Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Legislated Ethics or Ethics Education?: Faculty Views in the Post-Enron Era

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The tension between external forces for better ethics in organizations, represented by legislation such as the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX), and the call for internal forces represented by increased educational coverage, has never been as apparent. This study examines business school faculty attitudes about recent corporate ethics lapses, including opinions about root causes, potential solutions, and ethics coverage in their courses. In assessing root causes, faculty point to a failure of systems such as legal/professional and management (external) and declining personal values (internal). We also found that faculty recommend external forces as a remedy more often than increased ethics educational coverage; we contextualize this finding with recent ethics education literature. We conclude by proposing that neither legislation nor ethics education alone are complete when addressing widespread unethical corporate acts and offer a multi-faceted approach to ethics educational opportunities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • AACSB: 2006, AACSB Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation, http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards.asp

  • Alsop, R.: 2003, “Right and Wrong: Can Business Schools Teach Students To Be Virtuous? In the Wake of All the Corporate Scandals, They Have No Choice But To Try”, The Wall Street Journal (September 17), R9

  • Armstrong M. B. (1987) Moral Development and Accounting Education. Journal of Accounting Education 5:27–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beggs, J. M., K. Lund Dean, J. Gillespie and J. Wiener: 2006, ‘Teaching Business Ethics’, Journal of Management Education 30(1)

  • Brewer, L.: 2005, ‘Corporate Business Ethics Education, Benchmarking, and Certification’, Presentation at the Teaching Business Ethics Conference sponsored by AACSB, University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and University of Wyoming, July 20–22, 2005, Boulder, Colorado

  • Coates B. E. (2004) Corporate Culture, Corporate Mischief, and Legislated Ethics: The Sarbanes–Oxley Act. Journal of Public Affairs 7(1):39–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Conroy S. J., Emerson T. L. N. (2004) Business Ethics and Religion: Religiosity as a Predictor of Ethical Awareness among Students. Journal of Business Ethics 50(4):383–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings R., Dyas L., Maddox C. D. (2001) Principled Moral Reasoning and Behavior of Preservice Teacher Education Students. American Educational Research Journal 38:143–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Duska R. F. (1991) What’s the Point of a Business Ethics Course?. Business Ethics Quarterly 1(4):335–354

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro F., Pfeffer J., Sutton R. I. (2005) Economics Language and Assumptions: How Theories Can Become Self-Fulfilling. Academy of Management Review 30(1):8–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher J. (2004) Social Responsibility and Ethics: Clarifying the Concepts. Journal Business Ethics 52(4):391–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fontana A., Frey J.H. (2005) The Interview: From Neutral Stance to Political Involvement. In: Denzin N. K., Lincoln Y. S. (eds) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 3rd edition. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 695–727

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman R.E. (2005) Ethical Leadership and Creating Value for Stakeholders. In: Peterson R. A., Ferrell O. C. (eds) Business Ethics: New Challenges for Business Schools and Corporate Leaders. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, pp 82–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Gall M. D., Borg W. R., Gall J. P. (2003) Educational Research: An Introduction, 7th edition. Longman, White Plains, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S.: 2003, July 17, “Business Schools Share the Blame for Enron”, Financial Times, 21

  • Ghoshal S. (2005) Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices. Academy of Management Learning & Education 4(1):75–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens A. (1984) The Constitution of Society. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Gioia D. A. (2002) Business Education’s Role in the Crisis of Corporate Confidence. Academy of Management Executive 16(3):142–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartman L. P., Hartman E. M. (2004) How to Teach Ethics: Assumptions and Arguments. Journal of Business Ethics Education 1(2):165–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede G. (2001) Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Holstein J. A., Gubrium J. F. (2005) Interpretive Practice and Social Action. In: Denzin N. K., Lincoln Y. S. (eds) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 3rd edition. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 483–505

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl, E.: 1969, Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology (W. R. B. Gibson, Trans.) (Allen & Unwin, London)

  • Husserl, E.: 1970, The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy (D. Carr, Trans.) (Northwestern University, Evanston)

  • Hycner R. H. (1999) Some Guidelines for the Phenomenological Analysis of Interview Data. In: Bryman A., Burgess R.G. (eds) Qualitative Research Vol. 3. Sage, London, pp 143–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffers E. (2005) Corporate Governance: Toward Converging Models?. Global Finance Journal 16(2):221–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kant I. (1966) Education. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg L., Hersh R. H. (2001) Moral Development: A Review of the Theory. Theory into Practice XVI(2):53–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Krippendorff K. (1980) Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology Vol. 5. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurlantzick J. (2003) Liar, Liar. Entrepreneur 31(10):68–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Laczniak, G, Murphy P. (2005) Ethical Leadership for Improved Corporate Governance and Better Business Education. In: Peterson R. A., Ferrell O. C. (eds), Business Ethics: New Challenges for Business Schools and Corporate Leaders. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, pp 175–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas N., Koerwer V.S. (2004) Featured Interview: Sherron Watkins, Former Vice President for Corporate Development of Enron. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 11(1):38–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Lund Dean K., Mullins Beggs J. (2006) University Professors and Teaching Ethics: Conceptualizations and expectations. Journal of Management Education 30(1):15–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumura E. M., Shin J. Y. (2005) Corporate Governance Reform and CEO Compensation: Intended and Unintended Consequences. Journal of Business Ethics 62(2):101–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAlister D. T. (2004) Building Ethical Capacity in Business Schools. Marketing Education Review 14(3):55–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Melé D. (2005) Ethical Education in Accounting: Integrating Rules, Values and Virtues. Journal of Business Ethics 57(1):7–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Merritt, J.: 2003, January 27, ‘Ethics is also a B-School Business’. BusinessWeek 3817, 105

