Business Ethics Challenges and A Comprehensive Understanding of Tackling Child Labor in Turkey

Abstract

Until a few decades ago, ethical issues were defined in terms of fraudulent behavior and workplace working conditions, but the concept itself has now expanded. Child labor, considered cheap and easily manageable labor in the globalizing world, is one of the chronic problems of many developing and developed countries, including Turkey. Recent studies show that child’s work areas are increasingly diversified, and child labor has become an important factor in the global cheap labor market. For whatever reason, it is a universal ethical issue that children work as young adults in many different sectors, from mining to textiles and agriculture to the automotive industry. In this context, the issue of child labor in Turkey has been discussed in the context of business ethics principles. In the study, three main factors were determined as demographic, educational life, and business life variables as the determinants of the reasons for the involvement of children in work life. The multinomial logit model was used to test the relationships between the variables. The research used data from 1128 children in employment obtained from the Child Labor Force Research Micro Data Set carried out by the Turkish Statistical Institute in 2019. According to the results of the research, it has been determined that the variables related to the education life (educational status of the child, family education status, apprenticeship education status) and the variables related to the business life (working sector, working time, income and family working status) affect the working reasons of children. As a result, in an environment of increasing cooperation and competition between countries with the effect of globalization, each country’s reflection of a common definition of child labor in its own national legislation is one of the most important steps to be taken in preventing child labor. In addition, in underdeveloped and developing countries, eliminating poverty, expanding school attendance conditions, and raising awareness about the existence of children’s rights as individuals will be important steps. It must be admitted that it will not be possible to end child labor in all its aspects without developing a society, and public and private sector management that acts with a sense of ethical responsibility.