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Over the last few years, there has been an exaggeratedly widespread and frequently confused use of the concepts of ‘stakeholder’ and ‘corporate social responsibility’. However, some interesting insights of both these notions can be found in traditional European business administration studies. In this article, the Italian view will be examined. In particular, this paper investigates the teachings of some of the historical masters of the Italian Economia Aziendale (EA), with particular attention to the concept of the azienda, its finalism and its essential characteristics, in order to verify some consistencies with the more recent Stakeholder Management Theory (SMT). Principles and considerations seem to emerge from EA scholars’ seminal works that unequivocally connect ethics with business decisions. EA fits in with SMT in many ways, and the former (EA) seems, moreover, to suggest a specific normative point of view from which the role of ethics in business activities can be approached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching Business Ethics in the Age of Madoff provides a brief overview of the field of business ethics, including a quick history, with particular attention to the role of scandals. The authors dispute four commonly held misconceptions about business: Markets are perfect, or at least efficient; human beings are always self-interested; economic models and reasoning can explain most of what is interesting about business; and ethics is about altruism. Those misguided ideas are replaced by new ways to think about business: Business is primarily about purpose; money and profits follow. Any business creates (or sometimes destroys) value for shareholders, as well as for customers, employees, suppliers, and communities. Capitalism works because we are complex creatures with many needs and desires, and we can cooperate to create value for each other. And finally, most people tell the truth, keep their promises, and act responsibly most of the time. The authors offer specific solutions on how business ethics educators can begin to change these unhelpful and out-of-date mindsets about business, helping move future business leaders—and ultimately society at large—toward a more useful, forward-looking understanding about the interrelationship between business and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools of business faculty are faced with an increasing demand to teach ethics with a global orientation. This demand is in direct conflict with reduced budgets, inadequately prepared faculty, and poorly defined guidelines. The authors of this paper recommend courses of action to address these constraints. Faculty development in the field of international ethics is discussed in terms of codes of ethics, workshop options, and two examples of tools for the classroom. One tool is an adaptation of Carroll's (1979) "Four Corporate Responsibilities', and the second is an adaptation of Brown's (2002) "Ethical Process." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers five real-life case studies for exploring ethics in the management classroom. They come from the fields of international business/strategy, human resources management, accounting, finance, and marketing. To spark critical thinking and provide additional information, students are presented with reflection questions and professional codes of practice that relate to the issues and actions described in each case. After the major piece of experiential learning activity has been completed, students are exposed to viewpoints from experts in the field, specifically how those experts would have handled the case situation themselves. Referenced ethical codes of practice are taken from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), the Society of Financial Services Professionals (FSP), the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the American Marketing Association (AMA), and the Global Business Standards Codes (GBS). The business cases explore the extent to which the professional codes give guidance to practitioners and highlight the nature of ethical dilemmas and challenges that occur in these professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the falsity of certain common beliefs helps students move toward better business ethics and a higher degree of moral management. This article explains one method for teaching moral management, by using ethical equation inequalities, and offers 10 implications and suggestions to managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors' goal was to analyze the curricula of business administration departments in state and private universities in Turkey, which have been offering courses such as business and society, social responsibility, business ethics, and management of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Of the 74 universities with business administration departments, 4 had courses on NGOs, and 30 included courses on social responsibility and business ethics. In addition, 12 departments had courses covering business and society. Therefore, the lack of courses on NGOs in 70 of 74 universities requires a revision of the programs offered by business administration departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s death, during 2006 quite a number of cultural events were launched (cf. ). The article suggests celebrating Ibsen as a potentially useful resource for business ethics teaching. Departing from a short presentation of Ibsen’s plays An enemy of the people and A doll’s house the main focus of this paper is on two selected scenes from the␣latter piece – both as raw material for developing scenarios for moral maturity assessment (one of them is strikingly