Entrepreneural Ethics in Small and Medium Size Enterprises in Iran: The Approach of Islamic Principles

Ethics and its determinants are of the most important factors influencing the fate of firms and entrepreneurial businesses. Nowadays, the growing attention to ethical issues in workplaces has caused the organizations tend to set ethical codes. However, the results of recent studies show that the ethical organizations will obtain more benefits over a long period and will gain better performance. So this issue has caused the ethical values of organization be an important part of the organization’s culture. So, the purpose of this study is identifying factors affecting entrepreneurial ethics in small and medium-sized businesses in Iran. The study is done using exploratory mixed method. The sample in qualitative part composed of 10 excellent national entrepreneurs acclaimed by Ministry of labor and social Affairs and in quantitative part includes 147 excellent entrepreneurs. Data collected by reviewing the literature and interviewing for qualitative purpose and by researcher-made questionnaire for quantitative part. Content analysis is done to analyze the qualitative data and quantitative data is analyzed using structural equation modelling software. The results show that ethical factors in Prophetic Sirah and narrations, professional ethics in individual and organizational levels and in micro and macro business environments are the main factors affecting entrepreneurial ethics.