Charting Ethics in Asia-Pacific HRM: Does East Meet West, Ethically?

Enforceable ethical standards and human resource management (HRM) strategies are important to the progress of any nation and both can be used to avoid or correct ethical wrongdoing. Using survey data from 6 Asia-Pacific countries and 4 U.S. states, this study finds that while most employees are aware of ethical requirements at work, there are clearly differences between East and West in the perceived frequency of unethical behaviors and the ethical infrastructure used to address wrongdoings. The study concludes that required adaptations to improve ethical behavior are not exclusively the East adapting to the West or the West adapting to the East. There is also some ethical convergence where similar ethical problems and anticorruption strategies are found in both cultural settings. Further, there are substantial national variations as well as some ethical convergence within the Asian context. Selected HRM strategies to promote ethics are highlighted.