similar to and different from Heinz’ dilemma), and for teaching business students moral reflection and imagination. As an open end of the article a few wider questions are asked about the use of literature in addition to or instead of ethics when it comes to triggering moral reflection and imagination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the efficacy of business ethics intervention, tests a theoretical model that the love of money is directly or indirectly related to propensity to engage in unethical behavior (PUB), and treats college major (business vs. psychology) and gender (male vs. female) as moderators in multi-group analyses. Results suggested that business students who received business ethics intervention significantly changed their conceptions of unethical behavior and reduced their propensity to engage in theft; while psychology students without intervention had no such changes. Therefore, ethics training had some impacts on business students’ learning and education (intelligence). For our theoretical model, results of the whole sample ( N = 298) revealed that Machiavellianism (measured at Time 1) was a mediator of the relationship between the love of money (measured at Time 1) and unethical behavior (measured at Time 2) (the Love of Money → Machiavellianism → Unethical Behavior). Further, this mediating effect existed for business students ( n = 198) but not for psychology students ( n = 100), for male students ( n = 165) but not for female students ( n = 133), and for male business students ( n = 128) but not for female business students ( n = 70). Moreover, when examined alone, the direct effect (the Love of Money → Unethical Behavior) existed for business students but not for psychology students. We concluded that a short business ethics intervention may have no impact on the issue of virtue (wisdom). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are an abundance of business ethics resources on the Internet. This paper details Internet resources with the following categories: Ethics Associations and Institutes, Ethics Journals, University Ethics Centers, Business Professions’ Code of Conduct, Business Codes of Conduct, and Ethics Cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting education researchers, as well as practitioners, have identified the need for ethics in the accounting curriculum. This paper explores efforts of U.K. higher education institutions to integrate ethics into the accounting curriculum. Specifically, our survey of U.K. educational institutions suggests that ethics is widely included in the accounting curriculum and is predominantly taught in upper-division courses, especially in financial accounting and auditing. Our survey results also indicate that a substantial minority of U.K. universities see recent accounting scandals as a driving force behind the inclusion of ethics in the curriculum. Finally, our survey results suggest that, while most U.K. universities include ethics in the accounting curriculum, different factors influence curriculum design across university types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constitutes a contribution to the discussion about moral reasoning in business. Kohlberg’s (1971, in Cognitive Development and Epistemology (Academic Press, New York), 1976, in Moral Development and Behavior: Theory and Research and Social Issues (Holt, Rienhart and Winston, New York)) cognitive moral development (CMD) theory is one explanation of moral reasoning. One unresolved debate on the topic of CMD is the charge that Kohlbergian-type CMD theory is gender biased. This research puts forth the proposal that the issue may be elucidated by exposing an ambiguity in “gender” (Borna and White: 2003, Journal of Business Ethics 47, 89–99; Gentile: 1993, Psychological Science 4(2), 120–122; Unger: 1979, American Psychologist 34(11), 1085–1094). We use the Sociomoral Reflective Objective Measure (SROM) to measure CMD and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to measure gender as a psychosocial concept, rather than as a biological classification. The results of our study indicate that high femininity, measured as a psychosocial attribute, is associated with significantly lower Kohlbergian-type CMD scores among business practitioners. Sex moderates the effect of gender on CMD, but only indirectly. Our research also reveals that education plays a significant moderating role in the relationship between gender and moral reasoning. In addition, age has a significant direct effect on CMD scores of business practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the ethical issues of information technology (IT), the impact of education on the ethical decision-making outcomes of adult learners in particular. It provides answers to the research question "Does IT ethics education make a difference?" and "Do ethics courses influence decisions regarding IT ethical issues in adult learners?" Findings show that graduate students who took IT ethics courses made different decisions than those made at the start of the term. It discusses the implications for IT ethics education and future research in the area.

The article describes case studies which show the use of digital video in business education. The first case study taught business ethics by having students work to make their own short movies using digital camcorders and editing software. The other case study explains how short contemporary clips recorded on a computer can be used in the classroom.

