Teaching Business Ethics Research Articles

Synergistic Ignatian and Business Values for Efficacious Business Ethics

Many organizations are struggling to be run in an ethical fashion that consider all stakeholders and contribute comprehensively to society. As is true in much cross-discipline research, concepts and values can inform and enhance one another to produce broader contributions to society. This paper suggests this is the case when cross-pollinating Ignatian and business values for teaching business ethics that results in more ethical organizations. However, teaching Ignatian values as an ethical view in business schools is fraught with several practical issues including its place within the broader ethics literature. Our paper addresses a way that Ignatian values can be taught within a discipline-specific framework – namely by cross sectioning the values with “innovation” and “efficiency”. The practical utility of this framework is illustrated through several real-life examples. This framework is pragmatic and useful in guiding the personal and professional lives of students and organizations who seek to acquire business knowledge and intertwines the fields of management, ethics, and spirituality in a practical manner. The framework proposed in this paper provides moral and spiritual guidance for teaching, living, and running ethical organizations.

Education needs for business ethics components among college students majoring in fashion

The purpose of this study was to explore the importance level, the present level, and the educational need for 21 business ethics components among 2-year and 4-year college students majoring in fashion. Survey data of 364 students (128 students of 2-year colleges and 238 students of 4-year colleges) were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Borich’s needs assessment for education, The Locus for Focus model, exploratory factor analysis, and t-test. The results showed five business ethics components ranked highly as educational needs among college students: ‘reducing waste’, ‘using vegan materials’, ‘using human-friendly materials’, ‘strengthening sustainable technologies’, and ‘promoting workers’ rights’. Those components should be integrated into curricula of fashion majors in colleges. Students in 4-year colleges considered most of 21 business ethics components as more important than did students at 2-year colleges. More needs for education were observed by 4-year college students in eight business ethics components than by 2-year college students. In addition, a positive attitude toward business ethics education and the suitability of business ethics education were higher among 4-year college students than 2-year college students. Results provide a guideline for business ethics education by indicating a list of business ethics components that urgently needed to be adapted to fashion curricula according to each college type.

Rational Choice, Personal Norms, Social Norms and Intention to Commit Resume Fraud

Referring to rational choice theory, theory of planned behavior, situational action theory, and model of frame selection, the study examines the effects of rational choice variables, social (subjective) norms, and personal (moral) norms on a sample of 286 associate degree graduants’ intention to misrepresent information on their resumes with a view to identifying ways to curb the problem. Participants were asked to indicate their likelihood of fabricating, embellishing, and omitting information on their resumes in response to a hypothetical recruitment advertisement. Their perceived benefits/costs of resume fraud as well as the respective probabilities of occurrence, perceived social norms and personal norms were measured. Results found that only perceived benefits (but not perceived costs or the probabilities of occurrence) and personal norms (but not social norms) had direct effects on intention to commit resume fraud. The findings suggest that while job applicants are utilitarian, their rationality is bounded, and they only use limited information in making relevant decisions. Personal norms also moderated the effect of perceived benefits on resume fraud, with effect of perceived benefits much weakened among those with higher personal norms. The results cast doubt on the use of deterrence measures to curb resume fraud. On the other hand, the importance of business ethics education is highlighted.

Learning Business Ethics Through Making: Integrating a Makerspace Approach in Business Ethics Instruction

Learning Business Ethics Through Making: Integrating a Makerspace Approach in Business Ethics Instruction

