Article Anaysis
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References Mladenovic, R., Martinov-Bennie, N., & Bell, A. (2019). Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of
Ethical Decision-Making. Journal of Business Ethics, 155(1), 275–287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551- 017-3523-5
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Business Students' Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-Making Motivated by the call for more research on students' perceptions of their ethical development in business education programs, this study examines students' reflections on how their understanding of ethics was challenged and/or changed, and what facilitated the development of ethical decision-making approaches in a first-year accounting course. The results indicate that students developed more sophisticated and contextualised views of ethical issues in business, government and social contexts including the need to consider their impact on various stakeholders. Students attributed this development to the various elements in the integrated course design including the real cases sourced in current newspaper articles, an ethical decision-making framework with various ethical perspectives, the reflective journal component and the ability to work in groups. These findings have implications for the design of effective ethics education programs in business.
Keywords: Ethical decision-making; Ethical decision-making framework; Ethical perspectives; Integrated ethics education; Critical reflection; Group work
Introduction The study of ethics in business originated in the 1950s (Bishop 1992) and has grown more important in recent years with much publicised corporate failures such as Enron, followed by the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. Consequently, the public and business leaders have exhorted business schools to develop graduates who are ethical and successful managers and leaders in 'making the world a better place' (AACSB 2004). Despite the importance of developing students as ethical graduates, few studies explore students' perceptions of how they develop ethical decision-making skills. While our previous study showed that an ethical decision-making framework improved students' ethical judgment and that integrated ethics education improved students' ethical sensitivity (Martinov-Bennie and Mladenovic 2015), we do not know, from the students' perspective, why this occurred.
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This study aims to explore students' perceptions of whether and how an integrated ethics education component challenged and/or changed their beliefs and assumptions. Given the lacuna of research on students' perceptions of how they develop capacity for ethical decision-making, this research offers a significant contribution to ethics education and training by providing insights into students' perceptions about what facilitated their ethical decision-making development. Understanding how students experience different aspects of ethics education offers insights into how business schools and educators might better support students' and business professionals' capacity to make ethical decisions.
Literature Review Our literature review provides a brief overview of ethics in accounting education, drawing especially on Bampton and Cowton's (2013) comprehensive analysis of this topic. We then summarise key research findings on business students' perceptions of ethics1 [ 1] and conclude by analysing how reflection benefits student learning.
Ethics in accounting education Bampton and Cowton's (2013) comprehensive overview of accounting ethics literature analyses 142 journal articles on accounting ethics education published over the past 20 years. They found that prior research especially aims to 'discover whether accounting students are more or less ethical than others, [and] whether females are more ethical than males' and 'whether accounting ethics education has any long-lasting impact' (556). Bampton and Cowton (2013) recommend that 'more qualitative work should be undertaken...focussing on examining issues and research questions that are not amenable to investigation by...surveys using close-ended questions' (561). Our paper responds to this call.
A recent longitudinal study by Dellaportas et al. (2014) showed that 'ethics education is well entrenched in the accounting curricula' in Australia, the USA and the UK. In Australian accounting degrees, ethics is usually integrated into the curriculum, rather than being taught as a stand-alone course (Dellaportas et al. 2014). This approach is consistent with the view that a narrow, de-contextualised approach is unlikely to successfully develop generic skills (Sin et al. 2012). Recent research has focussed on determining what types of ethics interventions are effective, and how and why they impact students (e.g. Shawver and Miller 2015; Martinov-Bennie and Mladenovic 2015; Miller et al. 2014).
Students' Perceptions of Ethics in Business We have some limited knowledge of how educators view business ethics education (e.g. Blanthorne et al. 2007; Adkins and Radtke 2004), the views of the accounting profession (e.g. IFAC's approach to global ethics education in IES4 (2008)) and students' views of the relative importance of ethics education (e.g. De Lange et al. 2006). For example, Kavanagh and Drennan (2008) found that while graduating business students did not perceive ethics as being important to their careers, employers sought ethical awareness as an important graduate attribute.
However, there is little qualitative research on how students perceive ethics in business, or on how their perceptions and ethical decision-making skills change as a direct result of ethical education. One study (Reid et al. 2011) took a phenomenographic approach to reveal that 44 mid-degree business students conceptualised ethics in one of the three ways: as either subjective beliefs, as rules, or by focussing on 'the effect of one's ethical stance on other people through critical reflection' (74). These conceptions reveal
'the huge differences in views of students who may well be sitting together in the same classes....[and] highlight[s] the qualitatively different ways in which students might understand notions such as
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...ethics...from the pithy definitions and unexamined, subjective views at one extreme, to the eloquent, thoughtful and sensitive views at the other extreme' (77).