This article is an attempt to understand ethical theory not just as a set of well-developed philosophical perspectives but as a range of moral capacities that human beings more or less grow into over the course of their lives. To this end, we explore the connection between formal ethical theories and stage developmental psychologies, showing how individuals mature morally, regarding their duties, responsibilities, ideals, goals, values, and interests. The primary method is to extract from the writings of Kohlberg and his students the cues that help to flesh out a developmental picture of a wide range of ethical perspectives. Thus, developmental psychology benefits from gaining a broader understanding of “morality” and “ethics,” and ethical theory benefits from a richer understanding of how moral maturity arises from youthful beginnings in juvenile and adolescent thinking. Results of this study offer insight into the difficulty of teaching ethics and a refined ability to assess moral maturity in business activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most accountants do not realize—until it is perhaps too late—that virtually all aspects of their work have an ethical dimension. They often lack the knowledge and skills to analyse issues effectively, and when confronted with conflicting ethical problems cannot choose the way to move forward that is consistent with their own values and/or the profession's code of professional conduct. This article proposes that the accounting profession worldwide has simply attempted to prescribe simplistic solutions to often complex ethical problems. It endeavours to provide an alternative approach based on the process of ‘ethical knowing’ ( Melchin, 1998 ). Such an approach turns the acquisition of understanding away from a focus on the external world of rules, concepts and exemplars, to the interior world of how accountants, as people, arrive at an understanding that is consistently ethical. To achieve this, the article relies on Lonergan's seminal (1957 ) examination of the internal processes of decision-making and the critical roles played by developing skills in data retrieval and insight in the exercise of judgment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the at-will employment doctrine using a tool that encompasses the complementarity of results-based utilitarian ethics, rule-based duty ethics, and virtue-based character ethics. The paper begins with a discussion of the importance of the problem followed by its evolution and current status. After describing the method of analysis, the central section evaluates the employment at-will doctrine, and is informed by Lord Acton’s dictum, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The conclusion explores the implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses theories of moral reasoning and moral competence to investigate how university codes of ethics, perceptions of ethical culture, academic pressure from significant others, and ethics pedagogy are related to the moral development of students. Results suggest that ethical codes and student perceptions of such codes affect their perceptions of the ethical nature of the cultures within these institutions. In addition, faculty and student discussion of ethics in business courses is significantly and positively related to moral competence among students. Our results point to the need to further examine the connections among academic institutional structures, ethics pedagogy, and students’ moral development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares and contrasts public and private sector organizations and structures and the values that shape the respective sectors. The article presents relevant academic literature and debates concerning the morals and values of both public and private sector organizations, focusing on literature from the fields of administrative ethics and business ethics. The author complies a "value panorama" in order to provide a basis for empirical comparative research. Directions for future study are also outlined.

An 11-week hybrid distance learning/personal contact ethics training program, customized for a leading information technology firm, is described in the format of a sequential process. The process is grounded on discourse ethics and the ethics training guidelines premised by the Hastings Institute. Indications from the firm and from the program's participants are that the training has been beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls for the expansion of ethics education in the business and accounting curricula have resulted in a variety of interventions including additional material on ethical cases, the code of conduct, and the development of new courses devoted to ethical development [Lampe, J.: 1996]. The issue of whether ethics should be taught has been addressed by many authors [see for example: Hanson, K. O.: 1987; Huss, H. F. and D. M. Patterson: 1993; Jones, T. M.: 1988-1989; Kerr, D. S. and L. M. Smith: 1995; Loeb, S. E.: 1988; McDonald, G. M. and G. D. Donleavy: 1995]. The question addressed in this paper is not whether ethics should be taught but whether accounting students can reason more ethically after an intervention based on a discrete and dedicated course on accounting ethics. The findings in this paper indicate that a discrete intervention emphasising dilemma discussion has a positive and significant effect on students' moral reasoning and development. The data collected from interviews suggest that the salient influences on moral judgement development include: learning theories of ethics particularly Kohlberg's theory of cognitive moral reasoning and development; peer learning; and moral discourse. The implications from the findings in this study suggest that moral reasoning is responsive to particular types of ethics intervention and educators should carefully plan their attempts to foster moral judgement development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics instructors often use cases to help students understand ethics within a corporate context, but we need to know more about the impact a case-based pedagogy has on students' ability to make ethical decisions. We used a pre- and post-test methodology to assess the effect of using cases to teach ethics in a finance course. We also wanted to determine whether recent corporate ethics scandals might have impacted students' perceptions of the importance and prevalence of ethics in business, so we used in-depth case studies of several of the major scandals (e.g., Enron, Tyco, Adelphia). Our results are somewhat surprising since studying ethics scandals positively impacts students' ethical decision making and their perceptions of the ethics of businesspeople. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on previous work by Sirgy, M. J. (1999), Journal of Business Ethics 19, 193--206, dealing with issues of code of conduct of marketing educators. Sirgy developed a discussion document outlining a semblance of what might be construed as a code of ethics for marketing educators. The discussion document was debated and accompanied by three commentaries (Ferrell, O. C.: 1999, Journal of Business Ethics 19, 225--228; Kurtz, D. L.: 1999, Journal of Business Ethics 19, 207--209; Malhotra, N. and G. L. Miller: 1999, Journal of Business Ethics 19, 211--224). One conclusion derived from the discussion document and the commentaries is the need to develop a code of ethics involving behaviors that most marketing educators find morally unacceptable. The current paper reports on a descriptive study involving a survey of marketing educators in which survey respondents were asked to rate the extent to which certain behaviors are deemed acceptable or unacceptable. The results of the survey identified certain behaviors deemed unacceptable by the vast majority of survey respondents. This evidence of hypernorms (a concept derived from social contract theory) within the community of marketing educators was used to propose an initial code of ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate the status of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research within the management literature. In particular, we examine the focus and nature of knowledge, the changing salience of this knowledge and the academic influences on the knowledge. We present empirical evidence based on publication and citation analyses of research published from 1992 to 2002. Our results demonstrate that, for CSR research published in management journals, the most popular issues investigated have been environmental and ethics; the empirical research has been overwhelmingly of a quantitative nature; the theoretical research has been primarily non-normative; the field is driven by agendas in the business environment as well as by continuing scientific engagement; and the single most important source of references for CSR articles was the management literature itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the results from two studies that were conducted eight years apart with different respondents. The studies examined the role of the Mere Exposure Effect on ethical tolerance or acceptability of particular business decisions. The results from Study 1 show there is a significant difference in ethical judgment for 12 out of 16 vignettes between those who have been exposed to such situations compared to those who have not been exposed to them. In those 12 situations, those who have been exposed to such situations adopted a more tolerant stance toward the ethically questionable behavior. The results from Study 2 show there is a significant difference in ethical judgment for 9 out of 16 vignettes between those who have been exposed to such situations compared to those who have not been exposed to them. Again, in those nine situations, those who have been exposed to such situations adopted a more tolerant stance toward the ethically questionable behavior. Interestingly, the 9 situations in Study 2 were 9 of the 12 situations found to be significant in Study 1, and in the same direction, suggesting that we have found consistency in our findings and support for the Mere Exposure Effect. Implications are provided for both higher education and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics in accounting and ethical education have seen an increase in interest in the last decade. However, despite the renewed interest some important shortcomings persist. Generally, rules, principles, values and virtues are presented in a fragmented fashion. In addition, only a few authors consider the role of the accountant's character in presenting relevant and truthful information in financial reporting and the importance of practical reasoning in accounting. This article holds that rules, values and virtues are inter- connected. This provides a sound approach to ethics in accounting, in which character and practical reasoning are crucial. Consequently, ethical education in accounting has to simultaneously include the knowledge of proper rules and principles and their correct application; values (understood as moral goods) and virtues, whose acquisition, in the view of the author, should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the myriad accounting and corporate ethics scandals of the early 21st century, many corporate leaders and management scholars believe that ethics education is an essential component in business school education. Despite a voluminous body of ethics education literature, few studies have found support for the effectiveness of changing an individual's ethical standards through programmatic ethics training. To address this gap in the ethics education literature the present study examines the influence of an underlying