Search

Student research projects involving human intervention are being utilised in more and more business subjects. It therefore is essential that students understand the various ethical issues and implications related to undertaking such projects. As such academics need to integrate an ethical evaluation of student projects. While there are many attempts to "teach" ethics, the literature does not address the issue of including ethics in student research projects. A process by which this can be applied is suggested, which is based on a formal ethics approval process used at one Australian university. While the focus of this paper is student based research projects, the process described could be applied to staff research with minimal modifications, which are identified throughout the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the findings of research into the attitudes towards business ethics of a group of business students in Western Australia. The questionnaire upon which the research was based was originally used by Preble and Reichel (1988) in an investigation they undertook into the attitudes towards business ethics held by two similar groups of United States and Israeli business students. The specific purpose of the current investigation was to administer the same questionnaire with one minor modification to: (1) two groups of Curtin University students; (2) a group of Asian students from the Australian Institute of Business and Technology (AIBT), a privately funded tertiary institution affiliated with Curtin University, and (3) a group of managers from the Australian Institute of Management (AIM), many of whom would not have been university graduates. The questionnaire was preceded by a profile inventory to establish the participant's age, sex, occupation, course of study, whether or not they were born in Australia, their attitudes towards religion, and whether or not they saw themselves as ethically minded persons. In the original questionnaire, Preble and Reichel had asked the US and Israeli students to indicate on a five point scale, their attitudes towards a selection of business ethics situations by reflecting on thirty statements. In the replicate study, the means and standard deviations of each response of the four groups of Western Australian students were calculated and then compared with the means and standard deviations of the US and Israeli students. In summary, statistically significant differences in the scores of the original study were noted between nineteen out of thirty of the US and Israeli students in their attitudes towards business ethics. However, "a closer examination and interpretation showed several of these differences to have little meaning." (p. 946) The purpose of this current study therefore, was to see if the Curtin, AIBT and AIM students' results were statistically significant (different) to the US and Israeli student scores. The implications of understanding the way a selected group of business students in Western Australia react towards a range of ethical issues ought to have relevance for those involved in developing management education courses, particularly in view of the current economic and business climate. Studies into attitudes towards ethical issues in business have, as yet, received little attention in Australasia. This present study will hopefully lead to more thoughtful discussion of these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the extent to which books about business ethics are purchased or read outside of tertiary institutions in Australia, whether the subject is commonly perceived as business, philosophy or both, what range of business ethics books is commonly offered for purchase, and what conclusions might be drawn from the above considerations. Investigation shows that the range and availability of business ethics books is quite limited outside of tertiary institutions, and that the general perception is that business ethics is something which pertains specifically to business rather than to moral philosophy. It is likely that this tends to isolate the subject from philosophy as broadly conceived in the minds of business practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the clear value of postgraduate business students to many providers of distance education courses, the factors affecting the retention of these students have received limited attention in the literature. In addressing this gap, this paper presents the findings of a qualitative study into the factors affecting the retention of postgraduate business students at a major Australian distance education university. The findings of this study suggest that a range of situational, dispositional and attitudinal factors impact upon student retention on this context, both as enablers of and obstacles to ongoing participation. In many cases, these factors differ to those identified in the existing literature on student retention. Based on these findings, we present a range of strategies designed to improve the retention of postgraduate business students by maximising enabling factors and minimising the impact of any identified obstacles. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This study seeks to examine the contents and the nature of the academic psychological contract. It aims to explore to what extent the contract has been fulfilled and the impact of demographic variables on the contract and its fulfilment. Design/methodology/approach -- Data for the study were collected through a survey of 280 academic staff of a middle-ranked Australian university. To identify the contents of the academic psychological contract, three focus groups, each comprising eight academic staff, were conducted in three schools. The ordered probit model was employed to explore the impacts of various demographic variables. Findings -- The elements of the academic psychological contract to a certain extent differ from that of the contracts of other professions. Also, the academic psychological contract is more transactional than relational in character. Overall, the academic psychological contract has been fulfilled at the low level. Research limitations/implications -- The study contributes to the debate on the different interpretation of employer obligations and their fulfilment between research-oriented and teaching-oriented academics. Exploring the psychological contract from both employee and employer perspectives will assist in the understanding of mutual expectations. Further research should involve a wide range of universities and make comparisons across national boundaries. Practical implications -- Some items, such as ensuring a safe workplace, the provision of adequate resources to do work, the provision of equal and competitive pay, fair promotion, consultation and recognition of skills and talents, ranked considerably higher than others and should, therefore, be given priority over others. More support should be provided to young, research-oriented academics who are enthusiastic about research, but mobile and marketable in order to develop university sustainability. Originality/value -- The study contributes to the literature by arguing that the contents and the perceived significance of the academic psychological contract are to a certain extent different from those of the contracts in other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sample of final-year accounting students, 94 from an Australian university and 61 from an Australian CAE, completed a special scale to determine their attitudes to working with computers, as well as items to assess a variety of hypothesized correlates of such attitudes including age, sex, school performance, tertiary accounting performance, usage of computers, access to a computer at home, preference for working with machines rather than people, and self-confidence. The amount of time students spent with computers was significantly related to students' attitudes toward working with computers (being directly related to positive attitudes and inversely related to negative attitudes). The relationships between the other correlates and attitudes to working with computers were all nonsignificant. The majority of students held very favourable attitudes to working with computers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]