Perceptions of ethics by public and private sector Iranians

Ethical maturity and perception of a country's private and public sector employees are important variables in the creation of an ethical business environment. This research surveyed 448 Iranian citizens, public and private sector employees, using the Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) instrument. This study concludes that there are differences in the ethical maturity levels of public and private sector employees. Those who are employed by public agencies have higher PBES scores than respondents who work in the private sector and those who are currently unemployed or are students. There were statistically significant differences between public and private sector subjects. Furthermore, having ethics training or a code of ethics in the organization did not produce any significant differences.