Abstract

Due to the influence of corporate criminal laws, the use of the concept of “integrity” has spread. This research aims to contribute to the precision of this concept and apply it to business activity. In the first place, a bibliographical survey is made that addresses integrity from different perspectives: etymological, phenomenological and those from the codes of professional ethics, and the academic literature on business ethics (2016-2020). Second, the concept is negatively characterized by three literary characters lacking integrity. The criterion for choosing the stories is the teaching experience in business ethics. These characters are Mullah Nasrudin, the protagonist of a Sufi fable; Narcissus, the protagonist of an ancient Greek myth, and Walter White, the main character in the American TV series called Breaking Bad. Then, these stories are interpreted in the light of the surveyed bibliography. Finally, it is discussed and inferred that the moral solvency that arises from the fulfillment of the given word is the essential element of the virtue of integrity in the field of business professions. Methodologically, this is an argumentative essay in which the review of the academic literature acts as a key to the analysis and interpretation of the illustrative stories and enables the inference of the theoretical conclusions.

Keywords: ethics | professional ethics | deontology | television show | teaching method