Unit IV RM

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Transparentpractices.pdf

Transparent Practices: Primary and

Secondary Data in Business Ethics

Dissertations Shawn W. Nicholson

Terrence B. Bennett

ABSTRACT. We explore the availability and use of data

(primary and secondary) in the field of business ethics

research. Specifically, we examine an international sample

of doctoral dissertations since 1998, categorizing research

topics, data collection, and availability of data. Findings

suggest that use of only primary data pervades the disci-

pline, despite strong methodological reasons to augment

business ethics research with secondary data.

KEY WORDS: business ethics, datasets, doctoral

research, open data, primary data, secondary data

Introduction and issues

Popular and scholarly treatment of ethical dealings in

business continues to garner considerable attention,

with recent books, dissertations, journal articles, and

news reports supporting both applied and theoretical

advances in this field. In the scholarly arena there has

been much attention paid to the methodological

choices used to study business ethics (Bryman and

Bell, 2003; Crane, 1999; Godfrey and Hatch, 2007;

Robertson, 1993). In particular, the past decade has

witnessed articles promoting greater use of archival

and other secondary data to, among other things,

reduce the cost (monetary and political) of collecting

primary data, and enhance (or refute) the conclu-

sions derived from primary data, the integrity of

which can be compromised by the inevitable inter-

relationship of the data sources and the ethical

practices being observed. In his 1998 article ‘‘The

Use of Secondary Data in Business Ethics

Research,’’ Cowton uses these pages to ‘‘stimulate

the interest of business ethics researchers in using

secondary data’’ (Cowton, 1998). He worries about

the ‘‘poor empiricism’’ in business ethics research

and asserts that ‘‘as a general rule it seems to be the

case that researchers are not as aware as they might

be of the potential of secondary data for providing

valuable insights into a whole range of questions in a

cost effective manner’’ (Cowton, 1998).

Further advancing Cowton’s observations, Harris

explains that ethics research is strengthened by

analysis of impartial secondary sources. Because the

subject matter itself is sensitive, embarrassing,

threatening, stigmatizing, or incriminating (Harris,

2001), it can be difficult to collect reliable primary

data. His study uses a content analysis of major

newspapers to compile secondary data that supports a

richer exploration of business ethics. Furthermore,

he positions secondary data analysis as a means ‘‘to

constrain the researcher faced with the temptation to

arrive at more extensive conclusions than the [pri-

mary] data would support,’’ since classification of the

secondary data was clearly specified and able to

withstand careful scrutiny (p. 201).

Concomitant with these calls for greater use of

secondary data is the evolving discourse surrounding

open access and open data. Open data is a philoso-

phy and practice requiring that certain data are freely

available to everyone, without restrictions from

copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.

The advocates of this model believe that there are

substantial benefits that arise from the sharing of

research data.1

The growing awareness of the advantages of open

data is, of course, not exclusive to business research,

but reaches across many scholarly disciplines. For

example, Wicherts et al. document the slim results

from their efforts to collect datasets for reanalysis

from articles published in a set of top psychology

journals (Wicherts et al., 2006). Responding to

Journal of Business Ethics (2009) 84:417–425 � Springer 2008 DOI 10.1007/s10551-008-9717-0

Wicherts et al., a recent editorial in Nature laments

the poor tradition in psychology regarding data

availability and lays out a plan whereby the Ameri-

can Psychological Association shall require the

‘‘deposition of data as supplementary electronic

material in APA databases’’ (‘‘A Fair Share,’’ 2006).

In this study we primarily seek to understand the

nature of data use in business ethics dissertation re-

search. Secondarily, we consider the overall ease of

findability of dissertations relevant to a specific field

of inquiry, as well as the ease of ascertaining the

presence or use of datasets within these dissertations.

Finally, we look for any indication of adherence to

trends in open data within the discipline of business

ethics. To this end, we analyze an international

sample of recent dissertations in the field of business

ethics, hoping to identify trends and patterns in the

availability and use of secondary data; track the

creation and open availability of primary data; and

examine the subsequent re-use of primary data.

Our focus on dissertations not only allows us to

derive a manageable-sized sample, but also directs our

attention to nascent scholarship. Chang and Hsieh

assert that ‘‘the doctoral dissertation is the major dis-

tinguishing feature of education, which traditionally

has a dual role: (1) [to] make a positive, original and

significant contribution to knowledge and (2) to

provide training in research and scholarly techniques’’

(Chang and Hsieh, 1997). It is reasonable to assume

that dissertation authors, as emerging scholars, are

exemplars in creating rigorous studies that give effect

to the latest trends, theories, and best practices in

research and scholarship in their discipline.

