Making an Impact in Ethical Instruction

• In Event: Reception: ELS and Research Presentations, plus CTLA Hands-On with Tech Tools
  In Poster Session: Effective Learning Strategies Poster Presentations

Abstract

Over the past three decades, business and accounting instructors have routinely included ethics education in their courses. Yet, the constant eruption of business scandals indicates that the education provided thus far is not making any headway into changing ethical behaviors. To that end, recent research has found that in order to change ethical behavior for the better, educators must go beyond the mere presentation and discussion of information related to ethics; they must employ active learning strategies. Active learning helps students to develop their reasoning and judgment skills, making a more permanent impact on ethical decision making. It is the authors’ opinions that instructors of business ethics can achieve this desired outcome in a manageable way by modifying their current business ethics curriculum. This study compares a control group to two different pedagogical methods used to teach ethics in introductory business and accounting courses. The first method involved having students engage in role playing with peer evaluation. The second method involved a classroom lecture with an interactive discussion in which students had to engage in ethical decision making. A control group was also used which did not receive any ethics instruction. Statistical results were found for both treatment groups. This study extends the current research by providing support for the suggestion that the methodology employed in presenting ethics education can indeed influence business students’ perceptions and ethical decision making abilities. The objective of the study, as measured by pre and post surveys, was to determine if the students’ perceptions of ethical situations and behaviors had changed after receiving one of two different treatments. The implications from the findings in this study suggest that ethical decision making is reactive to specific types of learning methodology and educators can easily incorporate this enhanced methodology into the curriculum in order to promote development in ethical reasoning and judgment.

Authors

• Alan B Davis, Truman State University

• Kristen K Irwin, Truman State University