ETHICAL CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY IN NIGERIA: THE NEXUS

Abstract

This work focused on examining whether Ethical Corporate Communication has any relationship with business productivity and to what extent this has impacted the Nigerian business environment. The trigger was the observable decline in ethical values in business dealings and the seeming craze for immediate personal benefits and profit margins which have become the focus of business transactions in corporate entities. This is in spite of several attempts at ethical reorientation. Integrity and loyalty no longer seem to matter. The work was anchored on Classical Management and Norm theories; a survey of four public service institutions was carried out through random administration of questionnaires to more than 410 employees. Findings showed that although there is widespread awareness of the role of communication in business productivity as well as the essence of Code of Ethics in the integrity of organizational perception, ineffective ethical corporate communication and lack of adherence to ethical codes have become impediments to efficiency, with attendant negative impact on business productivity in the organizations surveyed. Given the potency of ethical codes in defining the way things should be done in any corporate situation, it was recommended that both the government and body corporates should emphasize integration of ethical values in everyday practice across board. Another recommendation is that Ethical Corporate Communication should be adopted in directing employee attitudes towards business productivity in Nigeria and sanctions must follow any breach for effectiveness and deterrence.