Business ethics perceptions and practices of universities: A research on Western Black Sea Universities Union

The main purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of business ethics of universities that are members of Western Black Sea Universities Union by considering them as 'organization', and to define activities, principles and codes were adopted or not adopted in the field. The sample of the research consists of nine universites, were selected by total population sampling method. The data of semi-structured interviews with secretary-generals/assistant secretary-generals of universities, and documents that were provided from official web sites of the universities, were used as dataset. Qualitative research methods of content analysis and document analysis were applied to the data. The interview data were analysed with content analysis, and the document data were analyzed with document analysis. The findings were interpreted and compared under three categories that were defined commonly for both analysis: 'Ethical perception', 'Activities and practices of universities on 'business ethics', 'The principles and codes of 'business ethics.' Consequently; it was defined that the level of perception of business ethics were not adequate in universities; as the ethical perception was not established adequately in universities, mistakes and deficiencies arose; and ethical principles and codes were not organized properly and uniquely for institutional culture. Keywords: Ethical Perception in Universities, Business Ethics, Content Analysis, Document Analysis.