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Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-Making

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Abstract

Motivated by the call for more research on students’ perceptions of their ethical development in business education programs, this study examines students’ reflections on how their understanding of ethics was challenged and/or changed, and what facilitated the development of ethical decision-making approaches in a first-year accounting course. The results indicate that students developed more sophisticated and contextualised views of ethical issues in business, government and social contexts including the need to consider their impact on various stakeholders. Students attributed this development to the various elements in the integrated course design including the real cases sourced in current newspaper articles, an ethical decision-making framework with various ethical perspectives, the reflective journal component and the ability to work in groups. These findings have implications for the design of effective ethics education programs in business.

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Notes

  1. This research reports on business students’ perception of ethical education and their own ethical development within an introductory financial accounting unit being the first unit for an accounting major as part of a comprehensive business degree program which includes a variety of units including law, finance, economics and marketing depending on the major(s) chosen. We have included the literature on both accounting students’ ethics education and business students’ ethics education for relevance and completeness.

  2. The reflective report data collected represent a separate assessment task (and data) to that utilised in the previous study. Refer to the study context section for more details.

  3. “Students completed their reflective reports online. The platform was unsophisticated, and as such, much of the typed text was hidden from the student’s view as the visible text on screen was limited to a small number of characters. Furthermore, the platform did not offer spelling or grammar checks. This resulted in spelling and grammatical errors in the responses provided”.

  4. Thirty-four students (18%) did not answer the question.

  5. The terms ‘beliefs’ and ‘understanding’ are used interchangeably in the paper based on Benedict Spinoza’s (1677/1982) doctrine that understanding and believing are merely two words for the same mental operation. As such, to Spinoza, the act of understanding is the act of believing and people are incapable of withholding their acceptance of that which they understand.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Rosina Mladenovic

  2. Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia

    Nonna Martinov-Bennie

  3. Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Amani Bell

Authors
  1. Rosina Mladenovic
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  2. Nonna Martinov-Bennie
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  3. Amani Bell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nonna Martinov-Bennie.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Extracts from Instructions for Students: Newspaper Group Task

The newspaper group task involves the use of the Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (introduced in seminar 1) to prepare a written critique (maximum of 4 pages) and a 12–15 min presentation on a newspaper article that relates to an ethical conflict, and the subject matter of the unit of study. You will also be required to submit an individual reflection on your learning experience about ethical conflict resolution and working in a group.

Component

Assessment (%)

Group presentation

5

Group written report

10

Individual reflection

5

Total marks

20

Groups will be formed in seminars 2 and 3 (weeks 3 and 4). Each student will be a member of one group; each seminar will consist of four groups of as equal size as is practicable. Each group is required to complete the newspaper group task (group oral presentation; group written critique, and an individual reflection) once during semester. The unit of study outline and the seminar program provide the scheduled dates of when groups are expected to perform their tasks. All members of the group are required to contribute to both the content and oral delivery of the presentation.

The newspaper article chosen must be recent, i.e. since January 20XX, and concerning an issue in the Australasian context. You need to advise your tutor two weeks in advance of the topic selected. The Newspaper task is designed to encourage you to:

  • Read newspapers on a regular basis

  • See the link between the unit content and business, government and society

  • Realise how often ethical conflict is part and parcel of the business decision-making process and actions

  • Develop team skills

  • Apply a Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) to reading and thinking about newspaper articles

  • Identify appropriate accounting issue(s) and to appreciate how the resolution affects financial reporting and decision-making

  • Identify ethical conflict as it relates to contemporary business, social and political environment and to determine the stakeholders affected by it

  • Think about how you define ethics and what benchmark you use to determine whether or not an action is ethical or unethical

  • Think about whether or not you apply different ethical perspectives to different situations

  • Think about academic honesty and how it applies to your own work

  • Understand the difference between preparing and delivering a written and an oral presentation,

  • Develop confidence in your own understanding and ability to put forward your argument, and to evaluate the conclusions drawn by others, and to present an alternative viewpoint both orally and in writing.

  • Reflect on your learning experience in group work; ethical conflict resolution; and possible challenges to your values, beliefs or assumptions and how you can integrate this learning experience into your future development.

Appendix 2: Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) Framework

1.

Introduction

 Provide a brief overview to contextualise the potential accounting and ethical issue(s)

 Provide a succinct summary to indicate that you understand the relevant facts

2.

Identify the relevant accounting and ethical issues in the context of your chosen article

 Accounting issues identify the relevant accounting issues and show that you understand the impact on financial reports and on decision-making by external and internal stakeholders. (Keep in mind that financial statements determine how outsiders view a company.)

 Ethical issues briefly outline all potential ethical issues

3.

Identify stakeholders

 Identify the key stakeholders and outline the potential impact of the ethical issues on each stakeholder’s interests. (Specify who is affected by the ethical conflict identified and how this is likely to impact their decision-making/actions. Consider the potential impact on internal and external stakeholders such as consumers, competitors or society in general)

 Indicate whether there are any potential conflicts of interests that could influence how the ethical issue is reported and/or resolved (i.e. the interaction between stakeholders)

4.

Outline ethical perspectives

 Identify at least 3 alternative ethical perspectives that could be adopted to assist in the conflict resolution process

 Identify the ethical perspectives that appear to have been adopted by the key stakeholders

 After considering the points above, identify your own ethical perspective(s) in the context of the ethical issue(s) discussed (ensuring it is appropriately applied and argued based on evidence using examples)

5.

Alternative courses of action and recommendation

 Identify the most important possible alternative courses of action

 Recommend an appropriate course of action and justify your choice (i.e. ensure the group’s recommendations are consistent with the ethical perspective(s) applied)

  1. Source Adapted and modified version of the ethical conflict resolution process from APES 110 code of ethics for professional accountants: http://www.apesb.org.au/uploads/standards/apesb_standards/compiledt1.pdf

Appendix 3: Individual Reflection Questions (Selected)

  • Please discuss how your beliefs or assumptions have been challenged or changed. If they have not been challenged or changed, why not?

  • Which if any of the tools and approaches (e.g. Group Work, Ethical Perspectives and Ethical Conflict Resolution Process) you have experienced in this unit would you consider using in the future? Please fully explain your answer.

  • Discuss how the ECRP assisted you in deciding upon a recommended course of action OR whether the ECRP failed to guide you adequately. Provide reasons for your answer.

  • At the beginning of this course what were your views about being introduced to ethical perspectives and ethical conflict resolution process? Have your views changed? If so, how? (This question is for the purposes of research and while NO MARKS are awarded to this question, we value your input).

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Mladenovic, R., Martinov-Bennie, N. & Bell, A. Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-Making. J Bus Ethics 155, 275–287 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3523-5

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