Abstract
Entrepreneurs’ engagement in ethically suspect behaviors (ESBs) can have seriously negative business and social consequences. Yet what defines entrepreneurs’ ESBs remains unclear. Further, little is known about what factors contribute to such behaviors. This study provides conceptual clarification of entrepreneurs’ ESBs and examines environmental, firm, and individual factors in relation to them. Results, based on data from 158 Chinese entrepreneurs, indicate that dynamism, firm performance, and relational social capital are all negatively related to ESBs. Firm performance partially mediates the relationship between dynamism and ESBs, and albeit with marginal support, the relationship between entrepreneurs’ relational social capital and their ESBs.
Notes
This research is partly funded by VOICES Faculty Fellowship in Ethics and NSFC # 71072092.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Shaji A. Khan
Shaji A. Khan is a lecturer in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
Jintong Tang
Jintong Tang is an assistant professor in the Department of Management at Saint Louis University.
Renhong Zhu
Renhong Zhu is an associate professor in the Department of Management at Sun Yat‐Sen University.