Baden's (2014) thematic analysis of 96 business students' reflections on their experiences of studying business ethics and corporate social responsibility revealed that negative and positive business cases had disparate effects. While negative examples of ethical business behaviour were important, they 'increased cynicism and undermined students' self-efficacy'. By contrast, positive examples 'offset the negative consequences arising from the negative role models' and 'increased awareness that business can be both ethical and profitable' (154).
Clearly there is more work to be done in exploring qualitative data on business and accounting students' perceptions of ethics and their reflections on the effectiveness of ethics education.
The Benefits of Reflection for Student Learning Students' capacity to reflect on learning, and to learn by reflecting on their experiences, are fundamental skills that are essential for them to form new knowledge. Universities have long recognised the need to develop students' capacity to engage in reflective practices, both for personal transformation and to prepare students for future careers (e.g. Bain et al. 1999; Boud, Keogh and Walker 1985; Kember et al. 1999; Rogers 2001; Thorpe 2004). Prior research shows that written reflective activities are effective in multiple ways. These activities can: help students explore their values, beliefs and assumptions (Carson and Fisher 2006); enable students to document, review and share their learning (Kember et al. 1999); stimulate critical thinking (Hettich 1990); disrupt habitual ways of thinking (Kerka 2002); encourage students to make connections between old and new knowledge (Moon 2006); and help them to make explicit connections between theory and practice (Loo and Thorpe 2002).
Aims and Significance of This Study This paper is the second study in a larger research project exploring how a comprehensive integrated ethics education program affects business students' ethical sensitivity and decision-making processes.
The findings of the previous study (Martinov-Bennie and Mladenovic 2015) suggest that the comprehensive ethics education program had a positive impact on students' ethical sensitivity and judgement.
This current study aims to build on these prior findings by analysing the rich qualitative data students' provide in individual reflective reports,2 [ 2] and to explore their perceptions about whether and how the ethics education program supported their capacity to make ethical decisions.
More specifically, by analysing students' reflections on their learning, this study aims to identify students' perceptions of:
How their beliefs and/or assumptions about ethics changed; and
What supported the change. The study provides important insights into how business ethics education content and assessments could be improved—with the ultimate aim of supporting students, as future business professionals, to identify and manage the ethical issues they will encounter throughout their careers. This study fills a current gap in the literature on students' perceptions of what facilitates their capacity for ethical decision- making. It also responds to the call for more qualitative research in ethics education (Bampton and
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Cowton 2013) by investigating students' perceptions of what specific aspects of ethics education facilitated their ethical decision-making.
The Study Context The business school at the study site expects that graduates are: 'able to demonstrate an understanding of pertinent moral, ethical and corporate social responsibility considerations and the potential impacts (positive and negative) that business decisions can have on a range of stakeholder groups'.
Our previous paper (Martinov-Bennie and Mladenovic 2015) describes the research context in depth. In brief, an ethics education component has been integrated into the first-year undergraduate introductory accounting unit as part of the business education degree program. This ethics component aims to develop students' ethical sensitivity and ethical judgment.
Part of the assessment of the ethics component consisted of a newspaper group task and an individual reflective report representing 20% of the total assessment for the unit. Students self-selected their groups of 3-5 students at the beginning of the semester in their seminars and completed the assessment task outside class hours. Students were required to select a business-related newspaper article (see "Appendix 1: Extracts from Instructions for Students: Newspaper Group Task" section for instructions) and to utilise an ethical decision-making framework, and a range of ethical perspectives, to analyse and develop recommendations to resolve the ethical issue(s) they identified. The ethical decision-making framework, referred to as the Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) framework was adapted from APES 110 (APESB 2010a, b) Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, Sect. 100.18 (see "Appendix 2: Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) Framework" section).
Following the completion of the group-based assessment described above, students completed their individual reflective reports. Students were asked to reflect and comment on a range of issues, including their experience of group work; the ECRP; discuss any challenges the tasks posed to their values, beliefs or assumptions about ethics in general as well as in business or society and how they might integrate their learning in the future. This paper reports on data contained in students' individual reflective report (see "Appendix 3 Individual Reflection Questions (selected)" section for reflection questions).
One hundred and sixty-three of the total 272 students (71%) enrolled in the unit completed their reflective reports and gave their permission to use the data in this research project.
Method This study examines, through the thematic analysis of qualitative data from the students' individual reflective reports, students' perceptions of how their beliefs and assumptions about ethics changed and what instigated that change.
