such direct links to the Bible, however when we study the reason for banning operations in an environment where there is a conflict of interest, keeping confidential information secure and even duty of care to customers, employees, shareholders and more recently community we see that the underlying reason is to ensure fairness, justice and responsibility for others which are all thematically linked to the ideals proposed in the New Testament.

Although the Bible has defined right and wrong for our society and this has been reflected in our standard of business ethics its direct influence on people operating ethically within a business environment is probably restricted to those who follow the Christian faith and its teachings in their everyday life. It is hard to tell how many people in business act ethically because of their hope of everlasting life as promised by the Bible and how many do so because it is the right thing to do,' even though they may not believe in God. Likewise what stops those who are tempted to breach the code of conduct? Is it fear of eternal damnation or the more immediate consequence of a jail term if fraud is discovered?

The answer then becomes that the Bible's influence on business ethics is significant while also being inconsequential. Its significance resides in the fact that our ethical rules have their roots established in the Bible, however its impact and affect on individual business dealings in the 21st century is probably of little consequence.

Learn more about this author, Marie Hurley.
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