Abstract
The study evaluates a pilot course designed to respond to findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) and similar findings reporting changes in U.S. life course development and religious participation through an intervention based on sociological theories of morality. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impacts of a business course in a public university designed to prepare emerging adults for culturally and religiously diverse workplaces. The intended outcomes are for students to better identify their personal moral values, while also gaining cultural awareness of the moral values in six different value systems: five major world religions and secular humanism. The study response rate was 97 percent (n = 109). Pre- and post-test survey data analyze changes in the reports of students enrolled in the course (primary group) compared to students in similar courses but without an emphasis on morality (controls). Qualitative data include survey short answer questions, personal mission statements, and student essays describing course impacts. Quantitative and qualitative results indicate reported increases in identification of personal moral values and cultural awareness of other moral values, providing initial evidence that the course helps prepare emerging adults for multi-faith workplaces.
Highlights
Emerging adulthood is a relatively new stage of life that developed in response to a number of macro-structural changes in the last several decades in the United States [1]
This study investigates the following research questions: Does a course designed to prepare emerging adult college students for multi-faith workplaces appear to develop greater moral and cultural awareness? Upon completion of the course, do students report that they are better able to identify their own moral values and have gained greater awareness of other value systems? Before investigating those questions, the section summarizes the empirical and theoretical background leading to the creation of this course and to this study designed to evaluate its impacts
In examining changes in religious participation longitudinally within the same cohort of American adolescents as they progressed to early adulthood, we found a net decline
Summary
Emerging adulthood is a relatively new stage of life that developed in response to a number of macro-structural changes in the last several decades in the United States [1]. Though many generations have had transitional periods as they discerned adulthood trajectories, emerging adults today spend a decade or more somewhere between their adolescence and young adulthood. Research indicates that many emerging adults have difficulty identifying the moral values that guide their everyday behaviors and instead tend more often make decisions without considerable self-reflection [2,3]. This is especially a problem for workplaces, which rely upon a basis of moral values for ethical decision-making [4]. To respond to this issue, the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business, in partnership with the Tyson Center for Faith in Spirituality in the Workplace, is offering a new course entitled, Religions 2016, 7, 40; doi:10.3390/rel7040040 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions “Authentic Leadership in a Multi-Faith Workplace: Remaining True to Yourself in a Professional
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