Methodology

An international sample (N = 48) of doctoral dis-

sertations primarily from North America and the

United Kingdom from 1998 to 2007 forms the

population for this analysis. This sample was derived

from a simple keyword search for (‘‘business AND

ethics’’) in two online subscription databases: Pro-

Quest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT, most of the

contents of which comes from the United States and

Canada) and the Index to Theses (Great Britain and

Ireland). When available, we also examined disser-

tation records from another ProQuest database:

Dissertations & Theses @ CIC Institutions.2

Records in this database are likely to include more

extensive indexing than that found in PQDT. Titles

from the results of this initial search were examined

in order to exclude results that were clearly unrelated

to business ethics. From the remaining sample, non-

doctoral-level dissertations were omitted (PQDT

and Index to Theses also include masters-level the-

ses), as were results from disciplines unrelated to

business or ethics. Ten (21%) of the dissertations

came from the UK, while the remaining 79% were

from the USA or Canada (except for one English-

language dissertation from The Netherlands).

Each dissertation has been content-analyzed and

coded for 11 variables (see Appendix A). We

reviewed several components of each dissertation for

an indication of the use of either primary or sec-

ondary data, utilizing a mixture of manifest and

latent coding (Monette et al., 2005). Specifically, we

paid close attention to mentions in each dissertation’s

abstract of data collection and use, acknowledging

the assertion by Adams and White that authors

‘‘typically want to represent their research as accu-

rately as possible in an abstract’’ (Adams and White,

1994). We also looked at tables of contents,

appendices, and the text itself in order to determine

the creation (and availability for re-use) of primary

data, as well as the presence of primary and sec-

ondary data. For purposes of this analysis, we again

take our cue from Cowton and define ‘‘data’’

broadly to include not only numeric datasets, but

also resources such as survey results, ethnographic

studies, or coded text (Cowton, 1998).

Analysis and discussion

We first examined information about the dissertations

in our sample that could be gleaned from secondary

sources, specifically, the citations and abstracts (when

available) and other indexing information found in

PQDT and Index to Theses. This approach models

the typical researcher’s level of access to a large

universe of dissertations: a browsable collection of

full-text dissertations is uncommon; however, an

online index or other finding aid is likely to be the

most readily available tool for identifying works of

potential interest.

418 Shawn W. Nicholson and Terrence B. Bennett

The role of title words and subject terms in initial screening

While our primary focus was the presence – and

availability for use – of data in business ethics dis-

sertations, we first had to consider the overall ease of

findability of dissertations in this broadly multidis-

ciplinary field. How fruitful would a search of dis-

sertation titles (presumably the first and fastest means

by which a dissertation’s subject reveals itself) be in

identifying to a researcher potentially suitable dis-

sertations in the field of business ethics?

The results from our sample were mixed

(Figure 1). Not quite half (46%) of the dissertations

in our sample had titles that contained the phrase

‘‘business ethics,’’ although an additional 10% had

titles that contained both words (‘‘business’’ or a very

closely related term, and ‘‘ethics’’) in the title.

Another 40% had only the word ‘‘ethics’’ in the title

(and were only deemed also to be business-related

because of other descriptive features), while 4% had

titles that did not mention ethics at all. If a researcher

were trying to identify relevant dissertations in

business ethics by searching only for results that

included both of those words in the title, then nearly

half of the items in our sample (44%) would have

been excluded.

Titles, of course, do not necessarily serve to fully

describe content, and it is reasonable to assume that a

careful researcher would also use other indexing cues

when screening for relevant content. We expected

that when subject or keyword terms were provided

in a commercial dissertation database, their presence

would increase the findability of relevant results.

This proved to be mostly untrue. Seventeen percent

of the dissertations in our sample did not include

subject or keyword terms as part of their database

record. Had these dissertations been given titles

without ‘‘business’’ or ‘‘ethics’’ – or did not have

appropriately descriptive abstracts – then they would

have been incorrectly omitted from our universe of

relevant dissertations.

Unfortunately, even when they are available,

subject terms supplied by the database vendor can be

inadequate for identification of relevant dissertations.

In PQDT, dissertations in business ethics fall under

broad subject terms such as ‘‘business administration

– management’’ or ‘‘business education’’ or even

‘‘philosophy.’’ The two dissertations in our sample

for which ‘‘business ethics’’ was assigned as a subject

term were found in Dissertations & Theses @ CIC

Institutions – an indexing tool with more precise

subject identifiers, but one that is available to only a

small percentage of researchers.

Presence of data revealed in abstracts and tables of contents

Our next point of inquiry was to determine the

adequacy of author-supplied abstracts in revealing

the presence of data within a dissertation. First, it is

worth noting that it became evident to us that in

some instances the abstract included in PQDT or the

Index to Theses was a foreshortened version of the

abstract found in the dissertation itself. When por-

tions of an abstract have been omitted in a database,

this has obvious negative implications for the fin-

dability of relevant dissertations by researchers. Based

on our examination of abstracts, it was disappointing

to discover that only 27% of the abstracts in our

sample explicitly indicate that data is included in the

research (see Figure 2), while a full 58% make no

mention of data whatsoever (the remaining 15% of

the abstracts offer an inconclusive indication that

data may be present).

A subsequent examination of the tables of con-

tents of our sample set of dissertations reveals that a

much larger portion of our sample does contain data.

The tables of contents explicitly cite data in 58% of

Presence of Ethics Terms in Title

no ethics terms in

title 4%

"business ethics"

appears in title

46%

"ethics" and "business"

in title 10%

"ethics" in title 40%

N = 48

Figure 1. Appearance of ‘‘business ethics,’’ ‘‘ethics’’ or

‘‘business,’’ and ‘‘ethics’’ in titles of a sample of disserta-

tions dealing with business ethics.

Transparent Practices 419

our sample, and another 19% hint at the presence of

data. Only 23% of our sample included tables of

contents that offered no explicit mention of data.

Considered another way, we found that among all of

the dissertations with abstracts that did not mention

the presence of data (73% of our sample, N = 35),

an examination of their tables of contents revealed that

43% of these (N = 15) actually do offer data-sup-

ported research.

These results refute the claim by Adams and White

(1994) that abstracts are an accurate reflection of an

author’s work. The implication of this finding is

serious: while abstracts are generally included in

dissertation-finding tools (i.e. online indexes to

dissertations, such as PQDT), tables of contents are

not included. Therefore, the use of only an online

index to identify dissertations in business ethics that

offer data-supported research – and that may include

datasets – would fail to serve up a significant propor-

tion of relevant dissertations. These could only be

discovered by a researcher who is willing to complete

the laborious process of obtaining the full text of a

dissertation in order to examine the table of contents.

And, as we discovered, even a detailed table of con-

tents may not explicitly reveal the presence of data

within a dissertation, as discussed below.

Collection of primary data and secondary data

While 58% of the abstracts in our sample made no

mention of data, and 23% of the tables of contents

did not reveal the presence of data, an examination

of the full text of the dissertations in our sample

revealed that only 16% truly did not include any

primary data, and a mere 5% were without either

primary or secondary data (See Table I). A further

Abstract Indicates Presence of Data

Abstract mentions data, 27%

Hints at data in the body, 15%

No explicit mention of data, 58% N = 48

Figure 2. Abstract in dissertation database cites the pres-

ence of data in the dissertation.

TABLE I

Collection of primary and secondary data

Description Number Percent (%) of total

Dissertations with primary data collected

Total with no primary data 7 16

Total with only one type of primary data 26 61

Total with two types of primary data 10 23

43 100

Dissertations with secondary data collected

Total with no secondary data 24 56

Total with only one type of secondary data 11 25

Total with two types of secondary data 2 5

Total with three or more types of secondary data 6 14

43 100

Presence of primary and secondary data

No primary or secondary data 2 5

Primary data only 22 51

Secondary data only 5 12

Primary and secondary data 14 32

43 100

420 Shawn W. Nicholson and Terrence B. Bennett

examination of the type of primary and/or second-

ary data reveals some interesting trends.

Among the 84% of dissertations in our sample that

included primary data, an overwhelming majority

(61% of the total sample, see Table I) reflected col-

lection of just one type of data – generally results

from a survey or questionnaire (see Table II). Most

of the remaining dissertations with primary data

reported findings from ethnographic or other

observations, or from in-depth interviews. Only two

dissertations (4% of the total sample) reported results

from actual tests or experiments. From this, it fol-

lows logically that half of dissertations that offered

two types of primary data (23% of the total sample,

see Table I) included at least one dataset arising from

a structured or in-depth interview, or from the

results of a survey or questionnaire (see Table II).

The field of business ethics is informed by mul-

tiple disparate disciplines and inevitably involves

examinations of human behavior and psychological

motivation; so, it is not surprising that the dominant

forms of primary data discovered in these disserta-

tions are not numeric datasets but text-based data

such as ethnographic observations, survey results,

and transcribed interviews. But if researchers in

business ethics are heeding the advice of Cowton

(1998) and Harris (2001), then we would expect to

see an abundant use of secondary data to reinforce

the conclusions derived from analyses of primary

data. However, the dissertations in our sample do

not match up to this expectation.