social cognitive error, called pluralistic ignorance. We believe that if pluralistic ignorance is reduced, the result will be more effective business ethics education programs. Eighty undergraduate management students participated in this longitudinal study, and a mixed-model ANOVA revealed that the reduction of pluralistic ignorance (due to an ethics education program designed to reduce pluralistic ignorance) resulted in higher personal ethical standards over the course of a semester, when compared to a class that did not receive a formal ethics education program as part of their course. We discuss the implications of pluralistic ignorance in training business ethics and ethics education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the relative influences of perceived ethical problems, perceived importance of ethics, idealism, relativism, and gender on ethical intention of students. The potential impacts of grade point average and education level of students were also investigated. The results from a survey of students in marketing classes from two major universities in the United States reveal that perceived ethical problems and perceived importance of ethics have positive impacts on ethical intentions of students. The survey results reveal a reverse relationship between relativism and ethical intention. There is, however, no relationship between idealism and ethical intentions. As hypothesized, the results indicate that male students tend to be less ethical in their intention than female students. The findings indicate that grade point average and educational level are not determinants of ethical intentions of students. Some important implications for marketing education and for the management ethics training programs were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within a supportive learning environment, dialogue can allow for the identification and testing of assumptions and tacit beliefs. It can also illustrate the inadequacies in superficial thinking about ethical problems. Internal dialogue allows us to examine our beliefs, and to prepare and evaluate arguments. Each of these elements is important in the study of business ethics. This paper outlines one teaching technique based on Socratic dialogue, and shows how it can be applied to develop business students' thinking about ethics. After justifying the suitability of this technique, and detailing its key elements, the paper offers for consideration an illustration of how the technique may be applied in a classroom setting, using structured role play. The paper concludes with a "teaching agenda", offering suggestions for how this technique can be applied to teaching business ethics in an undergraduate, or postgraduate module, where it can examine language, structures and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each generation both influences ensuing generations and is influenced by preceding generations. As the most consumption-oriented and ethnically-diverse generation in history, Generation Y will likely change the landscape of the marketplace. The overarching purpose of this article is to assess how value orientations of Generation Y impact ethical decision-making. Specifically, the present research assesses the relationship between self-reported authority credence, needs determinism and altruism and un/ethical decision choice. In this way, the attention shifts from a curricular focus to a participant (student) focus in business ethics education. The findings suggest that Generation Y students may possess different value orientations that may or may not be accordant with traditional teaching methods or content areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a framework for teaching marketing ethics. The framework is rooted in the change readiness of marketing departments and includes four elements: 1) an assessment of the change readiness of the department, 2) the determination of ethics education goals, 3) an assessment of resources and establishment of effectiveness measures, and 4) the implementation of the program. The framework is based on two premises. The first premise is that a casuistry-focused model can facilitate the creation and growth of an ethics curriculum in marketing. The second is that ethics teaching in marketing must be integrated throughout the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on one approach to teaching a course on marketing ethics. The objectives, structure, cases, readings, videos and websites for such a course are all examined in depth. Several never published cases dealing with marketing ethics topics are discussed. A case analysis decision model is proposed as a vehicle for resolving ethical issues that surface in these cases. The fact that marketing ethics is a valuable course for both MBA and undergraduate marketing students is emphasized throughout the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Green Paper presented by the European Commission in July 2001, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is "a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis" (Commission of the European Communities, 2001 b, p. 6). On this basis, in 2002 the Italian Government, and especially the Italian Ministry of Welfare, launched an initiative called CSR- SC (social commitment) in order to foster the proactive social role of Italian enterprises, with great attention on SME involvement. The technical partner of the Italian Ministry of Welfare for this initiative is Bocconi University. The goal of this contribution is to present the main results of CSR-SC research project developed by Bocconi University. The paper provides a detailed picture of the general scheme designed to carry out the research project and a review of the different