Thematic analysis is a relatively new but commonly used method of qualitative data analysis and 'is rapidly becoming widely recognised as a unique and valuable method in its own right, alongside other more established qualitative approaches like grounded theory' (Braun and Clarke 2012, 57). It is 'a method for systematically identifying, organising and offering insight into patterns of meaning (themes) across a data set. [It] allows the researcher(s) to see and make sense of collective or shared meaning and experiences' (Braun and Clarke 2012, 57). The study's primary data were students' reflective reports, which students submitted online via the learning management system. Students' names were removed from the responses prior to analysis. University ethics committee approval was granted and
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the authors sought students' permission to participate in the study. Students were assured that their responses were confidential and that their names and other identifying features would be removed before publishing extracts. Responses from 193 of the 272 (71%) students enrolled in the subject were available and analysed for this study.
The students' reflective reports were analysed thematically by two coders in five phases: ( 1) familiarisation with the data; ( 2) searching for themes; ( 3) reviewing themes; ( 4) defining and naming themes; and ( 5) producing the report (Braun and Clarke 2006). The coders independently conducted the first two phases, which consisted of closely reading the responses and distilling the main points. The coders then collectively reviewed and agreed on the themes, and selected quotes to illustrate each theme. Thematic analysis requires that each quote provides 'a vivid, compelling example that clearly illustrates the analytic points' being made, with 'extracts drawn from across data items to show the coverage of the theme' (Braun and Clarke 2012, 67). The results section below details each key theme. Quotes are presented verbatim, i.e. there may be spelling or grammatical errors consistent with students who have English as an additional language.3 [ 3]
Results The analysis revealed the majority of students—134 of 1934 [ 4] (69%)—stated that the ethics component of the unit challenged or changed their assumptions or beliefs.5 [ 5] This was despite many students' cynical attitude towards, and low expectations of, the ethics component at the outset of the unit:
When we first started learning about ethical theories and the ECRP, I was cynical about how useful the material would be. My perception was that ethics had been added to the course simply to satisfy critics who felt the spate of recent corporate accounting scandals could somehow be blamed on failing to teach executives proper ethics. I felt that it is pointless to attempt to teach ethical behaviour in a formal course, because ethical behaviour can only be developed through life experience. These beliefs and assumptions have definitely been changed over the last few weeks. (Student 38)
Although a minority of students (13%) noted that their beliefs or assumptions had not been challenged or changed, they did acknowledge that the ethics component of the course confirmed or reinforced their beliefs or assumptions, and made them more aware of ethical perspectives:
I don't think my beliefs or assumptions have been either challenged or changed during working on tis task. If anything else they have been only reinforced. I strongly agree with all the ethical perspectives that had been introduced to us during classes and I feel that I have always understood the importance of such perspectives in relation to companies and businesses especially in our time. It has always been important for me to evaluate actions not only on the grounds of certain rules or laws but also from the ethical point of view as I believe every person has to take responsibility for their actions and understand the implications of these actions from different positions. Introduction of ECRP and ethical principles only reinforced my views and position and directed me well and truly into what I believe is the right direction. (Student 37)
My beliefs and assumptions have not changed much. I have always been aware of ethics and the moral responsibility of individuals and so forth due to my upbringing as well as education throughout school and university. However, after completing the ethical case study, I have been made more aware of the various ethical perspectives in which I can analyse the decisions firms/individuals make. For example, egoism, I was aware that people make decisions that complement their self interests, however, I did not
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know the actual term to describe it 'egoism'. Also, other perspectives such as utilitarianism and the sunlight test etc. have broadened my ethical knowledge and perceptions. It has taught me to look at issues from different angles and the reasons behind decisions made from those angles. This assignment has only built on what I already know, not so much alter the way I think. (Student 161)
Our analysis of the reflections of the 134 students who stated that their assumptions or beliefs about ethics had been challenged or changed revealed two main themes. These themes and their respective subthemes are reported below. The first theme identifies how students' assumptions or beliefs about ethics had been challenged or changed; the second theme identifies the learning processes that facilitated that change.
How did Students' Beliefs and Assumptions About Ethics Change? Although the majority of students acknowledged that their beliefs and assumptions about ethics were challenged and changed, the analysis of students' reflections identified that these reported changes differed between individual students.