Among the dissertations in our sample, fully 56%

are without any secondary data (see Table I). Of the

44% that do make use of some form of secondary data,

we found only one dissertation (3% of all instances of

secondary data within the sample, see Table II) that

uses numeric datasets, and nine (24% of all instances of

secondary data) that are supported by information

from corporate financial reports or other SEC filings

(in some cases, each of these was present in a single

dissertation). Only five dissertations (13%) made use

of publicly available corporate reports such as mission

statements or ethics statements, while four disserta-

tions (11%) cited government documents other than

SEC filings. Surprisingly, only two dissertations (5%)

reported the use of internal corporate reports or

correspondence.

Because our inquiry was partly inspired by

Cowton’s well-reasoned argument for the use of

secondary data in business ethics research, we also

examined the bibliographies of all of the dissertations

in our sample to determine if his article ‘‘The Use of

Secondary Data in Business Ethics Research’’

(Cowton, 1998) was included. We were disheart-

ened to discover that only one of our authors cited

this article by Cowton.

Availability of collected data

In support of our interest in the growing conversa-

tion surrounding open data, we also examined the

extent to which the authors in our sample made

their data available for further use. We focused not

only on the authors’ primary data, but also on sec-

ondary data to which the author may have added

value through time-consuming collection and

re-presentation.

By invoking a generous interpretation of the

concept, we were able to ascertain that at least some

data were made available within the text or appen-

dices of 26% of the dissertations in our sample,

although it is arguable whether data such as selected

excerpts from structured interviews or coding from

the content analysis of interview transcripts would be

particularly useful to future researchers. In just five

instances (11%), dissertations include a clear citation

to secondary data, generally government reports from

which the author has collected and assembled data.

Not surprisingly, for a large majority (63%) of the

dissertations in our sample, direct access to the data

was unavailable to readers, and in most of these cases

(47%) it remained unclear whether the author would

(or could) provide data to those who might request

it. Given the sensitive nature of much of the data

that must be collected for research in this field, it is

understandable that authors need to be cautious

about making it available, and it was not unexpected

to find qualifying statements such as ‘‘confidentiality

was guaranteed to interviewees’’ or ‘‘transcripts of

confidential interviews will be destroyed within

three years.’’

Conclusions

Analysis of primary and secondary data is an integral

component of the research and scholarship taking

Transparent Practices 421

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422 Shawn W. Nicholson and Terrence B. Bennett

place at research institutions, yet methodological

choices continue to be challenged within the business

ethics literature. Specifically, recent articles implore

greater use of secondary data to augment the collec-

tion and analysis of primary data. This study sought to

investigate the nature of data collection and use in

recent doctoral dissertations in business ethics.

While most of the dissertations examined for this

study reported on the analysis of primary data

gathered by the authors, we were somewhat sur-

prised to find very few dissertations that made use of

secondary data to bolster the exploration of business

ethics concerns.

These observations about the use and availability

of data within business ethics research are made

worse by the additional layer of opacity resulting

from finding aids – specifically online indexes to

dissertations – that do not enhance the findability of

relevant research in this field. Finally, we note that

within our sample there is scant evidence of adher-

ence to the tenets of the open data movement.

Limitations and future research

This analysis explores issues related to the use and

availability of primary and secondary data in doc-

toral dissertations. By focusing on the multidisci-

plinary field of business ethics, we sought to make

discoveries that might reflect practices of data use in

other disciplines. However, comparative analyses

from other disciplines – especially from fields in

which research data is more commonly character-

ized by numeric datasets rather than coded text – is

essential for a deeper understanding of the

applicability of our findings to research in other

disciplines.

Also, while we note the relatively low use of

secondary data in business ethics research – despite a

clear call for its use by established scholars in this

field – we do not attempt to discern what drives the

continued exclusive reliance among a majority of

new scholars on primary data collection. Is there a

culture that dictates that original research can only

be demonstrated by original data collection? Further

studies must be undertaken to explore this issue.

We have also observed researchers do not ex-

pressly promote the availability of their primary data

for re-use and further analysis. Again, we do not

attempt to explore the reasons behind this apparent

unwillingness to make original research sufficiently

transparent to draw other scholars with similar

interests into the conversation. Is there a research

culture that supports data hoarding? Is there fear

among researchers of encroachment by others into

their field of original inquiry? Not only must these

questions by probed further, but it will also be

interesting to observe whether the nascent stirrings

among proponents of the open data movement will

evolve into a sea change among researchers and

scholarly publishers concerning the findability and

availability for use of research data.