Fiery phoenix PLC – entrepreneurial survival in Zambia

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: students should be able to provide definitions for ethical dilemmas; students should be able to identify ethical dilemmas in a real business context; and students should be able to determine the outcomes of applying given decision-making models to a specific scenario. Case overview/synopsis The aim of this study is to demonstrate the complexity of ethical decision-making in start-up enterprises in emerging markets. The study draws on two well-known decision-making models to illustrate how their application in this context may lead to conflicting outcomes. The study data was collected through reflective entries provided by the business proprietor. These were followed up by three in-depth interviews. The data was supported by analysis of company documents provided by the case. The study demonstrates the crucible moments in entrepreneurial startups that give rise to ethical questions and the need for decision making. It demonstrates the complexity of ethical decision making in emerging contexts. The study business elected to maintain anonymity for commercial protection. This limits the scope of information that may be divulged. The study and the accompanying teaching note provide context for how to apply decision-making frameworks to real business dilemmas. This study contributes to scholarly work on teaching business ethics to undergraduate students. Complexity academic level Final Year Undergraduate. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Development and Implementation of Business Ethics Education Program for Fashion Companies

Development and Implementation of Business Ethics Education Program for Fashion Companies

A new way of teaching business ethics: The evaluation of virtual reality-based learning media

Business schools have challenges in internalizing ethical values in business because of the gap between ethical theories and their application in the real world. Learning activities using real situations involve high costs, lack infrastructure, and are too risky. Therefore, the virtual environment will help students understand the actual context. This study aims to evaluate learning media based on virtual reality (VR) for teaching business ethics. VR-based learning media is implemented for accounting students who take business ethics course at the Faculty of Economics, Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia. The results show that virtual-reality based media make the learning process motivating, interesting, and increases perceived learning effectiveness. Furthermore, VR-based learning media can increase the level of ethical efficiency of individuals by increasing their self-efficacy. This research contributes to the learning of business ethics by developing VR-based learning media to improve students' abilities in dealing with ethical dilemmas.

Illustrating Cognitive Errors in Moral Decision Making

Using a behavioral ethics framework and YouTube video clips, this exercise engages students in a demonstration of how people employ cognitive errors and self-deception to protect their interests when making ethical decisions. This approach helps instructors supplement lessons using normative theories to teach business ethics. Normative theories focus on the process of reasoning and offer decision rules for how people should make ethical decisions; behavioral ethics examines how people actually make such decisions and studies the frequent mistakes made during the process. Showing people actually making cognitive errors via video clips makes a stronger and more lasting impression than simply discussing it or reading about it.

Are Minnesota Business Colleges and Universities Preparing Students for Ethical Decision- making in the Workplace?

This paper explores the teaching of ethics in business colleges and universities in Minnesota, reviews the need for ethics, discusses the research that summarizes best practices in colleges and universities, and reviews strategies for teaching business ethics. Stand-alone ethics classes and ethics integration are discussed, as well as pedagogy, case studies, and service learning are also explored. The authors make recommendations about future research in teaching ethics in business curricula.

Cultivating Compassion 慈: A Daoist Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to our working knowledge, practice and pedagogy of compassion through consideration of a Daoist perspective on the matter. I begin with a consideration of Daoist cosmology and a sage’s compassion drawn primarily from the Daodejing, This serves as a backdrop to consider Daoist contemplative pedagogy for the cultivation of virtue and compassion. Consistent with Daoist practices which rely on exemplars as a means of inspiring others I justify considering Nelson Mandela an exemplar of compassion. I then discuss how his life lines up with the Daoist conception of compassion. Finally I discuss the practicalities of developing compassion along with other virtues in post-secondary business ethics education classes. These classes work with the following principles: starting small, self- compassion, person to person connections and relationship. Students engage in emotional intelligence activities including: exercises to know their purpose or calling, meditative exercises that help them become aware of their emotions, and structured interpersonal interaction challenging them to develop new social skills. While this work is in its early stages it appears to assist students in developing compassion for others.

