Vygotskian Business Ethics: The Influence of Peers on Moral Reasoning in Business Ethics Education.

David Ohreen,Scott Comber,Binod Sundararajan,Valerie Trifts

doi:10.1177/1052562921996019

David Ohreen, Scott Comber + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562921996019

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Abstract

The Russian developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky provides important theoretical underpinnings for an alternative to business ethics pedagogy. Although Vygotsky’s constructivist approach has been applied to other disciplines, such as cognitive development, moral development, and network analysis and learning, its application to business ethics education is virtually nonexistent. Vygotsky’s focus on language and peer influence provides a novel approach to ethics education. Although many business ethics instructors already use group discussion in their classes, we provide evidence that will reinforce such techniques as a crucial pedagogical method. This study is an exploratory application of Vygotsky’s developmental theory to business ethics education. Data were gathered in business ethics and management courses, with experimental and control groups, and analyzed using the Defining Issues Test and thematic-coded journal entries. Results indicated that discussions created a zone of proximal development improving the moral reasoning for most students giving them multiple perspectives and providing support to engage in deliberations and peer dialogue when discussing ethical frameworks, ethical scenarios, and ethical decision making.

Highlights

Global business environments and internationalization of education present challenges to management education because they are largely imbued with Western or Anglo-American values tied to business schools (Hardy & Tolhurst, 2014)
Business ethics education has limited effect, in part, because it rests on Western rationalistic traditions within normative ethics, business theory, and cognitive psychology
We argue business ethics education should be grounded in the zone of proximal development (ZPD) with aid from the professor and one who implicates reflective thinking based on dialogues between social and classroom peers

Summary

Introduction

Global business environments and internationalization of education present challenges to management education because they are largely imbued with Western or Anglo-American values tied to business schools (Hardy & Tolhurst, 2014). Normative approaches to business ethics as part of this rationalistic tradition has dominated business schools as a way of combatting unethical behavior This normative approach often rests on an ethical theory applied to case studies and analyzed through the minutia of arguments for and against. De los Reyes et al (2017) have added more nuance to this assertion They discuss the limitations of cognitive ethical models, like the virtues model, and the promise of newer models, such as behavioral ethics, that integrate much more realism about the human condition and argue for what they call a spaghetti model: Ideally, the acceptance of a “spaghetti model” approach leads to blending conventional behavioral and philosophical insights, and seeks to incorporate the kind of rich empirical and interpretive insights that are offered by various ethnographic and field study methods and from a wide range of social scientific theorizing. They discuss the limitations of cognitive ethical models, like the virtues model, and the promise of newer models, such as behavioral ethics, that integrate much more realism about the human condition and argue for what they call a spaghetti model: Ideally, the acceptance of a “spaghetti model” approach leads to blending conventional behavioral and philosophical insights, and seeks to incorporate the kind of rich empirical and interpretive insights that are offered by various ethnographic and field study methods and from a wide range of social scientific theorizing. (de los Reyes et al, 2017, p. 332)

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