Article Analysis

O R I G I N A L P A P E R

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

Rosina Mladenovic1 • Nonna Martinov-Bennie2 • Amani Bell3

Received: 27 April 2016 / Accepted: 26 March 2017 / Published online: 1 April 2017

� Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017

Abstract Motivated by the call for more research on stu-

dents’ perceptions of their ethical development in business

education programs, this study examines students’ reflec-

tions 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.

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 facil-

itated their ethical decision-making development. Under-

standing how students experience different aspects of ethics

education offers insights into how business schools and edu-

cators might better support students’ and business profession-

als’ 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

& Nonna Martinov-Bennie [email protected]

1 The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, NSW,

Australia

2 Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University,

North Ryde, NSW, Australia

3 Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The

University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

123

J Bus Ethics (2019) 155:275–287

DOI 10.1007/s10551-017-3523-5

then summarise key research findings on business students’

perceptions of ethics 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…sur- veys 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 deter-

mining 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 eth-

ical awareness as an important graduate attribute.

However, there is little qualitative research on how

students perceive ethics in business, or on how their per-

ceptions 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] high- light[s] the qualitatively different ways in which stu-

dents might understand notions such as …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’ per-

ceptions 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 effec-

tive 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).

1 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.

276 R. Mladenovic et al.

123

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 stu-

dents’ 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

and to explore their percep-

tions 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’ per-

ceptions of:

1. How their beliefs and/or assumptions about ethics

changed; and

2. 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

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 consid-

erations 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 recom-

mendations 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 assess-

ment described above, students completed their indi-

vidual reflective reports. Students were asked to reflect

and comment on a range of issues, including their

experience of group work; the ECRP; discuss any chal-

lenges the tasks posed to their values, beliefs or

assumptions about ethics in general as well as in busi-

ness or society and how they might integrate their

learning in the future. This paper reports on data con-

tained 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 iden-

tifying, organising and offering insight into patterns of

meaning (themes) across a data set. [It] allows the

2 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.

Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-making 277

123

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 manage-

ment system. Students’ names were removed from the

responses prior to analysis. University ethics committee

approval was granted and 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 themati-

cally 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. The-

matic 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

Results

The analysis revealed the majority of students—134 of

193 4

(69%)—stated that the ethics component of the unit

challenged or changed their assumptions or beliefs. 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 exec-

utives 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 assump-

tions 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 per-

spectives 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 responsi-

bility 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

know the actual term to describe it ‘egoism’. Also,

other perspectives such as utilitarianism and the

sunlight test etc. have broadened my ethical knowl-

edge 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)

3 ‘‘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’’. 4

Thirty-four students (18%) did not answer the question. 5

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.

278 R. Mladenovic et al.

123

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 facil-

itated 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. How-

ever this also makes the eventual conclusion more

appropriate as more thought has gone into the prob-

lem (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 per-

spectives, 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 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 reso-

lution 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. (Stu-

dent 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 var-

ious stakeholders and society. This broader perspective is

evidenced in the representative quotes below:

Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-making 279

123

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 busi-

ness. 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 [re-

sponsible for] reporting business transactions and prof-

itability 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 perspec-

tives 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)

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 gener-

ally 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 com-

panies. (Student 127)

Some students offered alternative views on the conse-

quences 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 out-

comes. (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)

280 R. Mladenovic et al.

123

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 sup-

porting their learning and facilitating a change in their beliefs

about ethics. There were four subthemes identified, namely:

newspaper articles, ECRP framework, ethical 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 eth-

ical 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 busi-

ness 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 prob-

lems barely get exposed by newspapers unless some-

thing 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 busi-

ness 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 devel-

oped after analyze the case study using ECRP (Stu-

dent 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 stake-

holders 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 dif-

ferent 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)

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 per-

spectives 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

Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-making 281

123

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 perspec-

tives. (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 dif-

ferent 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 con-

sideration, 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 real-

istic 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:

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 per-

suaded 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 stan-

dards. 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 per-

spectives 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 chal-

lenged. 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 unfoun-

ded 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

282 R. Mladenovic et al.

123

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.

Three main subthemes emerged from students’ discus-

sions 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 under-

standing 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, stu-

dents’ 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) inte-

grated 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 prob-

lems, 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 recom-

mendations 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 deci-

sion-making skills (Miller et al. 2014). Students may view

‘stand-alone’ courses as ‘add-ons’ or unrelated to the dis-

cipline. 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 Ethi-

cal Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) framework (see

‘‘Appendix 2 Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP)

Framework’’ section). The course also provided students

with opportunities to practice applying the ethical

Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-making 283

123

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 com-

ponents 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 dis-

cuss 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—stu-

dents’ 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 assump-

tions than ‘simply talking’.

While Moore and Hampton (2015) comment that group

assessment involving members with culturally and linguis-

tically diverse backgrounds remains contentious in higher

education, an unanticipated finding of this study was stu-

dents’ 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 intercul-

tural 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. How-

ever, Lucas and Tan’s (2013) study suggests that support-

ing 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 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 consid-

ering different stakeholder perspectives and the conse-

quences 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 stimu-

lates 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

284 R. Mladenovic et al.

123

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 interna-

tional honours society) membership had a significant rela-

tionship with the ethical development of undergraduate

accounting students, but that there was no significant rela-

tionship with students’ involvement in student government.

