Adoption of competitive intelligence ethics in the ICT industry of South Africa

Abstract

There are ethical concerns on how competitive intelligence (CI) is practiced. CI is mainly confused with industrial espionage or sometimes smeared with harmful unethical conduct. The assumptions have negative implications for the full recognition of CI as a profession and the reputation of the practice on, industries or firms and performance. In an attempt to address these concerns, the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) developed a CI code of ethics. However, critics of CI claim that the CI code of ethics has not been adopted by CI professionals, firms and industries. Moreover, there is very little evidence, if any, on how ethical theory influence the adoption of CI. In response to the critics, this study aimed at developing a CI Ethics Adoption Model (CIEAM) that will be the premise for analysing factors that positively or negatively influence the adoption of a CI code of ethics. This study followed interpretive structural modelling to identify core determinants of CI ethics adoption. Based on extracts from literature, a web-based questionnaire was designed, validated by CI experts and empirically/quantitatively tested by 184 South African ICT firms. The results reveal that South African ICT firms have adopted CI ethics to an absolute extent and utilises different CI ethics enforcement methods. The results also reveal that organisational and stakeholders’ factors, business ethics and ethical theories, decision-making factors, CI practice factors, raising CI ethics awareness, and CI ethics challenges are the core determinants for the adoption of CI ethics and are components of the CIEAM. In practice, the CIEAM may minimise unethical conduct by some CI professionals, and the confusion of CI with espionage, whilst improving the credibility and recognition of the CI profession. The model may also serve as a valuable tool for practitioners and scholars who need to measure the adoption of CI ethics across different business sectors. Theoretically, it may serve as input to the development of CI policies and CI ISO standards in the ICT industry and related industries. Recommendations are made towards the application of the model in other industries.