methodologies used to support the solutions proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of recent corporate scandals, managers and researchers have turned their attention to questions of ethics management. We identify five common myths about business ethics and provide responses that are grounded in theory, research, and business examples. Although the scientific study of business ethics is relatively new, theory and research exist that can guide executives who are trying to better manage their employees' and their own ethical behavior. We recommend that ethical conduct be managed proactively via explicit ethical leadership and conscious management of the organization's ethical culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some business schools have integrated business ethics issues into their core functional courses rather than simply offering a separate ethics course. To accommodate such a strategy, functional faculty members usually teach ethical issues, a task for which they are rarely trained. However, learning materials are available: some core course textbooks provide additional coverage of ethics, and case studies (and accompanying teaching notes for instructors) are also available which cover ethical issues. This paper reports on an analysis of these materials. We find that a sample of the leading textbooks provides only very superficial coverage of ethical issues. Cases provide a wide range of issues suitable for class discussion, but their teaching notes in many cases provide little guidance for instructors unfamiliar with teaching ethics. Thus there remains a need for teaching resources for business faculty new to teaching ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My university recently established a business ethics competency exam for graduate business students. The exam is designed to test whether students can demonstrate several abilities that are indicative of competency in business ethics. They are the abilities to "speak the language" of business ethics, identify business ethics issues, apply theories and concepts to issues, identify connections among theories and concepts as they relate to different issues, and construct and critically evaluate arguments for various positions on business ethics issues. Through this paper, I hope to begin a discussion among business ethicists about both the merits of a competency exam and what the format of such an exam should be. I attempt to do this by explaining the reasons why my institution adopted a competency exam, the goals and purposes of the exam, the format of the exam, and why I believe the exam has merit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent ethical breeches by corporate governors at the highest levels have called into question whether ethical attitudes have changed since the Corporate Raider scandals of the mid-1980s. We exploit a unique opportunity to follow-up on a previous investigation of college students in the mid-1980s to analyze this question. Using a similar survey instrument, we find that students surveyed in 2001 are significantly less accepting of the ethically questionable situations in seven of 15 scenarios and more accepting in only one. Seven scenarios showed no significant change. We conclude that, overall, ethical attitudes of students in 2001 appear to have become higher over time. To the extent that current students are future business leaders, we find these results to be encouraging for the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Antitrust Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, recently completed a study that concludes that competition law and policy plays little if any role in business ethics courses taught in U.S. business schools. To fill this intellectual void, this article makes a case for the development of a business ethics sub-field of antitrust ethics that is synonymous with the ethics of competitive strategy. After reviewing Paine's Five Principles of Positive Competition and Boatright's and Hendry's views on the Moral Manager Model and Moral Market Model, the need for ethical decision-making in a dynamic, innovative environment is explained through a Federal Trade Commission antitrust case involving the Dell Computer Corporation. The author argues that the contributions of Paine, Boatright, and Hendry provide an initial foundation for further research concerning the moral theories, principles, and rules pertaining to antitrust ethics, especially as it pertains to dynamic competition and "fair and competitive" executive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the groundswell of corporate misconduct, the need for better business ethics education seems obvious. Yet many business schools continue to sidestep this responsibility, a policy tacitly approved by their accrediting agency, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Some schools have even gone so far as to cut ethics courses in the wake of corporate scandals. In this essay I discuss some reasons for this failure of business school responsibility and argue that top university officials must go beyond weak accrediting standards to insist that ethics courses be required in business school curriculum. Otherwise, students will continue to get the message that practicing managers have little or no legal and ethical responsibilities to society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching economics has been shown to encourage students to defect in a prisoner's dilemma game. However, can ethics training reverse that effect and promote cooperation? We conducted an experiment to answer this question. We found that students who had the ethics module had higher rates of cooperation than students without the ethics module, even after