Research Ethics in Business Studies

Ethical conduct of research is a key requirement in research work across all disciplines. Ethics in research is the very basic foundation that lays the basis for integrity, acceptability, and fairness of research conducted and results obtained. Globalization and easy internet access to online sources have taught us  about how contextual variations can make a difference in approaches to conducting research and collecting data. Using secondary data, this chapter discusses ethics in business studies research in the context of developed economies. The chapter provides a general orientation to the process of research ethics followed in research projects in the UK. The chapter draws on challenges and approaches to ethics in business studies followed by a detailed encounter of ethical expectations and processes involved. It is identified that ethics and regulatory requirements in research are very strong in a developed  economy like the UK. However, for a researcher based in the UK, if it involves collecting data on other countries, familiarity with that local culture, expectations and norms is crucial to get success in data collection and research.