Ethical Dimensions of Corporate Governance Practice in Ghana

This study investigates the ethical dimensions of corporate governance practice in Ghanaian public sector and private enterprises. It aims to understand the phenomena of governance practices in this context and examine its implications for good corporate governance systems in Ghana. Using grounded theory methodology, data was collected from 28 semi structured interviews with board of directors and senior officials, and group discussion of 9 participants, mainly directors and officials involved with Ghanaian corporate governance system. The interviews were informed by the survey of governance practice. Through the constant comparative method of open coding of interviews, categories emerged which were subsumed into main categories during the axial coding. This formed the basis for the selective coding which identified the core category and its relationships with the sub-categories, and verified to develop the substantive theory of corporate governance systems. The substantive theory demonstrate that corporate governance systems are socially constructed and as such understanding the behaviour of board of directors is vital for understanding how corporate governance is practiced.