controlling for communication and other factors expected to affect cooperation. We conclude that the teaching of ethics can mitigate the possible adverse incentives of the prisoner's dilemma, and, by implication, the adverse effects of economics and business training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development and validation of new measurement tools to explore self-efficacy toward service and toward civic participation. We developed and administered a survey to 851 students in an AACSB-accredited college of business at a comprehensive public university located in the Midwest. Traditional scale development methodologies plus confirmatory factor analysis and simultaneous factor analysis in several populations were used to analyze both a primary sample and a holdback sample. Results strongly support the validity and reliability of the survey instrument. Future use for the instrument includes verification of the effectiveness of pedagogies designed to increase self-efficacy toward service and motivation for civic participation in business students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing expectations in a business ethics course is important and a key place to begin is with a definition of a moral problem. Until recently I would explain, using moral terms, good and bad, right and wrong, duty or obligation or their cognates, what a moral problem is generally and then what it may be in business. However I found that using familiar terms with vague or ambiguous meanings to define the subject matter of the course counterproductive. What I required is a means of explaining to the beginning student what a moral problem is without relying on the prior associations and meanings of the term moral that the student brings to the discussion. In recent years I realized that what I wanted, as a starting point for the business ethics course, is a definition of moral problem that does not use specifically moral terms i.e. good, bad, right, wrong, duty. For pedagogical reasons, I wanted a definition that supplies the criteria for determining whether a given problem is a moral problem or not without using common moral terms. This paper reviews the treatment given to the concept of a moral problem in a number of standard business ethics texts and then presents a working definition that does not rely on the use of specifically moral terms. The definition is then critiqued for limitations and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building an effective classroom learning environment requires that business ethics teachers pay particular attention to creating a classroom environment that values the ideas others have to offer. This article discusses the importance of conversational learning to business ethics teaching for effective learning. The paper also considers the business ethics teacher's role in using a conversational learning approach to teaching business ethics and some learning processes used to create a classroom climate conducive to this approach for those interested in creating new kinds of conversation in their business ethics teaching efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have reported students' widely held belief that they are more ethical than businessmen. On the other hand, widespread cheating among college students has been reported. This paper examines this inconsistency between the beliefs of college students regarding the need for ethical behavior in a business setting and their actions in an academic setting. The results of this study indicate that while students are generally upset with cheating in their class, a large proportion of them nonetheless engage in such behavior. It was further found that students have a good understanding of what constitutes ethical behavior in the business world and the need for such behavior. However, they also believe that business people fail to act in an ethical manner, and that they may need to act unethically to advance their careers. Students' concern with business ethics contrasted sharply with their own lack of personal ethics. This "paradox" is consistent with the idea that students view the practicality of an action as being more important than its ethicality. This belief is a cause for concern and indicates a need for students to sharpen their ethical decision-making skills in complex real-world type settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Golden Rule is endorsed in one form or another by most cultures and major religions and is still espoused by philosophers, business ethicists, and popular business authors. Because it also resonates with undergraduate business majors, it can be an effective teaching tool. This paper describes a way of teaching the Golden Rule through a series of business-oriented examples intended to bring out its strengths and weaknesses. The method described also introduces students to some basic moral reasoning skills and acquaints them with a wide range of moral issues that arise in business. Kant's Formula of Humanity is discussed in the final section as a principle that overcomes at least some of the Golden Rule's defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hollywood has yet to produce a Business Ethics epic. Between the special effects and cartoon characters, however, ethical issues do surface, and, on occasion, Hollywood features intriguing and complex characters and plots laden with moral freight. Some of these can be turned to student advantage, and this article will explore films that may become excellent teaching tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the public demand for higher ethical standards, business schools are increasingly taking ethical matters seriously. But their effort has concentrated on teaching