ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between ethical behavior of firms and foreign direct investments in African countries and tests whether the judicial independence moderates this association. The sample includes 108 country-year observations over a period of 2014–2017. Findings show that the ethical behavior of firms is positively associated with foreign direct investment. Similarly, judicial independence has a positive and significant effect on the same variable. When testing for the moderating effects of judicial independence, the association between ethical behavior of firms and foreign direct investment remains positive and significant for high judicial independence sub-sample, while it becomes insignificant for countries characterized by low judicial independence. The findings highlight the importance of business ethics in attracting foreign direct investment inflows in African countries. It also emphasizes the need to consider the role played by high judicial independence in strengthening this association. These results signal to policy makers in African countries the importance of adopting enforcing rules obliging firms to act ethically and strengthening judicial independence.

摘要

本文研究了非洲国家企业道德行为与外国直接投资之间的关系，并检验了司法独立是否调节了这种关联。该样本包括 2014 年至 2017 年期间 108 个国家/地区的观测数据。研究结果表明，企业的道德行为与外国直接投资呈正相关。同样，司法独立对同一变量也有显着的正向影响。在检验司法独立性的调节作用时，对于司法独立性较高的子样本，企业道德行为与外国直接投资之间的关联仍然是正向且显着的，而对于司法独立性较低的国家，这种关联性则变得不显着。调查结果强调了商业道德在吸引非洲国家外国直接投资流入方面的重要性。它还强调需要考虑高度司法独立在加强这种联系方面所发挥的作用。这些结果向非洲国家的政策制定者表明，采取强制企业道德行为和加强司法独立的执行规则的重要性。