Ethical Culture, Ethical Decision Making and Performance Of Petroleum Corporations South Sudan:

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study investigated the relationship between ethical culture, ethical decision making and performance of Petroleum Corporations in South Sudan. A case of Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet). The study sought to answer the following questions: what is the relationship between ethical culture and performance of Nilepet, between ethical decision making and performance of Nilepet, and factor structure of ethical culture and ethical decision making on performance of Nilepet? The study used a case study survey employing both qualitative and quantitative research approaches to enable a triangulation of data on the variables under study. A sample of 118 respondents was selected using simple random and purposive sampling. Questionnaires and interviews were the data collection instruments used by the researcher. Quantitative data was summarized, sorted, edited and analyzed using Pearson’s correlation and regression analysis with the help of statistical packages for social scientists (SPSS) version 24.0 and Microsoft office excel. The findings were presented in a report format. During the course of presenting the qualitative data, narratives were included from interviews to emphasize basic opinions. The study established a positive and significant relationship between ethical culture and performance (Pearson correlation of .634 and P-value < 0.01), a positive and significant relationship between ethical decision making and performance (r = .610, P-value < 0.01) and ethical culture and ethical decision making predicted performance of Nilepet by 59% (Adjusted R Square=.586, p>0.01). The study concluded that performance of Nilepet can be improved through a combination of ethical culture and ethical decision making, though of ethical culture explains more of performance than ethical decision making. The researcher recommended that Management of petroleum corporations in South Sudan and Nilepet in particular should endeavour to improve ethical culture in the organisation through moral awareness, moral courage, moral reasoning and moral efficacy, Ethical decision making should be improved in the petroleum organisations through effective stakeholder balance, process integrity, leadership effectiveness and long-term perspective and that that while management of petroleum corporations are implementing ethical culture and ethical decision making, such strategies should be directed to strong financial results, satisfaction of clients and employees and then productivity and innovation. A replication of this study can be done using other research designs such as cross -section and longitudinal and using various data collection methods and sources to get more rigorous research findings.