Intensions versus actual behavior: undergraduate business ethics course and students' reported workplace behavior

Abstract

PurposeThe theory of planned behavior was used as a guiding framework to explore how undergraduate business students, employed full-time, perceived the influence of their first class in business ethics on ethical awareness and ethical behavior in the workplace.Design/methodology/approachIn this qualitative study, the perceived influence of ethics education on ethical awareness and ethical behavior in the workplace was explored. The sample consisted of eight concurrently employed undergraduate business students at a university in the Southwestern US.FindingsInductive analysis of primary data collected in the study suggests that ethics education increased ethical awareness. The increased desire to correct unethical behavior is another step toward ethical behavior. However, the participants in the current study did not report an increase in actual ethical behavior despite their increased ethical awareness and intent. Ethical awareness is only one component in the multidimensional process of ethical decision-making, and the increase in ethical awareness alone may not increase ethical behavior. Instead, attitude toward ethical behavior and perceived behavioral control needs to be considered as well.Originality/valueThe literature indicates that ethics education increases awareness of ethical norms and cognitive moral development. However, the question remains about how ethics education transfers to ethical behavior at the workplace. This study sought to investigate this question.