Federally regulated corporate communication: an analysis of dominant values

Applying Sekhar’s system of values that governs ethical choices in business, this study examines two sets of data. The first is Regulation S‐P, recently instituted by the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the use of confidential client information by providers of financial services in the USA. The second set consists of the resulting corporate communications that were issued by ten organizations in compliance with the regulation. Findings indicate that dominant values expressed explicitly in the regulation itself differ from those that dominate corporate communications. In Regulation S‐P itself, the right to privacy and the right of individual choice dominate, while the tests of universalisability and the greatest good for the greatest number, as well as the values of truth, transparency and honesty, trust and cooperation, and respect for law are implied. In corporate communications, consumer protection, trust and confidence, value, respect, and satisfaction are dominant themes and values.