Constructivist approach in teaching sustainability and business ethics: a case study

Purpose This paper aims to explore methods of teaching sustainability and business ethics, relevant to the modern demand for student’s skills and knowledge. The study explores the challenges of teaching a business school undergraduate-level course and argues that a constructivist pedagogy is a suitable epistemological approach for designing a course unit concerning sustainability and ethics. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents case study findings drawn upon course feedback and course reflections aimed at making sense of what the most effective pedagogic approaches were that influenced students’ learning. Findings Results indicate that students appreciate active forms of learning via practical assignments and discussions. As knowledge of sustainability and business ethics is important for the student’s future career path, students need to develop skills of applying conceptual knowledge to practice via constructive pedagogical methods. Practical implications This empirical study contributes to the literature of constructivist pedagogics, which is explored in the context of sustainable development and business ethics teaching. Practically, it contributes to the analysis of teaching methods and frameworks applied in the course emphasizing the necessity of engaging in interactive and personalized learning and teaching processes. Originality/value Issues of teaching ethics and sustainable development are known concerns, but they have to be addressed systematically because of the changing business environment. This study explores the constructivist pedagogy based on empirical evidence and highlights its value in the educational process.

Embodied Phronetic Pedagogy: Cultivating Ethical and Moral Capabilities in Postgraduate Business Students

Scholars have debated the issue of how to improve business ethics education so that it impacts managerial practice. We contribute to this discussion by proposing a pedagogy that we denominate “embo...

Teaching business ethics in a digital world

PurposeWhile teaching of business ethics has been increasing in business schools worldwide, universities still face increasing pressure to do more to proactively defend and help avoid unethical business practices and scandals calling for more responsible education. This study aims to examine teaching business ethics in light of recent technological advances (i.e. teaching via the use of digital devices) and well-established pedagogical practices.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a 2 × 2 experimental design examining the effect of active (vs passive) and presence (vs absence) of digital devices in student learning of 192 US students.FindingsThe findings suggest that the active learning scenario, the usage of laptops and phones helped students get higher results in the test compared to active learning with no digital devices or passive learning with digital devices.Originality/valueActive learning practices such as group discussions and peer assessment or the flipped classroom approach make a difference for business ethics teaching where students need to develop inquiry and interest for the subject and engage in ethical dilemmas and real-life examples. Further, students in the active learning scenario performed better in knowledge tests when they were asked to use their digital devices.

Trainee accountants' perceptions of the usefulness of the business ethics curriculum: A case of SAICA in South Africa

outThe main research objective of this study was to determine whether Chartered Accountancy (CA) trainees consider business ethics education they received to be useful, and to investigate if it was given the necessary attention at SAICA-accredited universities. The data obtained from CA trainees using a survey was analysed using four theoretical constructs, namely: a) Adequacy of coverage of ethics education, b) Importance of ethics, c) Impact of ethics education on ethical awareness and, d) Effectiveness of ethics education. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests of normality were applied to the theoretical constructs to determine if the data was normally distributed. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine if there were significant differences when opinions were categorized according to gender, study mode (part-time or full-time) and highest academic qualification. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was computed to test the reliability of participants’ responses to the survey. The study has found strong agreement among CA trainees that business ethics education is receiving adequate attention at SAICA-accredited universities and is useful in both their professional and personal lives.

Spiritual Practice and Management Education Pedagogy: Exploring the Philosophical Foundations of Three Spiritual Traditions

Can the philosophical foundations of spiritual practices inform management education pedagogy and in the long-run support emotional development and more ethical and responsible business practice? In this article, we introduce the essential aspects of three different spiritual traditions—Daoist inner work, Buddhist mindful reflexivity, and Quaker discernment—and lay out some foundations between these essential aspects and management education pedagogy. We offer examples of utilizing these concepts in teaching business ethics in order to offer a foundational discussion for future elaboration. Our experiences also illuminate that instructor preparation is a key ingredient if the kinds of teaching we advance are to gain traction and contribute to the repeated calls for pedagogical innovations that challenge dominant paradigms. We offer some concluding remarks, pathways for future research and indicate a list of resources that can support potential instructors.

