IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i8p2717-d161498.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Business Ethics as a Sustainability Challenge: Higher Education Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Guillermina Tormo-Carbó

    (CEGEA, Centre for Research in Business Management, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

  • Elies Seguí-Mas

    (CEGEA, Centre for Research in Business Management, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

  • Víctor Oltra

    (Department of Business Management, Facultat d’Economia, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

Recent financial scandals worldwide have intensified concern for business (and especially accounting) ethics. Hence, under an overall economic and social sustainability approach, it is crucial to improve the effectiveness of business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) education, in terms of its impact on business students’ awareness of ethical issues. However, stand-alone business ethics/CSR courses are uncommon in Spanish universities. Accordingly, this paper aims at examining the influence of ethics courses on students’ awareness of business ethics in unfriendly environments. We test our hypotheses, through hierarchical regression, in a sample of 551 management students of a Spanish university. Our results suggest that business ethics/CSR courses increase awareness of the importance of ethics in: (i) business courses, (ii) recognizing accounting ethical implications, and (iii) workplace decisions. Our findings also show that a joint interactive effect of gender (female students) and age (older students) increases the impact of business ethics/CSR courses on students’ awareness of the importance of: (i) ethics in workplace decisions, and (ii) the recognition of accounting ethical implications. Our results also support the relevance of different learning styles and the convenience of adapting ethics/CSR teaching methods depending on students’ characteristics. Research and practical implications are derived from our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillermina Tormo-Carbó & Elies Seguí-Mas & Víctor Oltra, 2018. "Business Ethics as a Sustainability Challenge: Higher Education Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2717-:d:161498
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2717/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2717/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Özgür Özmen Uysal, 2010. "Business Ethics Research with an Accounting Focus: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1988 to 2007," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 137-160, April.
    2. Ethan Waples & Alison Antes & Stephen Murphy & Shane Connelly & Michael Mumford, 2009. "A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Business Ethics Instruction," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 133-151, June.
    3. Gemma Burford & Elona Hoover & Lee Stapleton & Marie K. Harder, 2016. "An Unexpected Means of Embedding Ethics in Organizations: Preliminary Findings from Values-Based Evaluations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-22, June.
    4. Jana Craft, 2013. "A Review of the Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 2004–2011," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 221-259, October.
    5. Manfred Max Bergman & Zinette Bergman & Lena Berger, 2017. "An Empirical Exploration, Typology, and Definition of Corporate Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-13, May.
    6. Stephen Loeb, 2015. "Active Learning: An Advantageous Yet Challenging Approach to Accounting Ethics Instruction," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 221-230, March.
    7. Setó-Pamies, Dolors & Domingo-Vernis, Misericordia & Rabassa-Figueras, Noemí, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility in management education: Current status in Spanish universities," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 604-620, September.
    8. Jelle Boeve-de Pauw & Niklas Gericke & Daniel Olsson & Teresa Berglund, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-25, November.
    9. Kim Ceulemans & Rodrigo Lozano & María Del Mar Alonso-Almeida, 2015. "Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education: Interconnecting the Reporting Process and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-23, July.
    10. Nhung Nguyen & M. Basuray & William Smith & Donald Kopka & Donald McCulloh, 2008. "Moral Issues and Gender Differences in Ethical Judgment using Reidenbach and Robin’s (1990) Multidimensional Ethics Scale: Implications in Teaching of Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(4), pages 417-430, February.
    11. Steven Dellaportas & Barry J. Cooper & Philomena Leung, 2006. "Measuring moral judgement and the implications of cooperative education and rule‐based learning," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(1), pages 53-70, March.
    12. Barbara Ritter, 2006. "Can Business Ethics be Trained? A Study of the Ethical Decision-making Process in Business Students," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 68(2), pages 153-164, October.
    13. Low, Mary & Davey, Howard & Hooper, Keith, 2008. "Accounting scandals, ethical dilemmas and educational challenges," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 222-254.
