Corporate egoism: an investigation of business ethics in the South-Western Nigerian banking industry

Abstract

The normative theory of ethical egoism has been widely applied in management studies, and there is an increasing number of organisations subscribing to its core tenet of best interest and self-interest. Using ethical egoism and ethical impact theory, this article examines the reality of business ethics and ethical professionalism in the Nigerian banking sector by focusing on the different targets set by banks for their employees and the impacts thereof on their work and non-work lives. We present the findings of interviews with 47 present and past bankers in Nigeria, and these findings suggest that banks use egoism to set and ethicise unreasonable loan and deposit targets for their workers. Our findings further indicate that the pressure and consequences of not meeting these targets have forced many bankers to engage in various forms of unethical behaviour, such as bribery and ‘corporate prostitution’. We explain how bankers’ work-life balance and health are negatively affected in the contemporary banking workplace, in which organisational wellbeing is valued above employees’ wellbeing. This article makes a unique and original contribution to the study of corporate egoism and its associated implications in the global South.