Cultures and Economies Apart – Similar Business Ethics Education Needed

We investigate the areas in which cultural differences influence managers’ views of business ethics, the role of business schools in preparing students to address ethical issues, and cooperation between schools and industry. Responses from 82 Chinese and 98 Icelandic managers reveal close agreement on such issues as the need for business ethics education, the role of employers in ethics training, and the benefit of cooperation between schools and businesses. Managers diverge on the tactics suggested to achieve these aims, indicating areas where cultural differences may be affecting their attitudes. Our choice of China and Iceland highlights vividly contrasting cultures. As such, it can serve as a building block for further study into the specific areas where culture affects both managers’ support for business ethics education in schools and corporate tactics for enhancing that education through training. Given business schools’ global competition for students, knowing how to attain these cultural differences is likely to be crucial for student and institutional development.

Does behavior simulation based on augmented reality improve moral imagination?

Innovative learning techniques are needed, to match the expectations of the current audience to improve business ethics education for the twenty-first century. One of the innovative technologies which is believed to have a big effect on a bachelor’s degree is augmented reality (AR). Incorporating AR into the modern education system is expected to produce optimal augmentation in the learning and teaching environment. This will have a large impact on increasing students’ moral imagination. This study examines the use of AR-based behavior simulation, as an innovative technique for learning ethics, to improve moral imagination. This study employs a 3 × 2 experiment method, three training modes (AR-based behavioral simulation, paper-based-behavioral simulation, and no training) and two times (time one and time two) between- and within-subject factorial design. The subjects are 147 students on a business ethics course. The result of this study reveals that the use of AR-based behavior simulation can improve moral imagination.

Examining effectiveness of teaching business ethics: An experimental assessment

The authors examine impact of ethics education on decision making of students who had successfully credited a recently instituted course on business ethics in their Bachelor of Commerce program. Designing an experiment that provides both the opportunity and incentive to act unfairly, they assess effectiveness of the ethics education and examine the extent to which ethical values are actually internalized. The authors test ethical conduct of the students using a novel adaption of the unscrambled-anagram exercise. They further compare unethical behavior of the students with academic grades and religiosity. Regardless of the grades earned, misreporting rates are nearly the same. The authors find that sociocultural religious values do impact the ethical behavior.

Students' perception of corporate social responsibility: Analyzing the influence of gender, academic status, and exposure to business ethics education

AbstractStudies on students' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been growing in western scholarship. For students in African countries, such as Nigeria, there is little that is known about how and whether gender, level of study, and being enrolled in business education courses impact their perception of and disposition towards CSR. This study explores the significance of gender, academic status or level of study, and exposure to business ethics education (BEE) on Nigerian students' perception of CSR as a veritable business ethic. Specifically, the effects of these factors on students' perception of CSR are examined using analysis of variance. The results show a significant effect of exposure to BEE and gender on CSR‐sensitivity, and a mild, but significant effect of academic status. This implies that male students and female students had different perspectives on CSR issues. Students who took ethics courses and those who did not would run businesses differently. However, age and experience on campus did not influence students' perception or position on CSR. The study recommends that more behavioral models be estimated with the inclusion of more demographic and socioeconomic variables to elicit more robust results.

The Effect of Business Ethics Education, Religiosity, Gender, and Academic Performance on the Ethical Perceptions of Accounting Students Who Have Worked in the City of Semarang

This study aims to examine whether there is influence of business ethics education, gender, religiosity, and Academic Performance of the Ethical Perceptions of accounting students who have worked in the city of Semarang. Independent variables in this research are business ethics education, gender, religiosity, and Academic Performance. The sample was taken by using purposive technique and obtained 90 respondents. The result of different test of independent sampl t-test shows that there is a significant difference between students who have not and have taken etbis courses on their ethical perception in making decision. There is a significant difference between students who have a GPA above or equal to 3.3 with students who have GPA below 3.3 on their ethical perceptions of decision making There is no significant difference between male and female students on their ethical perceptions in making decisions. There is a significant difference between students who have high degree of religiosity with students who have a low degree of religiosity their ethical perceptions in making decisions. Key words: Ethical Perception, Academic Performance, Religiusity, Gender, Business Ethics Education.