    Google Scholar 

  • Paine L. S. (1994) Managing for Organizational Integrity. Harvard Business Review 72(2):106–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Paradice D. B., Dejoie R. M. (1991) The Ethical Decision-Making Processes of Information Systems Workers. Journal of Business Ethics 10(1):1–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patton M.Q. (2002) Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelton L. E., True S. L. (2004) Teaching Business Ethics: Why Gen Y?. Marketing Education Review 14(3):63–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Piper T. R., Gentile M. C., Parks S. D. (1993) Can Ethics be Taught? Perspectives, Challenges, and Approaches at Harvard Business School. Harvard Business School, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Plato: 1949, Meno, B. Jowett, Trans. (Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis)

  • Rest J.R. (1979) Development in Judging Moral Issues. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • Rest J. R., Thoma S. J. (1985) Relationship of Moral Judgment Development to Formal Education. Developmental Psychology 21:709–714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockness H., Rockness J (2005) Legislated Ethics: From Enron to Sarbanes–Oxley, the Impact on Corporate America. Journal of Business Ethics 57(1):31–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sachdev, A.: 2003, ‘Ethics Moves to the Head of the Class: In the Wake of Recent Corporate Scandals, Educators are Taking a Hard Look at Values and Leadership Training for Tomorrow’s Business Leaders’, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, p. 1

  • Samuelson, J.: 2002, ‘Back to Business Ethics’, BizEd September/October, 4–5

  • Schäfer H. (2005) International Corporate Social Responsibility Rating Systems. Journal of Corporate Citizenship 20:107–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Sims R.R., Brinkmann J. (2003) Enron Ethics (or: Culture Matters More Than Codes). Journal of Business Ethics 45:243–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swanson D. L., Frederick W. C. (2004) Denial and Leadership in Business Ethics Education. In: Ferrell O. C., Peterson R. A. (eds) Business Ethics: The New Challenge for Business Schools and Corporate Leaders. M.E. Sharpe, New York, pp 222–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson D. L. (2004) The Buck Stops Here: Why Universities Must Reclaim Business Ethics Education. The Journal of Academic Ethics 2(1):1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson Jr. A. A., Strickland III A. J., Gamble J. E. (2005) Crafting and Executing Strategy (14th ed.). McGraw-Hill Irwin, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevino L. K. (1986) Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model. Academy of Management Review 11(3):601–617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trevino L. K., Brown M. E. (2004) Managing To Be Ethical: Debunking Five Business Ethics Myths. Academy of Management Executive 18(2):69–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevino L. K, McCabe D. (1994) Meta-learning about Business Ethics: Building Honorable business school communities. Journal of Business Ethics 13(6):405–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trevino L. K., Youngblood S. A. (1990) Bad Apples in Bad Barrels: A Causal Analysis of Ethical Decision-Making Behaviour. Journal of Applied Psychology 75(4):378–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber J., Wasieleski D. (2001) Investigating Influences on Managers’ Moral Reasoning: The Impact of Context and Personal and Organizational Factors. Business & Society 40(1):79–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams S. D., Dewett T. (2005) Yes, You Can Teach Business Ethics: A Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies 12(2):109–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Wipperfurth, H.: 2002, April 15, Enron Scandal Touches Off Boom in Ethics Education. Crain’s New York Business 18, 47

  • Woo, C.Y.: 2003, Personally Responsible, BizEd, pp. 22–27

  • Wright M. (1995) Can Moral Judgment and Ethical Behaviour Be Learned?. Management Decision 33(10):17–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin R.K. (2002) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoo B., Donthu N. (2002) The Effects of Marketing Education and Individual Cultural Values on Marketing Ethics of Students. Journal of Marketing Education 24(2):92–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahra S. A. (2003) An Interview with Peter Drucker. Academy of Management Executive 17(3):9–12

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, Illinois State University, COB 342, Campus Box 5590, Normal, IL, USA

    Jeri Mullins Beggs

  2. Department of Management, Idaho State University, 921 South 8th Avenue, Stop 8020, Pocatello, ID, 83209-8020, USA

    Kathy Lund Dean

Authors
  1. Jeri Mullins Beggs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kathy Lund Dean
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeri Mullins Beggs.

Additional information

Jeri Mullins Beggs is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Illinois State University. She earned her Ph.D. in marketing at Saint Louis University. Her current research interests are ethics education, health care marketing, and social marketing. Her work has been presented and published at various conferences and journals including most recently the Journal of Management Education, Marketing and Public Policy conference and the Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior conference. She also recently served as co-editor of a special issue of Journal of Management Education on Teaching Business ethics. Kathy Lund Dean is a member of the management department at Idaho State University. She earned her Ph.D. in organizational behavior and philosophy from Saint Louis University. Her current research interests lie in operationalizing non-traditional research methodologies, immersion pedagogies such as service-learning, and spiritual wholeness and authenticity in work place. Her research has appeared in multiple journals including Journal of Management Education, Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion, Journal of Organizational Change Management, International Journal of Public Administration, and Academy of Management Executive. She serves as the Associate Editor for the Journal of Management Education.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Beggs, J.M., Dean, K.L. Legislated Ethics or Ethics Education?: Faculty Views in the Post-Enron Era. J Bus Ethics 71, 15–37 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9123-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9123-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation