Ethical Outcomes and Business Ethics: Toward Improving Business Ethics Education

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 117; no. 4; pp. 753 - 776
• Main Authors: Floyd, Larry A., Xu, Feng, Atkins, Ryan, Caldwell, Cam
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.11.2013; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anniversaries; Business and Management; Business education; Business Ethics; Business schools; Business students; Campuses; Curricula; Deans; Decision makers; Decision making; Dishonesty; Education; Ethical behavior; Ethical codes; Ethical instruction; Ethics; Ethics and moral life; Experts; Graduates; Honesty; Management; MBA programs & graduates; Media ethics; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Scholarly publishing; Schools; Social ethics; Social responsibility; Society; Sociology; Sociology of education. Educational systems. Lifelong education; Sociology of knowledge and ethics; Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture; Students; Studies; Surveys; Sustainability; Teaching; Improving business ethics educations; Status of business ethics education; Ethical outcome; Business ethics; Ethics; Survey; Moral Education; Teaching curriculum; Business
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1717-z

Unethical conduct has reached crisis proportions in business (Walker et al., Wall Str J East Edn, 258(37):A1-A10, 2011) and on today's college campuses (Burke et al., CPA J, 77(5):58-65, 2007). Despite the evidence that suggests that more than half of business students admit to dishonest practices (McCabe et al. 2006), only about 5 % of business school deans surveyed believe that dishonesty is a problem at their schools (Brown et al., Coll Stud J A, 44(2):299-308, 2010). In addition, the AACSB which establishes standards for accredited business schools has resisted the urging of deans and business experts to require business schools to teach an ethics class, and fewer than one-third of businesses schools now teach a business ethics course at the graduate or undergraduate levels (Swanson and Fisher, Advancing Business Ethics Education, 2008). In this paper we briefly introduce the status of business ethics education and report the results of a survey of business students, deans of the top business schools, and business ethics subject matter experts about ten ethical outcomes. We then offer five specific recommendations to encourage business ethics faculty and decision makers to improve the teaching of business ethics.