business ethics and on students' ethical behavior. Business faculty, in contrast, has attracted much less attention. This paper explores the context and the implications of an alleged case of plagiarism in a master's dissertation submitted to a university lacking both an ethical code of conduct and a formalized procedure to deal with academic misconduct. The events evolved into a bitter political process in which the more ethically aware members of faculty challenged efforts to cover-up. Here the focus is on the motives and behavior of faculty members involved in this case rather than the alleged plagiarist's. The role played by the main actors involved in the process is examined using the theory of moral development and the organizational politic perspective. The paper discusses the mechanisms available to raise ethical awareness and prevent academic misconduct, and the limitations of self-regulation and self-monitoring that prevails in the university system. It also examines the impact of ethics instruction and faculty ethical standards on students' behavior and concludes that ethics instruction can only be effective when the principles taught are in line with daily actions of their instructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software piracy is a major global concern for businesses that generate their revenues through software products. Moral intensity regarding software piracy has been argued to be related to the extent of software piracy. An understanding of the development of moral intensity regarding software piracy in individuals would aid businesses in developing and implementing policies that may help them reduce software piracy. In this research we studied the similarities and differences in development of moral intensity regarding software piracy among university students in two different cultures, the U.S. and Thailand. In particular, we studied the influence of the immediate community of individuals, such as other students, faculty, and other university employees, on the development of moral intensity regarding software piracy of the two groups of students. Results indicate that, in general, there are significant differences in moral intensity regarding software piracy between students from the U.S. and Thailand, and that gender differences also exist. Though the effect of the immediate community on the self-perception of moral intensity regarding software piracy of students was significant, there appears to be very little significant differences in this effect between the students in the two different countries studied. The findings have implications for teaching business ethics, and for developing and implementing policies to curb global software piracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The film The Insider offers an interesting story of leaking inside information by one character and clear whistle blowing by another. In both cases moral considerations are involved on a personal, professional, organizational and public level. As such the film can be used as an inviting cinematic introduction to applied or practical ethics. Three models of practical ethics are introduced. In the film workshop these models are the framework for the film analysis. A set up of the workshop is sketched, including selected scenes, basic questions and a timetable. Also a sketch is given of the results that can be expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on an online business ethics course that three professors (Painter-Morland, Fontrodona and Hoffman) taught together, and in which the fourth author (Rowe) participated as a student, from their respective locations on three continents. The course was conducted using Centra software, which allowed for synchronous online interaction. The class included students from Europe, South Africa and the United States. In order to assess the value of synchronous online teaching for ethics training, the paper identifies certain knowledge, skills and capacities that are crucial to the moral development process within individuals. The paper argues that the online teaching method succeeds in creating an environment within which important ethical knowledge and skills might be developed. It provides an in-depth reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of online teaching and proposes improvements on the way forward. One of the major advantages relates to its ability to facilitate cross- cultural discussion and debate on ethical issues and foster insight into contextual influences on ethics management within an international arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper marks the launch of a new accounting and business ethics Web project called Tender Nation. The objective of the site is to provide an emotionally supportive resource and community for the discussion of accounting and business ethics issues by accounting practitioners and accounting students. The paper explains the rationale behind the development of the site and is split into five sections. Section one develops a short critique of the development of the Web and discusses the extent to which it provides an opportunity for critical engagement in the economic sphere. Section two reviews the Web based accounting and business ethics resources currently available and draws on some well established ethical theory to explain how the objectives of Tender Nation differ from other Web based attempts to critically and ethically engage with the economic sphere. Section three provides an outline of the structure and content of the site. Section four presents a survey of students' initial responses to the Web site and the concluding section discusses plans to develop the project further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]