Building business ethics awareness in diverse teaching environments

Abstract

The importance of discussing ethics in business education has long been recognized. Accrediting bodies such as the ACBSP and AACSB require business curricula to include business ethics as a standalone course and/ or for it to be woven into subject matter of other courses. The premise is that, as future managers and business owners, business students need to be aware of how ethics influence and are related to decision making. An individual’s ethical attitudes and outlooks are related to values that they consider important. Values vary across individuals, and even societies. For instance, the approach of Hofstede (1991) is considered a standard for viewing cultural differences in certain values, as they apply to workplaces. Individual values have also been studied extensively (example: Rokeach, 1973). The Rokeach Values Survey is an established tool for understanding individual attitudes towards values. The Rokeach Values Survey has been used in a variety of contexts over many decades. In particular, Weber (1990, 2015) used it to study value preferences of business students, and alumni, and also link it to managerial orientations. We note that, in general. students from underrepresented groups have been under-researched, as has been their educational experiences. In this paper, we discuss the issue of integrating ethics in business teaching which responds to the experiences and attitudes of this student group in the context of business education pedagogies, and seek to link it to the Rokeach survey.