TrustUS: Cultural Influences on Ethical Decision Making

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 217-230
Author(s):  
Bachman Fulmer ◽  
Sarah Fulmer ◽  
Zeynep Can Ozer ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Managerial Accounting ◽  
Multicultural Environment

This case study focuses on how divergent cultural norms can impact ethical decisionmaking between a superior and subordinate in a high-pressure workplace. In order to ensure that today’s business students (and tomorrow’s business leaders) adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct in an international and multicultural environment, it is imperative they recognize and respond appropriately to different cultural views of ethics. In the accompanying case, Jane, a Chinese national living and working in the United States, encounters multiple ethical dilemmas during her employment at TrustUS. Readers are introduced to important cultural factors that differ between Eastern and Western societies (such as Power Distance and Collectivism) and are asked to apply these concepts to gain insight into how cultural background might influence the ethical decision making of a professional in a managerial accounting context.

Ethical Consumerism: Contextual Issues of Ethical Decision-Making Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 1434-1450
Author(s):  
Ebtihaj A. Al-A'ali ◽  
Abdul Redha Al-Sarraf
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Reward Systems ◽  
Work Roles ◽  
Ethical Consumerism

Ethical consumerism is the outcome of an ethical decision-making process. This research examines situational factors exemplified in context-related issues affecting decision-making as perceived by business students at the University of Bahrain. Reward systems, authority, bureaucracy, work role, organizational culture and national and cultural context are investigated. Qualitative research employing open-ended questions in questionnaire form is used. Two hundred and forty students participated in this research. Five questions were asked in the research. Themes involved are illustrations of reward systems, bureaucracy, organizational culture, national and cultural context and work roles. This research suggests that work roles require to be thoroughly investigated in future research. The research also shows that students are unaware of ethical consumerism. This explains reasons for not translating views of students to behavior as a reflection of ethical consumerism.

Developing ethical managers for future business roles: a qualitative study of the efficacy of “Stand-Alone” and “Embedded” University “Ethics” courses

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Alastair Coldwell ◽  
Robert Venter ◽  
Emmanuel Nkomo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Ethics Courses

Purpose While the problem of unethical leadership is undoubtedly a global one, the urgency of generating ethical leadership to advance the development of Africa has never been more evident than it is today. The challenge for higher education in developing ethical leaders is of core importance, as it is responsible for providing the main recruiting ground of business leaders. The current paper reports findings of a qualitative study of postgraduate students’ ethical development at the end of courses in business ethics aimed to enhance moral reasoning and ethical decision-making. The paper aims to ascertain whether stand-alone ethics courses are more effective than integrated ones in achieving academic ethical competency. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts an idiographic approach which aims at eliciting individual student subjective perceptions of the effects of the direct and indirect courses of ethical instruction on their moral reasoning and ethical practice. The research design broadly follows Mill’s (2017) method of difference. Findings Findings indicate perceived differences in the relative effectiveness of stand-alone and embedded ethics courses among students but also show that most students hold positive overall evaluations of the effectiveness of the both types of ethics instruction. Research limitations/implications Limitations to the study include that it is cross-sectional, involves a small sample of postgraduate students and is restricted to two management courses at one institution of higher learning. Furthermore, while Mill (2017) provides a useful research design in this context, it is not able to indicate causality, as there are other possible unidentified “third variables” that may be the actual cause of student differences between embedded and stand-alone ethics courses. The study is not able to show the durability and transfer of ethical competencies into students’ later working lives. Practical implications The study provides a useful practical educational contribution to the extant knowledge in the field in that it suggests that ethical courses aimed at giving students a moral reasoning “toolkit” for ethical decision-making are more effective when delivered in the stand-alone format, whereas practical decision-making skills are best honed by embedded business ethics courses. Social implications The problem of corruption in business and politics in South Africa is widely documented and has been regarded as responsible for creating a serious developmental drag on the alleviation of poverty and quality of lives of the majority of people in the country. The moral/ethical competency and behavior of future business leaders is partly the responsibility of institutions of higher learning. The study aims to find the most effective means of imparting moral awareness in postgraduate students who are likely to take up business leadership positions in their future careers. Originality/value The study provides useful contribution to the extant knowledge in the field in the African context in that it suggests that ethical courses aimed at giving students a moral reasoning “toolkit” for ethical decision-making are more effective when delivered in the stand-alone format, whereas practical decision-making skills are best honed by embedded business ethics courses.