Complexity of Ethics Many students acknowledged that the ethics task had made them more cognisant of the complexity of ethical issues and ethical decision-making. Students described how their beliefs and assumptions about ethics had changed from a naive 'doing the right thing' and 'black and white' view towards a more sophisticated understanding:
My beliefs and assumptions have most definitely been challenged and changed through the completion of the assignment. Firstly I now recognise how complex ethical dilemmas can be and how all the accounting and ethical issues must be identified in order to create a resolution. (Student 26)
Prior to doing this course I always thought that acting ethically was rather simple, and based on doing the right thing... There have definitely been changes to my personal values and beliefs. Firstly I now find conflicting ethical situations more complicated, as we have learnt to consider all stakeholders; this makes it a lot harder to pass judgement on a situation. However this also makes the eventual conclusion more appropriate as more thought has gone into the problem (Student 134)
These beliefs and assumptions have definitely been changed over the last few weeks. I have learnt to better appreciate the huge variety of ethical perspectives, and the fact that ethical decisions are not straightforward—decisions may be unethical from one perspective and ethical from another. (Student 38)
...my understanding of them [ethical issues] has been significantly improved. My underlying assumptions of right and wrong have been coloured. Although in the article our group studied, TriStar, there was clearly right and wrong, the process made me aware of the possibility and complexity of ethical grey areas. These grey areas are where the true value of the ethical conflict resolution framework lies, and this I believe has been the most useful part of this learning experience. (Student 29)
Several students commented that that they now understood the distinction between the law and ethics, for example:
At first I grappled with the difference between what is legal and what is ethical. I found an article that I felt was perfect for the task but soon found that the issue was a blatant breaking of the law and thus left
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very little scope for debate about the ethical issues. It is now evident to me that a situation can be considered unethical without the law deeming it wrong. I was not aware that I had felt like this, but now I can see the problem with my thinking. (Student 149)
Some students offered alternative views on complexity with many students' understanding of ethics becoming less 'black and white' and more nuanced. For example, Student 79 initially viewed ethics as complex, and then found that the ECRP framework simplified ethics and made it more 'logical':
Before I was introduced to the ethical conflict resolution process, I think of the 'ethic' in too broad and complicated term. Then I learned ECRP which was concise and logical, now it seems quite logical to think in ethical ways to respond to situations. (Student 79)
A Contextualised View of Ethics Students' review of a variety of newspaper articles, and their subsequent discussion of the ethical issues they identified, not only challenged their limited perspectives, but also contextualised their understanding of ethics within accounting, business, government and social environments. This activity enabled students' understanding to shift from initial naive views, such as that large corporations are trustworthy, to a more sophisticated understanding of the importance of ethics in business contexts. This more sophisticated understanding included the importance of both businesses in general, and accountants in particular, acting ethically due to the impact of their actions on various stakeholders and society. This broader perspective is evidenced in the representative quotes below:
This course has also made me more sceptical of the business world, in my naivety I believed business was generally honest and followed the law. However as our group did research for our article I was shocked to see just how many companies act unethically, they aren't isolated events, rather acting unethically seems to be the norm for business. I feel the course has changed my view of ethics, as well as making me more aware of how business truly acts. (Student 134)
Moreover, this task has enlightened me to the fact that even governments can be unethical and helpless to deal with corruption. (Student 10)
Before working this task, my understanding of ethics is very brief. Now, I can think of the consequences of unethical behaviours to the individual and society in depth. I realised that in a real business world, in order to obtain more profit, some company may have unethical behaviours when they operating the business. Although they what they did do not break the laws, it will bring great impact on individual and the whole society. (Student 115)
Some students were able to translate their learning about ethics in the unit to the practical context of their future careers and work of accountants, for example:
I thought accountants were only response with [responsible for] reporting business transactions and profitability in companies before. However, there are more should be concerned today. In our future career will be confronted with ethical issues and have to make some ethically informed decisions. I realize ethical perspectives and ECRP indicate the importance and benefits from studying ethics. The purpose of learning ethics in this unit is providing preparation and some techniques to equip you for meeting these challenges. (Student 58)
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My beliefs has been changed, as learned in the course unit last semester about what is ethics. As different people have different values and points of view towards the same issue, I have ever never thought about how ethics would exist in the work of an accountant. But through this teamwork presentation, I have changed my mind on working ethically on the work of accountant. (Student 124)
Impact on Stakeholders Students also reported that the ethics component shifted their beliefs about ethics from a more self- focussed perspective to a broader understanding of the negative consequences of unethical behaviour on a range of stakeholders:
