Abstract
This study provides evidence regarding the level of ethical cognition of business students at the entry to college as compared to a national norm. It also provides comparative evidence on the effects of group versus individual ethical cognition upon completion of a business ethics course. The Principled Score (P-score) from the Defining Issues Test (DIT) was used to measure the ethical cognition of a total sample of 301 business students (273 entering students plus 28 students in a business ethics course). The results indicate that (1) business students are not significantly different from the national norms at entry to college and (2) group reasoning helps male students improve their P-scores significantly in the business ethics course at a loss of P-score (albeit not statistically significant) for female students.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berton, L.: 1995, ‘Business Students Hope to Cheat and Prosper, a New Study Shows’,, The Wall Street Journal (April 25), P. B1.
Colby, A. and L. Kohlberg: 1987, ‘The Measurement of Moral Judgment’, Theoretical Foundations and Research Validations and Standard Issues Manual, Vol I&II (Cambridge University Press, MA).
Colby, A., L. Kohlberg, J. Gibbs and M. Lieberman: 1983, ‘A Longitudinal Study of Moral Development’, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development Series No. 200, 48(1 & 2), 1–107.
Davison, M. and S. Robbins: 1978, ‘The Reliability and Validity of Objective Indices of Moral Development’, Applied Psychological Measurement 2(3), 391–293.
Ford, R. C. and W. D. Richardson: 1994, ‘Ethical Decision Making: A Review of the Empirical Literature’, Journal of Business Ethics 13, 205–221.
Forsyth, D. R.: 1990, Group Dynamics (2nd edn.) (Books Cole, Monterey, CA)
Henderson, V. E.: 1988, ‘Can Business Ethics be Taught?’, Management Review 77(8), 52–54.
Holloman, C. and H. Hendrick: 1972, ‘Adequacy of Group Decision as a Function of the Decision Making Process’, Academy of Management Journal 8, 175–184.
Holt, D and C. Jeffrey: 1991, ‘Ethical Development of Accounting Students, Business Students, and Liberal Arts Students’ (Working Paper Iowa State University).
Kohlberg, L.: 1981, Essays on Moral Development, The Philosophy of Moral Development, Vol. I & II (Harper & Row, San Francisco).
Kohlberg, L.: 1984, Essays in Moral Development, The Psychology of Moral Development, Vol. II (Harper & Row, New York).
Kurtines, W. M.: 1982, August, Moral Behavior as Rule Governed Behavior: A Psychological Role-Theoretical Approach to Decision Making. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Kurtines, W. M.: 1986, ‘Moral Behavior as Rule Governed Behavior: Person and Situation Effects on Moral Decision Making’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50, 784–791.
Kurtines, W. M. and E. Grief: 1974, ‘The Development of Moral Thought: Review and Evaluation of Kohlberg's Approach’, Psychological Bulletin 81, 453–470.
Kurtines, W. M. and J. Gewirtz (eds.): 1984, Morality, Moral Behavior and Moral Development (Wiley, New York).
McGeorge, C.: 1975, ‘The Susceptibility to Faking of the Defining Issues Test of Moral Development’, Developmental Psychology 11, 108.
McGrath, J. E.: 1984, Groups: Interaction and Performance (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ)
McNair, F. and E. E. Milam: 1993, ‘Ethics in Accounting Education: What is Really Being Done’, Journal of Business Ethics 12, 797–809.
McNichols, C. W. and T. W. Zimmer: 1995, ‘Situational Ethics: An Empirical Study of Differentiations of Student Attitudes’, Journal of Business Ethics 4, 175–180.
Nichols, M. and V. Day: 1982, ‘A Comparison of Moral Reasoning of Groups and Individuals on the “Defining Issues Test”’, Academy of Management Journal 25, 201–208.
Piaget, J.: 1965, The Moral Judgment of the Child, M. Gabain, trans. (Free Press, New York) (originally published 1932).
Ponemon, L. and A. Glazer: 1990, ‘Accounting Education and Ethical Development: The Influence of Liberal Learning on Students and Alumni in Accounting Practice’, Issues in Accounting Education, 21–34.
Rest, J.: 1979a, Revised Manual for the Defining Issues Test, Unpublished Manuscript.
Rest, J.: 1979b, Development in Judging Moral Issues (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis).
Rest, J.: 1986a, DIT Manual (3rd edn.) (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis).
Rest, J.: 1986b, Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory (Praeger Publishers, Inc., New York)
Rest, J.: 1994, ‘Background: Theory and Research’, in J. R. Rest and D. Narvaez (eds.), Moral Development in the Professions (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ), pp. 1–26.
Rest, J. and D. Narvaez: 1994, ‘Summary: What's Possible?’, in J. R. Rest and D. Narvaez (eds.), Moral Development in the Professions (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ), pp. 213–224.
Rich, J. M. and J. L. DeVitis: 1985, Theories of Moral Development (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL).
Rohrbaugh, J.: 1979, ‘Improving the Quality of Group Judgment: Social Judgment Analysis and the Delphi Technique’, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 24, 73–92.
Ruegger, D. and E. W. King: 1992, ‘A Study of the Effect of Age and Gender upon Student Business thics’, Journal of Business Ethics 11, 179–186.
Sniezek, J. A. and R. A. Henry: 1989, ‘Accuracy and Confidence in Group Judgment’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 43, 1–28.
Sniezek, J. A. and R. A. Henry: 1990, ‘Revision, Weighting, and Commitment in Consensus Group Judgment’, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 45, 66–84.
Schwartz, R. H., S. Kassem and D. Ludwig: 1991, ‘The Role of Business Schools in Managing the Incongruence Between Doing What is Right and Doing What it Takes to Get Ahead’, Journal of Business Ethics 10, 465–469.
Tansey, L. A.: 1994, ‘Right vs. Wrong’, Managing Your Career (Spring/Summer), 11–12.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abdolmohammadi, M.J., Gabhart, D.R.L. & Reeves, M.F. Ethical Cognition of Business Students Individually and in Groups. Journal of Business Ethics 16, 1717–1725 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005709723798
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005709723798