Do International Management Researchers Need a Code of Ethics?

While the methodological problems associated with international management research have been widely discussed, much less attention has been given to the ethical dilemmas confronting those who seek to undertake their research in crosscultural settings. Three vignettes are used to identify and explore the nature of those ethical dilemmas. Attention is directed at ways in which ethical conundrums might satisfactorily be resolved. Specifically, the paper addresses the question of whether a code of ethics would be useful for international business researchers. In an era when ethics is central to all social activities, it will be critical that management researchers are equipped to deal with ethical questions relating to their studies in other cultures. Though codes of conduct can be helpful in guiding and regulating researchers' behavior, there are a number of other means by which the desired ends can be achieved.