Religious Beliefs or A College Ethics Course- Does Either Really Impact Student Perceptions of Ethical Behavior?

Abstract

This study considers the impact of two variables on the perception of students regarding various classroom behaviors concerning themselves, and then concerning their peers. The first variable is the self-reported level of religiosity of the students, and the second is the completion of a business ethics course. Two universities participated in the study: Temple University with 61 juniors and seniors and Columbus State University with 215 juniors and seniors out of a total of 332 mostly undergraduate, business students attending selected business classes. The findings are that students viewing themselves as more religious have higher critical standards for both themselves and their peers. Students who completed on ethics course, whether they considered themselves more religious or not, did not demonstrate a significantly higher level of ethical standards for either themselves or their peers.