IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v149y2018i1d10.1007_s10551-016-3103-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Business Forums Pave the Way to Ethical Decision Making: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Awareness of a Value-Based Educational Institution

Author

Listed:
  • J. C. Blewitt

    (King’s College)

  • Joan M. Blewitt

    (King’s College)

  • Jack Ryan

    (King’s College)

Abstract

In the midst of recent ethical decision-making failures in business in the past ten or more years, businesses are beginning to prioritize the moral fiber of their new-hire business graduates. In addition to academic performance, intellectual drive, and personality match, perhaps there are other key characteristics that employers seek which speak to the importance of ethical decision makers in practice. The question remains, how can academic institutions help instill such values into their students so that ethical decision making transcends their lives? This article suggests that experiential learning through an institutional-sponsored business forum can help enhance an individual’s self-efficacy and awareness of the school’s value-based education, which ultimately will lead students towards ethical decision making in practice. Five years of survey data collected at business forum events suggests that business forums are making a difference in the students’ self-assessed abilities to show greater self-efficacy, better ethical decision making, and an increased awareness of their institution’s value-based education. Specifically, data collected illustrate a mediating effect of self-efficacy and awareness of a value-based education en route to ethical decision making. Further, support is found for the primary hypothesis that attendance at business forums does result in a higher propensity to make ethical decisions. Because of these positive findings, higher education institutions looking to place a greater emphasis on the ethical leadership of their business students may want to explore adding such experiential learning programs.

Suggested Citation

  • J. C. Blewitt & Joan M. Blewitt & Jack Ryan, 2018. "Business Forums Pave the Way to Ethical Decision Making: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Awareness of a Value-Based Educational Institution," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 235-244, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:149:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3103-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3103-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-016-3103-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-016-3103-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Desplaces & David Melchar & Laura Beauvais & Susan Bosco, 2007. "The Impact of Business Education on Moral Judgment Competence: An Empirical Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 73-87, August.
    2. Donald E. Gibson, 2003. "Developing the Professional Self-Concept: Role Model Construals in Early, Middle, and Late Career Stages," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(5), pages 591-610, October.
    3. John Weber, 2007. "Business Ethics Training: Insights from Learning Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 61-85, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. David Jones, 2009. "A Novel Approach to Business Ethics Training: Improving Moral Reasoning in Just a Few Weeks," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 367-379, August.
    2. Zhiqiang Liu & Ji Li & Hong Zhu & Zhenyao Cai & Luning Wang, 2014. "Chinese firms’ sustainable development—The role of future orientation, environmental commitment, and employee training," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 195-213, March.
    3. Giuseppe Criaco & Philipp Sieger & Karl Wennberg & Francesco Chirico & Tommaso Minola, 2017. "Parents’ performance in entrepreneurship as a “double-edged sword” for the intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 841-864, December.
    4. Wilhelm, William J. & Weber, Peter & Douglas, Kacey & Siepermann, Markus & Abuhamdieh, Ayman, 2021. "Moral reasoning and anti-immigrant bias: Experimental evidence from university students in Germany and the United States," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Natalia M. Mintchik & Timothy A. Farmer, 2009. "Associations Between Epistemological Beliefs and Moral Reasoning: Evidence from Accounting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(2), pages 259-275, January.
    6. M. Todd Royle, 2015. "Theoretical Drivers Of Early Career Success For New Entrants To The Job Market," International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 8(1), pages 31-56.
    7. Madeleine Feder & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2019. "Understanding the behavioral gap: Why would managers (not) engage in CSR-related activities?," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 95-126, April.
    8. Daniella Juric & Brendan O’Connell & Michaela Rankin & Jacqueline Birt, 2018. "Determinants of the Severity of Legal and Employment Consequences for CPAs Named in SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 545-563, February.
    9. Luke R. Potwarka & Pamela Wicker, 2020. "Conditions under Which Trickle-Down Effects Occur: A Realist Synthesis Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Nora Hesse, 2015. "Students' Career Attitudes - How Entrepreneurial Are Prospective Scientists?," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2015-03, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    11. Morgan X. Yang & Ji Li & Irina Y. Yu & Kevin J. Zeng & Jian‐Min (James) Sun, 2019. "Environmentally sustainable or economically sustainable? The effect of Chinese manufacturing firms' corporate sustainable strategy on their green performances," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 989-997, September.
    12. Shahid, Pirzada Syed Rizwan, 2023. "Founder's Human Capital and the Entrepreneurial Process Duration," OSF Preprints yf6mg, Center for Open Science.
    13. Lam D. Nguyen & Quan H. M. Tran, 2018. "Working Adults and Personal Business Ethics in South East Asia: a Comparative Study in Thailand and Vietnam," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 159-174, June.
    14. Lonneke Dubbelt & Janneke Oostrom & Annemarie Hiemstra & Joost Modderman, 2015. "Validation of a Digital Work Simulation to Assess Machiavellianism and Compliant Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 619-637, September.
    15. John Angelidis & Nabil Ibrahim, 2011. "The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on the Ethical Judgment of Managers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 111-119, February.
    16. Ángel Rodríguez-López & Jaime E. Souto, 2020. "Empowering entrepreneurial capacity: training, innovation and business ethics," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(1), pages 23-43, March.
    17. Laura Guillén & Natalia Karelaia, 2011. "When opposites hurt: Similarity in getting ahead in leader-follower dyads as a predictor of job performance evaluations," ESMT Research Working Papers ESMT-11-12 (R1), ESMT European School of Management and Technology, revised 30 Aug 2012.
    18. Guillem C. Cabana & Muel Kaptein, 2021. "Team Ethical Cultures Within an Organization: A Differentiation Perspective on Their Existence and Relevance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 761-780, May.
    19. Donald E. Gibson & Barbara S. Lawrence, 2010. "Women's and Men's Career Referents: How Gender Composition and Comparison Level Shape Career Expectations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(6), pages 1159-1175, December.
    20. Daniela S. Jopp & Seojung Jung & Amanda K. Damarin & Sheena Mirpuri & Dario Spini, 2017. "Who Is Your Successful Aging Role Model?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(2), pages 237-247.

    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:kap:jbuset:v:149:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3103-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.