Does employment influence the success of ethics training?

Purpose - – The study aims to understand how university students' work experiences influence their perceptions of university ethics training. In the past, researchers have focused on the content of university ethics programs, but have ignored the influence of students' employment. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors surveyed 953 students at a medium-sized university in the Southeastern USA. Findings - – Students' views of work and experiences on the job predicted both their views of college ethics training and their ability to identify ethical issues from a set of scenarios. Students' perceptions of their degrees as valuable credentials and their feelings that ethical behavior is the “norm” in business were the strongest predictors in both instances. Research limitations/implications - – While the regression analyses were significant, they explained relatively little of the variance. Practical implications - – In designing programs to promote ethical behaviors among future managers, university personnel should bear in mind that students' experiences on the job help to determine the manner in which they view university ethics training. Originality/value - – To date, most researchers have not considered that the response to university ethics training is influenced – in part – by the fact that students are often employed.