Notes

1 ‘‘Open data’’ is an evolving concept whose advocates

are affiliated with a variety of disciplines. Their opinions

are often most ably captured in blogs (http://

wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/blogs/murrayrust/?p=913), list servs

(http://www.arl.org/sparc/opendata/), and even the on-

line contributed encyclopedia Wikipedia (http://en.wiki

pedia.org/wiki/Open_data). 2 This is a database of full-text dissertations from the

schools that comprise the Committee on Institutional

Cooperation (CIC): http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/.

Appendix A

NB: The raw data for this paper includes disserta-

tions from North America and the United Kingdom.

The authors will gladly share the list with interested

parties, yet the text itself remains the property of

authors and/or universities and/or ProQuest/UMI.

Coding scheme

Code Label

1 Year

2 Country

Series 3 Word in title

3.0 No ethics terms in title

3.1 ‘‘Business ethics’’ appears in title

Transparent Practices 423

References

Adams, G. B. and J. D. White: 1994, ‘Dissertation Re-

search in Public-Administration and Cognate Fields –

An Assessment of Methods and Quality’, Public

Administration Review 54(6), 565–576.

Bryman, A. and E. Bell: 2003, Business Research Methods

(Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York).

Chang, P. L. and P. N. Hsieh: 1997, ‘A Qualitative

Review of Doctoral Dissertations on Management in

Taiwan’, Higher Education 33(2), 115–136.

Cowton, C. J.: 1998, ‘The Use of Secondary Data in

Business Ethics Research’, Journal of Business Ethics

17(4), 423–343.

Crane, A.: 1999, ‘Are You Ethical? Please Tick Yes h Or

No h on Researching Ethics in Business Organiza-

tions’, Journal of Business Ethics 20(3), 237–248.

A Fair Share: 2006, Nature 444(7120), 653–654.

Godfrey, P. C. and N. W. Hatch: 2007, ‘Researching

Corporate Social Responsibility: An Agenda for the

21st Century’, Journal of Business Ethics 70(1), 87–98.

Harris, H.: 2001, ‘Content Analysis of Secondary Data: A

Study of Courage in Managerial Decision Making’,

Journal of Business Ethics 34(3/4), 191–207.

continued

Code Label

3.2 ‘‘Ethics’’ and ‘‘business’’ in title

3.3 ‘‘Ethics’’ in title

Series 4 Subjects/Keyword terms

4.0 No Subjects/Keyword terms

4.1 Ethics (business)

4.11 Ethics (philosophy)

4.2 Business Administration

4.3 Management or Managers

4.4 Other

Series 5 Abstract browse

5.0 No abstract available

5.1 Abstract mentions data

5.2 No explicit mention of data

5.3 Hints at data in the body

Series 6 Table of contents browse

6.0 No table of contents

6.1 Table of contents cites data explicitly

6.2 No explicit mention of data

6.3 Hints at data, but unclear without

further probing

Series 7 Research design

7.1 Exploratory

7.2 Descriptive

7.3 Causal

7.4 Other

Series 8 Primary data

8.0 No primary data collected

8.1 Observation: ethnographic study

8.2 Observation: other

8.3 Survey or questionnaire

8.4 Findings from focus groups/meetings

8.5 Results of tests or experiments

8.6 Other

Series 9 Secondary data

9.0 No secondary data collected

9.1 Numeric datasets: from Inter-University

Consortium for Political and Social

Research (ICPSR)

9.11 Numeric datasets: other

9.2 Corporate reports (annual reports;

mission statements; ethics statements)

9.21 Other public company documents

(mission or ethics statements; press releases)

9.3 Internal (private) corporate reports

or correspondence

9.4 Government: SEC filings

continued

Code Label

9.4 Government: regulatory data

(EPA, FEC, etc.)

9.4 Government: other

9.5 Legal/court cases

9.6 Academic reports (journal and books)

9.7 Synthesis of literature

9.8 Other

Series 10 Data available

10.0 Data not available

10.1 Yes, in document (appendix, in text, etc.)

10.2 Yes, not in document, but available

via ICPSR

10.3 Yes, not in document, but document

contains a good citation

10.4 Available on Web

10.5 Unclear: follow-up with author is required

10.6 Data has been destroyed

Series 11 Cites Cowton (1998)

11.1 Yes

11.2 No

424 Shawn W. Nicholson and Terrence B. Bennett

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Shawn W. Nicholson

East Lansing, MI 48824-1048, U.S.A.

E-mail: nicho147@msu.edu

Terrence B. Bennett

College of New Jersey,

Ewing, NJ 08628, U.S.A.

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