Codes of ethics as an integral part of Corporate Social Performance (CSP): The case of international oil and gas companies

Abstract

The research is aimed at exploring the CSP of six international oil and gas companies (“British Petroleum” (“BP”), “Shell”, “Exxon Mobil”, “Gazprom”, “Lukoil” and “Rosneft”) and identifying whether the companies implement CSP as a system and, if yes, what the level of its consistency is. The consistent CSP system implies that the ethical principles codified in a code of ethics underlie CSP outcomes and are reflected in non-financial reports. To achieve the research objective two tasks were solved: firstly, the codes of ethics or equivalent documents and non-financial reports published by each of the peer companies were examined and compared to each other. Secondly, the consistency of the CSP systems was assessed. The analysis of the CSP documents resulted in the following conclusions: all companies except for “Gazprom” use CSP as s system; “BP” and “Exxon Mobil” show the highest level of CSP consistency; “Lukoil” tends towards fragmentized CSP; and the CSP of “Gazprom” could be treated as inconsistent as the company lacks the codification of its business principles. The results of the study provide the framework for the further research of CSP management as well as valuable recommendations for CSP managers.