I believe that my beliefs or assumptions have been challenged and slightly changed. Previously I generally looked at a situation from my own perspectives rather than making a concerted effort to look at each decision from the perspective of all involved... Thus for a conflict to be resolved all stakeholders must be satisfied with the outcome, and for all stakeholders to be satisfied all perspectives must be understood. Thus in the future I will now ensure that I consider all perspectives when looking at a situation. (Student 2)
Previously my beliefs were that virtue came above everything else in making decisions, especially regarding ethically sensitive issues. However this task has widened my views to encompass a more long term that evaluates situations from the view of all stakeholders involved. (Student 7)
I was indifferent and unconcerned about the current ethical and moral duties present in our society at the beginning, mainly because I was unaware of the consequences and repercussions of unethical actions, particularly those of large corporations. As more research was done in the Ribena case, the more I learned about the effects of corporations on the broader public, no matter how trivial those actions were. Ribena's false advertisement may have been seen as a minor attempt to increase sells and profit, but it had a profound effect on consumer confidence in the food/beverage industry, employees and even moral shareholders. The ethical resolution process and the teamwork changed my ethical perspectives by broaden my awareness of the consequences of action from certain people, especially those of companies. (Student 127)
Some students offered alternative views on the consequences for stakeholders. For example, Students 10 and 134 noted that their understanding of consequences had broadened as they did not realise that ethical decisions as well as unethical decisions could have a negative impact on stakeholders:
I also thought that when one acted ethically this meant that a positive outcome always occurred although now I have come to the realisation that acting ethically can actually result in negative outcomes. (Student 134)
Finally, my belief that it is easy to be ethical in most difficult situations has been challenged by the fact that sometimes, such courses of action can be very costly, both money wise and in terms of relationships with coworkers. (Student 10)
What Facilitated the Change in Students' Beliefs and Assumptions About Ethics? The second major theme distinguishes the different aspects of the ethics education component that students reported as supporting their learning and facilitating a change in their beliefs about ethics. There were four subthemes identified, namely: newspaper articles, ECRP framework, ethical
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perspectives and group work. These four subthemes are discussed in "Newspaper articles (identifying ethical issues)" to "Group Work" sections:
Newspaper articles (Identifying Ethical Issues) Reading and analysing newspaper articles to identify ethical issues provided an effective method for challenging students' beliefs about existence and relevance of ethics in business context:
In completing this assignment, my beliefs about business ethics had definitely changed. When I was researching for newspaper articles, I came cross with a number of businesses that facing the ethical issues in real life. It shocked me because I didn't think company ethical issues were such a big problem as those problems barely get exposed by newspapers unless something went dramatically wrong, to a degree that is detrimental to the society. After reading the article, it made me realise that behind the "nice-looking-profit-figure" of each company, everyone single one of them faces the issue of how ethical they should be to the society and its consumers. In most cases, businessmen with an ethical voice are going to be drowned out by those with their eye on profits. My beliefs about business ethics has certainly been extended as a result of completing this assignment. (Student 47)
I actually found it quite challenging reading through all the articles I did, as it alerted me to a lot of injustice (for lack of a better word) that is currently out there and also the ignorance of many investors in the market.(Student 110)
ECRP Framework (Ethical Decision-making Process) Many students reflected that applying the ECRP framework enhanced their beliefs and assumptions about ethics by providing a useful approach to analysis and decision-making about ethical issues:
My values and assumptions has changed and developed after analyze the case study using ECRP (Student 103)
I have also learnt to appreciate the usefulness of a detailed framework like the ECRP—without it, our analysis of the Citigroup case would not have been as rigorous... (Student 38)
I have been challenged by the course and will now adopt a process similar to the ECRP when I consider ethics in the future. (Student 118)
Some students discussed in more detail how the many different aspects of the ECRP framework supported their learning:
In some situations, certain actions do not necessarily have to be wrong in order to be unethical. Beforehand I used analyse situations more based on whether the actions were right, or correct. It would seem to me that if the law was not broken, and certain stakeholders in a given situation benefited from the action, then it is ethical, and there isn't necessarily anything wrong with undertaking it. By looking at the ECRP and identifying all of the stakeholders and how they were effected under several ethical models, it became clearer that if the greatest number of people lose, or are effected (sic) negatively by an action, then the action may probably be unethical. I understood that when you act in order to benefit the majority of the people, it will actually benefit you in the end, and visa versa. Learning about the ECRP help me understand how you can view a situation from a number of different perspectives and how to be able to make a recommendation for a solution. I also understood how ethics reflects on accounting both directly and indirectly. (Student 5)
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Ethical Perspectives Students also reported that the various ethical perspectives discussed in the course (e.g. utilitarian and deontological perspectives) helped to challenge their beliefs and change their understanding of ethics. As evidenced in the quotes below, students explained that the various ethical perspectives provided them with alternative ways to view and analyse ethical issues over and above simply considering their own point of view. Ethical perspectives also helped students to consider the implications for themselves and for others of unethical choices should their actions be brought to light.
