Abstract: “In this era of globalization, ethical matters are overlooked by many in everyday life. This also holds true for businesses, as is evident in news reports on the unethical conduct of businesspeople, such as the breach of trust, cheating, and other irresponsible practices. Such events raise the question of how well business ethics is practiced by businesspeople. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the extent to which business ethics are practiced by businesspeople owning small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We also reviewed how business ethics practiced among the Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera-owned SMEs differ. We employed a questionnaire survey to obtain data. One hundred respondents were chosen as the sample. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The findings show that the level of business ethics practiced among Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera-owned SMEs are high for personal values and moderately high for social responsibility management,”

Keywords: Ethics, business, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), practice of business ethics