Structuring ethics education in undergraduate business programs: a proposal

Abstract

This paper examines the role that business schools can play in reducing the occurrence of unethical business practices. Recent experience has highlighted the persistence of unethical conduct, especially in the finance industry, and the limitations of legislation in curtailing this type of conduct. In response, alternative approaches, including self-regulation through industry codes of conduct and firm-based ethics training programs, have increased in importance. But these approaches have also been ineffective. Recognising this, the potential for ethics education at the university level is highlighted. This would reflect an Aristotelian perspective based on virtue ethics where participants in the financial system would possess ‘virtues’ or ‘character traits’ that would cause them to refrain from unethical behaviour because of the education they had received in their business degrees. This raises questions about how to ensure that universities realise this potential on the one hand, and the best way to realise it on the other. The paper argues for a mandatory ethics subject in the core of all business degrees as a condition of accreditation by bodies such as AACSB and EQUIS.