Before study this unit, I have no idea on the ethical perspectives. From my own point of view Ethic means we need to act as a good man. However after I study the teleological and utilitarian theories, I know that we should also consider the consequence of action and it also should benefit to the greatest number of people. Further, when i work in future, I will try my best to fulfil my duty. Therefore...my beliefs had changed (Student 9).
Before understanding the ethical perspectives, I tend to decide whether an action is ethical or unethical by using my own feeling. After I learned about the ethical perspectives, I had changed some of my view on ethical issues by using different ethical perspectives. (Student 81)
In the past, I always believe it is fine to be unethical if based on the seriousness of the situation. But by using the Sunlight Test, it has challenged and changed my beliefs of being unethical is wrong. If the Sunlight Test applies on me, I will be widely publicized and widely criticized of the unethical issues I have done and too ashamed to face anyone. This is good enough to challenged and change my beliefs of being unethical. (Student 176)
Going into this course, I was a strong utilitarian, and still consider myself to be one. However, I have new found ethical perspectives that I may now consider, particularly in the business world. These include the sunlight test and the Josephan 10 commandments (Student 180)
Group Work Many students reported that working in a group helped change their ideas about ethics, since the group work process required them to consider ethical issues from different group members' perspectives:
...However, my way of thinking is challenged during the group work. Different person always come up with different ideas, and in the process of debating and accepting different opinions, I am learning to be more critical. Taking the examples mentioned before, my group members help me to think other aspects of the accounting and ethical issues rather than the most obvious ones, such as the intangible assets directly relating to the issues rather than only the profit consideration, as well as other potential ethical except for the main one. The group work helps me improve the skills of extended thinking in many ways and my beliefs or habits of picking up the safest and limited issues are changed to a certain extent. (Student 59)
Thus ethics is not just a simple issue but a very realistic and contentious one. My team member's varying experiences taught me that such ethical issues are also more common than I thought them to be as they are not always explicit like plagiarism. (Student 10)
Several students described cultural differences within their groups as a source of ethical insight:
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Initially my beliefs were based predominantly upon egoism and virtue. However, since working on this task with my team I have been exposed to and persuaded by different ethical perspectives. As Venezia (2005) found, cultural differences can affect moral judgment and thus ethical perspectives. As such, my beliefs have been changed by the addition of new insights from different team members. Being in a team with international students meant that I have learnt to question certain assumptions e.g. taking for granted that all countries followed high ethical standards. This also includes acknowledging how serious egoistic values can be e.g. Indonesian Adam Air's egoism led to 102 missing passengers. (Student 10)
However, where students reported that group members all agreed, this capacity to discuss ethical issues from a range of perspectives was absent. In the absence of diverse perspectives, group work processes did not challenge students' beliefs about ethics:
Our team all had similar personal perspectives in terms of our case study and I think this is the reason our beliefs were not challenged. This agreement improved our efficiency in completing the task but did not have the same effect that conflicting perspectives between team members may have had. (Student 120)
One student reported that their group deliberately introduced a 'devil's advocate' stance to combat the shortcomings of 'group think':
Generally speaking, I do not believe that my core beliefs or assumptions have been changed or altered. By in large, within our group there was a consensus that was reached regarding the ethical nature of the case. However some of my beliefs have been challenged. Within our discussion of the assignment, we tried to breakdown the reasoning behind the decision in order to make our presentation and our essay more articulate and thorough. But in order to do so, some members played devil's advocate to try to make us explain our reasoning and do away with any unfounded speculations or assumptions. (Student 182)
Of the students who discussed group work, the majority noted that being exposed to alternative perspectives challenged and changed their assumptions. In contrast to this dominant view, a small number of students highlighted that group work can be challenging in terms of difficulty of finding mutually convenient times to meet and inequality of contributions by some students. These challenges can impact on the effectiveness of the group to challenge and change assumptions and beliefs about ethics. Furthermore, one student explained that it is life experiences rather than group work that changes beliefs and as such group work did not have a 'considerable' impact on their assumptions and beliefs as explained below:
Although this task has exposed me to various ethical considerations of other individuals, working on this assignment did not have a considerable impact on my own ethical values and assumptions. A person's moral and ethical code is subjective, and is influenced by things like religion, environment and upbringing. Hence, I believe that simply by talking about these opinions in classroom or with group members would have little impact on an individual. A person's beliefs and assumptions would be changed by a personal experience and not from a debate or discussion. Hence, although some of my beliefs and assumptions were challenged, they were not greatly affected (Student 130).
In summary, the analysis of students' reflections revealed two main themes: how students' beliefs and assumptions were challenged and changed and what aspects of the integrated ethics course component facilitated those changes.