Clearly there are many further opportunities to explore links

between curricular and co-curricular development of stu-

dents’ 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.

Appendix 1: Extracts from Instructions for Students: Newspaper Group Task

The newspaper group task involves the use of the Ethical

Conflict Resolution Process (introduced in seminar 1) to

prepare a written critique (maximum of 4 pages) and a

12–15 min presentation on a newspaper article that relates

to an ethical conflict, and the subject matter of the unit of

study. You will also be required to submit an individual

reflection on your learning experience about ethical conflict

resolution and working in a group.

Component Assessment (%)

Group presentation 5

Group written report 10

Individual reflection 5

Total marks 20

Groups will be formed in seminars 2 and 3 (weeks 3 and

4). Each student will be a member of one group; each

seminar will consist of four groups of as equal size as is

practicable. Each group is required to complete the news-

paper group task (group oral presentation; group written

critique, and an individual reflection) once during semester.

The unit of study outline and the seminar program provide

the scheduled dates of when groups are expected to per-

form their tasks. All members of the group are required to

contribute to both the content and oral delivery of the

presentation.

The newspaper article chosen must be recent, i.e. since

January 20XX, and concerning an issue in the Aus-

tralasian context. You need to advise your tutor two

weeks in advance of the topic selected. The Newspaper

task is designed to encourage you to:

• Read newspapers on a regular basis • See the link between the unit content and business,

government and society

• Realise how often ethical conflict is part and parcel of the business decision-making process and actions

• Develop team skills • Apply a Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) to

reading and thinking about newspaper articles

• Identify appropriate accounting issue(s) and to appre- ciate how the resolution affects financial reporting and

decision-making

• Identify ethical conflict as it relates to contemporary business, social and political environment and to

determine the stakeholders affected by it

• Think about how you define ethics and what benchmark you use to determine whether or not an action is ethical

or unethical

• Think about whether or not you apply different ethical perspectives to different situations

• Think about academic honesty and how it applies to your own work

• Understand the difference between preparing and delivering a written and an oral presentation,

• Develop confidence in your own understanding and ability to put forward your argument, and to evaluate

the conclusions drawn by others, and to present an

alternative viewpoint both orally and in writing.

• Reflect on your learning experience in group work; ethical conflict resolution; and possible challenges to your values,

beliefs or assumptions and how you can integrate this

learning experience into your future development.

Business Students’ Insights into Their Development of Ethical Decision-making 285

123

Appendix 2: Ethical Conflict Resolution Process (ECRP) Framework

1. Introduction

Provide a brief overview to contextualise the potential

accounting and ethical issue(s)

Provide a succinct summary to indicate that you understand the

relevant facts

2. Identify the relevant accounting and ethical issues in the context

of your chosen article

Accounting issues identify the relevant accounting issues and show

that you understand the impact on financial reports and on decision-

making by external and internal stakeholders. (Keep in mind that

financial statements determine how outsiders view a company.)

Ethical issues briefly outline all potential ethical issues

3. Identify stakeholders

Identify the key stakeholders and outline the potential impact of

the ethical issues on each stakeholder’s interests. (Specify who

is affected by the ethical conflict identified and how this is

likely to impact their decision-making/actions. Consider the

potential impact on internal and external stakeholders such as

consumers, competitors or society in general)

Indicate whether there are any potential conflicts of interests that

could influence how the ethical issue is reported and/or resolved

(i.e. the interaction between stakeholders)

4. Outline ethical perspectives

Identify at least 3 alternative ethical perspectives that could be

adopted to assist in the conflict resolution process

Identify the ethical perspectives that appear to have been

adopted by the key stakeholders

After considering the points above, identify your own ethical

perspective(s) in the context of the ethical issue(s) discussed

(ensuring it is appropriately applied and argued based on

evidence using examples)

5. Alternative courses of action and recommendation

Identify the most important possible alternative courses of

action

Recommend an appropriate course of action and justify your

choice (i.e. ensure the group’s recommendations are consistent

with the ethical perspective(s) applied)

Source Adapted and modified version of the ethical conflict resolution

process from APES 110 code of ethics for professional accountants:

http://www.apesb.org.au/uploads/standards/apesb_standards/compi

ledt1.pdf

Appendix 3: Individual Reflection Questions (Selected)

• Please discuss how your beliefs or assumptions have been challenged or changed. If they have not been

challenged or changed, why not?

• Which if any of the tools and approaches (e.g. Group Work, Ethical Perspectives and Ethical Conflict Resolution Pro-

cess) you have experienced in this unit would you consider

using in the future? Please fully explain your answer.

• Discuss how the ECRP assisted you in deciding upon a recommended course of action OR whether the ECRP

failed to guide you adequately. Provide reasons for your

answer.

• At the beginning of this course what were your views about being introduced to ethical perspectives and

ethical conflict resolution process? Have your views

changed? If so, how? (This question is for the purposes

of research and while NO MARKS are awarded to this

question, we value your input).

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