An Exploration of Ethical Decision-making Processes in the United States and Egypt

2007 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 587-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafik I. Beekun ◽  
Ramda Hamdy ◽  
James W. Westerman ◽  
Hassan R. HassabElnaby
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-Making

2017 ◽  
Vol 155 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Mladenovic ◽  
Nonna Martinov-Bennie ◽  
Amani Bell
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Students

scholarly journals Gender Differences In Responses To Hypothetical Business Ethical Dilemmas By Business Undergraduates

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margie L. McInerney ◽  
Deanna D. Mader ◽  
Fred H. Mader
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Ethical Behavior ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Business Decisions ◽  
Business Undergraduates ◽  
Undergraduate Business Students

Business leaders are often failing to display ethical behavior in business decisions. This paper examines the gender differences found in undergraduate business students when faced with ethical decision making dilemmas.

scholarly journals Ethical Decision Making of Future Mexican Managers

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Maria A. Leach-López ◽  
Claire A. Stammerjohan ◽  
William W. Stammerjohan ◽  
Megan M. Leach
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Mexican Students ◽  
Doing Business

A study to measure ethical decision making of Mexican business students compared to their US counterparts. Results suggest that Mexican students’ ethical decision-making frameworks differ from those documented by Keller et al. (2007) in their study of US students. Mexican students were not found to be highly religious, but subscribed more to utilitarian, deontological and hermeneutical frameworks for their ethical values. It is suggested that multinational firms doing business in Mexico might want to schedule ethics training of managers and to have a set of standards that employees can follow.

Softening the Hearts of Business Students: The Role of Emotions in Ethical Decision Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-312
Author(s):  
Sophia S. Jeong ◽  
Cong (Timothy) Sun ◽  
Ping Ping Fu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business School ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
School Education ◽  
Repeated Measure ◽  
School Students

Business schools face a dilemma of promoting prosocial values while maintaining the principles of self-interest and profit maximization. In response to recent research suggesting that emotions may be the key to ethical decision making, we ask two basic questions: Do emotions make business students more ethical? Is business school education inhibiting ethical decision making? Drawing on theories on moral emotions and ethical decision making, we hypothesize that moral emotions will enhance ethical decision making, whereas hedonic emotions will diminish ethical decision making. Furthermore, we predict that a higher level of business school education will strengthen the negative relationship between hedonic emotions and ethical decision making while weakening the positive relationship between moral emotions and ethical decision making. Using a scenario-based repeated-measure design, we tested our hypotheses with 217 students from secondary schools, undergraduate business majors, and MBA programs in Hong Kong. Multilevel modeling results supported our hypotheses, suggesting that business school students may benefit from education on the unique roles of moral and hedonic emotions in the ethical decision-making process. We conclude with a summary of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

The Role of Moral Intensity and Personal Moral Philosophies in the Ethical Decision Making of Marketers: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of China and the United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jatinder J. Singh ◽  
Scott J. Vitell ◽  
Jamal Al-Khatib ◽  
Irvine Clark
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Moral Intensity ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Ethical Judgments ◽  
Moral Philosophies ◽  
The Relationship

This study uses cross-cultural samples from the United States and China to replicate previous empirical findings regarding the relationship among moral philosophies, moral intensity, and ethical decision making. The authors use a two-step structural equations modeling approach to analyze the measurement and structural models. The findings partially replicate those from previous studies and provide evidence that the measurement model is somewhat invariant across the two groups studied but the structural model is not. In addition, there is evidence that the relationship between personal moral philosophies (mainly relativism) and moral intensity varies across the two cultures. That is, whereas relativism is a significant predictor of moral intensity for the Chinese sample, it is not for the U.S. sample. However, idealism is a significant predictor of perceived moral intensity for both samples of marketing practitioners. Finally, perceived moral intensity is a significant, direct predictor of ethical judgments, and ethical judgments are a significant, direct predictor of behavioral intentions in both instances.

U.S. Space Dominance

2020 ◽  
pp. 123-150
Author(s):  
Joan Johnson-Freese ◽  
Kenneth Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Applied Ethics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The U.S

This chapter considers the ethical implications of the United States trying to achieve “space dominance” as part of an increasingly muscular U.S. “space warfare is inevitable” outlook. The methodology used in the analysis is drawn from Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, using utilitarian, rights, fairness, common good, virtue, and technology considerations as ethical decision-making lenses. Additionally, the chapter examines space dominance as a function of time and contractarianism. It concludes that the U.S. pursuit of space dominance appears to stem mostly from fear and self-interest, and that a better approach would be to shift more closely to honor and self-interest by pursuing more balance between military readiness and assiduous diplomacy. There is, however, no evidence that the latter approach is being considered.

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