    14. Roberta Bampton & Christopher Cowton, 2013. "Taking Stock of Accounting Ethics Scholarship: A Review of the Journal Literature," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 549-563, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marie-France Waxin & Savita Kumra & Fang Zhao, 2020. "Workforce Localization in the Arab Gulf Countries: How Do Organizations Socialize the Members of a Powerful Minority?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas & Pedro Jiménez-Estévez, 2019. "Are Corporate Social Responsibility Courses Effective? A Longitudinal and Gender-Based Analysis in Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Marli Gonan Božac & Katarina Kostelić & Morena Paulišić & Charles G. Smith, 2021. "Business Ethics Decision-Making: Examining Partial Reflective Awareness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-27, March.
    4. Almudena Eizaguirre & María García-Feijoo & Jon Paul Laka, 2019. "Defining Sustainability Core Competencies in Business and Management Studies Based on Multinational Stakeholders’ Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, April.
    5. Jesús Maya & Juan F. Luesia & Javier Pérez-Padilla, 2021. "The Relationship between Learning Styles and Academic Performance: Consistency among Multiple Assessment Methods in Psychology and Education Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    6. Sylvie Formánková & Oldřich Trenz & Oldřich Faldík & Jan Kolomazník & Jitka Sládková, 2019. "Millennials’ Awareness and Approach to Social Responsibility and Investment—Case Study of the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-17, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas & Pedro Jiménez-Estévez, 2019. "Are Corporate Social Responsibility Courses Effective? A Longitudinal and Gender-Based Analysis in Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Tamara Poje & Maja Zaman Groff, 2022. "Mapping Ethics Education in Accounting Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 451-472, August.
    3. Rafael Robina Ramirez & Pedro R. Palos-Sanchez, 2018. "Willingness to Comply with Corporate Law: An Interdisciplinary Teaching Method in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    4. Tabea Franziska Hirth-Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2019. "Management accountants and ethical dilemmas: How to promote ethical intention?," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 287-322, October.
    5. Anne L. Christensen & Angela Woodland, 2018. "An Investigation of the Relationships Among Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Participation and Ethical Judgment and Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 529-543, February.
    6. Ahmed Musbah & Christopher J. Cowton & David Tyfa, 2016. "The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 335-358, March.
    7. Christoph Endenich & Rouven Trapp, 2020. "Ethical Implications of Management Accounting and Control: A Systematic Review of the Contributions from the Journal of Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 309-328, May.
    8. Christian Hauser, 2020. "From Preaching to Behavioral Change: Fostering Ethics and Compliance Learning in the Workplace," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 835-855, April.
    9. Christian Hauser, 2019. "Fighting Against Corruption: Does Anti-corruption Training Make Any Difference?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 281-299, September.
    10. Giorgia Miotto & Marc Polo López & Josep Rom Rodríguez, 2019. "Gender Equality and UN Sustainable Development Goals: Priorities and Correlations in the Top Business Schools’ Communication and Legitimation Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Montgomery Wart & David Baker & Anna Ni, 2014. "Using a Faculty Survey to Kick-Start an Ethics Curriculum Upgrade," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(4), pages 571-585, July.
    12. Anne Christensen & Jane Cote & Claire Kamm Latham, 2018. "Developing Ethical Confidence: The Impact of Action-Oriented Ethics Instruction in an Accounting Curriculum," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1157-1175, December.
    13. Tara J. Shawver & William F. Miller, 2017. "Moral Intensity Revisited: Measuring the Benefit of Accounting Ethics Interventions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 587-603, March.
    14. Loréa Baïada-Hirèche & Ghislaine Garmilis, 2016. "Accounting Professionals’ Ethical Judgment and the Institutional Disciplinary Context: A French–US Comparison," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(4), pages 639-659, December.
    15. Will Drover & Jennifer Franczak & Richard Beltramini, 2012. "A 30-Year Historical Examination of Ethical Concerns Regarding Business Ethics: Who’s Concerned?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 431-438, December.
    16. Cherise Small & Charlene Lew, 2021. "Mindfulness, Moral Reasoning and Responsibility: Towards Virtue in Ethical Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 103-117, February.
    17. Liz Wang & Lisa Calvano, 2015. "Is Business Ethics Education Effective? An Analysis of Gender, Personal Ethical Perspectives, and Moral Judgment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(4), pages 591-602, February.
    18. Daniel Holland & Chad Albrecht, 2013. "The Worldwide Academic Field of Business Ethics: Scholars’ Perceptions of the Most Important Issues," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(4), pages 777-788, November.
    19. Guillermina Tormo-Carbó & Elies Seguí-Mas & Victor Oltra, 2016. "Accounting Ethics in Unfriendly Environments: The Educational Challenge," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 161-175, April.
    20. Nonna Martinov-Bennie & Rosina Mladenovic, 2015. "Investigation of the Impact of an Ethical Framework and an Integrated Ethics Education on Accounting Students’ Ethical Sensitivity and Judgment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 189-203, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2717-:d:161498. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.