Beyond rule-based ethics: Learning from Covid-19 to promote a culture of integrity in Mexico

This chapter aims to overcome rule-based ethics approaches to business by exploring the potential of neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics for deepening our understanding of ethical organizations as a key driver towards building a culture of integrity, transparency and trust after the Covid-19 pandemic. In Mexico, the National Anti-Corruption System is promoted as a tool to combat corruption, in line with a variety of international instruments that have been proposed to counteract this problem. Since its creation, the National-Anti-Corruption System has attempted to disseminate a culture of business integrity among various key actors, thereby promoting actions within their organizations to curb corruption. However, the concept of a culture based on integrity needs to be explored in greater depth in order to understand its scope and its potential for going beyond mere regulatory compliance. To do so, this paper addresses a culture of integrity in light of a virtue ethics approach, which includes norms, goods, and virtues. Thus, this chapter's aim is twofold: first, it seeks to deepen our understanding of organizations by showing how a neo-Aristotelian approach to business can provide a more robust organizational culture beyond compliance; second, it explores the potential that a virtue ethics approach has for informing the Mexican National Anti-Corruption System and promoting a culture of integrity over the long term.