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Three main subthemes emerged from students' discussions of how their perceptions of ethics changed. First, students realised that ethical dilemmas are not simple, straightforward or black and white. Second, this realisation enabled them to see the complexity of ethical dilemmas in their broader business, government and social contexts. Finally, the ethics component broadened students' self-focused perspective, especially by improving their understanding of how ethical or unethical decisions impact a variety of stakeholders.
Four subthemes emerged from students' discussions of what aspects of the learning environment facilitated those changes. First, students' exposure to newspaper articles that contained a variety of ethical issues provided an effective method for broadening students' awareness of the extent and nature of ethical issues in a variety of contexts, including in business, government and our broader society. Second, students' application of the ECRP framework enabled them to challenge their current ways of dealing with ethical dilemmas. Third, employing a variety of ethical perspectives allowed students to analyse ethical issues with a variety of lenses. Finally, the process of working in groups also provided a number of different views from which to understand and evaluate ethical issues, and challenged students' existing narrow or self-focused perspectives.
Discussion Overall, our analysis of students' reflections indicates that the integrated ethics component in a first-year accounting course was successful. We suggest that this success is related to several factors—it was ( 1) realistic, ( 2) integrated and ( 3) well supported by the ECRP framework and various ethical perspectives, and involved the use of ( 4) group work and ( 5) critical reflection. These factors are discussed in turn below.
Barrie et al. (2012) suggest that setting realistic problems, where students are assigned a life-like professional role such as a consultant, are a useful way of assessing graduate attributes, especially if undertaken in groups and linked to individual reflections on learning. The assessment task was based on a business-related newspaper article which students had to select themselves. The students utilised the selected articles to identify specific ethical issue(s) and used the ECRP framework and various ethical perspectives to analyse the issues and develop recommendations to resolve the issues. The students' reflections provide evidence that analysing real examples was very effective in broadening their understanding of ethics and in assisting them to recognise that ethical issues are complex, and that ethics is not a stand-alone or abstract discipline but is embedded in all business decision-making (Felton and Sims 2005). We acknowledge that the use of newspaper articles as a source of real examples provided students with cases of failure rather than the positive examples that Baden (2014) advocates. However, our results support her overall findings that negative (realistic) case studies can have a powerful and positive impact on students' attitudes and behavioural intentions.
While there are calls for stand-alone ethics courses (i.e. not integrated), there is mixed evidence about which method most effectively develops students' ethical decision-making skills (Miller et al. 2014). Students may view 'stand-alone' courses as 'add-ons' or unrelated to the discipline. Our study confirms that some students who had not previously considered that ethics had any place in accounting now saw ethics as relevant to accounting, business, society, and their future careers.
The course introduced students to a range of ethical perspectives (e.g. deontology and utilitarianism) and an ethical decision-making framework referred to as the Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) framework (see "Appendix 2 Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) Framework" section).
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The course also provided students with opportunities to practice applying the ethical perspectives and the ECRP framework several times during the semester. Students' reflections provide evidence that both the ethical perspectives and the ECRP framework assisted their ethical development. Many students reported that one or multiple aspects of the ECRP framework were effective in changing how they conceived of ethics. The ECRP framework guided students' thinking about the ethical issues from various stakeholder perspectives and both short- and long-term consequences. The results also suggest that all components of the decision-making process covered by the ECRP framework are equally important, as different components resonate more with some students than others.
The results also indicate that group work was important in developing students' conceptions of ethics, a finding that is supported by Petocz and Dixon (2011). Students undertook the assessment task in groups outside of class hours. Davies' (2009) review of prior literature on group work in tertiary institutions lists numerous advantages commonly associated with group work. These include: promoting 'deep' versus 'surface', 'active' versus 'passive' learning and experiential learning; developing transferable skills for long-term learning; and providing students with an informal forum to discuss and assimilate new ideas. The students' reflections suggest that they experienced group work as an active, experiential learning environment that promoted discussion and assimilation of new ideas. The students' reflections also suggest their willingness to discuss ethical issues with others, which is potentially an important skill that is transferable to other settings.
Students reported that the different perspectives group members offered challenged—and at times changed—students' conceptions of ethics. This finding highlights the importance of supporting group members to constructively challenge each other's perspectives. Indeed, group work was not as successful in groups where students had similar perspectives, and in one case, where a student felt that life experiences were more effective in challenging assumptions than 'simply talking'.
While Moore and Hampton (2015) comment that group assessment involving members with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds remains contentious in higher education, an unanticipated finding of this study was students' appreciation of the different cultural perspectives that their own group members offered. Several students in our study commented that the cultural differences within their groups heighted their awareness of how cultural differences can affect ethical perspectives and judgement. Group work achieved one of the goals of business ethics teaching that Felton and Sims (2005) propose, namely that business ethics 'should broaden the cultural perspectives of the students because ethics emerge out of and reflect cultural values' (381). Developing intercultural skills is, like ethics, an important graduate attribute that is challenging to develop and assess (Daly et al. 2015). While not a deliberate part of the design of the ethics assessment task, our results show that the ethics activities helped students to develop intercultural and group work skills. This 'happy accident' and unintended benefit indicates that a well-designed and well-supported group work task can facilitate the development of intercultural skills, which may be less time-intensive than deliberate interventions, such as those that Daly et al. (2015) describe.
Critical reflection was an important part of the ethics assessment task. Reid et al. (2011) identified critical reflection as a key aspect of the most holistic views of ethics, and, as outlined in the literature review, prior research has long recognised the benefits of developing students' capacity to engage in reflective practices. However, Lucas and Tan's (2013) study suggests that supporting students to develop the ability to engage in critical reflection is not always straightforward. This has not been our experience with the ethics task in this study, with students willingly reflecting critically on the task and
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what they had learned. Our findings suggest that students learned and expanded their conceptions of ethics by taking the time to think and write reflectively about their experiences.
The reflective activities supported students' learning, by assisting them to explore their beliefs and assumptions and to connect theory and practice. The reflections also identify similar themes to the Reid et al. (2011) study; however, our findings suggest that the ethics intervention developed students' subjective and naive beliefs and assumptions of ethics into a more nuanced and complex conception of ethics. In this way, our intervention supported students' ability to adapt their ethical values to business- related contexts and highlighted the significant effect of considering different stakeholder perspectives and the consequences of ethical decision-making on others. This finding is similar to the most sophisticated conception of ethics held by students in the study by Reid et al. (2011).
The students' reflections provide evidence for the value of adopting a holistic approach to ethics education, and for including a comprehensive set of theoretical and practical ethics materials, rather than using ethical principles, codes of ethical conduct or ethical decision-making frameworks in isolation. The evidence from this study also supports Martinov-Bennie and Mladenovic's (2015) finding that the combination of theoretical and practical materials stimulates ethical development, rather than one aspect being more important than the other.
Conclusion We suggest that future studies take a longer-term perspective and examine whether students' beliefs, assumptions and ethical decision-making skills gained during their course are long-lasting and have impact on their careers. Future studies could also examine whether workplace cultures negatively influence students; or conversely, whether 'real world' experiences provide them with opportunities to further develop their ethical decision-making skills. It would also be interesting to further explore ways in which students' co-curricular activities might support their ethical development. For example, Brown- Liburd and Porco (2011) found that internships, volunteerism and Beta Alpha Psi (the international honours society) membership had a significant relationship with the ethical development of undergraduate accounting students, but that there was no significant relationship with students' involvement in student government. Clearly there are many further opportunities to explore links between curricular and co-curricular development of students' ethical decision-making skills.
The effectiveness of ethics education is dependent on the use of appropriate theoretical and practical ethics materials and assessment tasks. The results of this study provide strong support for integrated ethics education as a successful and meaningful approach to enable students to develop nuanced, broader perspective of ethics and ethical decision-making skills in business contexts.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Footnotes This research reports on business students' perception of ethical education and their own ethical development within an introductory financial accounting unit being the first unit for an accounting major as part of a comprehensive business degree program which includes a variety of units including law, finance, economics and marketing depending on the major(s) chosen. We have included the literature on both accounting students' ethics education and business students' ethics education for relevance and completeness.
The reflective report data collected represent a separate assessment task (and data) to that utilised in the previous study. Refer to the study context section for more details.
"Students completed their reflective reports online. The platform was unsophisticated, and as such, much of the typed text was hidden from the student's view as the visible text on screen was limited to a small number of characters. Furthermore, the platform did not offer spelling or grammar checks. This resulted in spelling and grammatical errors in the responses provided".
Thirty-four students (18%) did not answer the question.
The terms 'beliefs' and 'understanding' are used interchangeably in the paper based on Benedict Spinoza's (1677/1982) doctrine that understanding and believing are merely two words for the same mental operation. As such, to Spinoza, the act of understanding is the act of believing and people are incapable of withholding their acceptance of that which they understand.
~~~~~~~~ By Rosina Mladenovic; Nonna Martinov-Bennie and Amani Bell
Journal of Business Ethics is a copyright of Springer, 2019. All Rights Reserved.