Abstract:

The teaching of ethics in business schools has come under close scrutiny over the past decade as a result of much publicized scandals such as Enron and WorldCom. This issue has become a major concern to business schools that are responsible for providing the business world with future employees who adhere to high ethical standards. The authors currently teach business classes at the university level. Ethics is one of the learning goals within the business department at the university where the research was conducted. Also, the business department is accredited with the Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business (AACSB). Because of the authors’ familiarity with the subject, they want to address the question of whether there is a correlation between academic GPA and ethical perceptions of certain business issues.

This paper examines some of the ethical issues which business students are currently encountering. Surveys were administered to six business classes in a small university located in the southeastern region of the United States. The diversity of these classes will provide the authors a good sample of both upper level and lower level business students. The authors will analyze student responses to ethical issues and conduct statistical testing for significant differences based on student grade point averages (GPA). The authors believe that critical thinking skills are essential in making ethical decisions and expect to find a significant relationship between GPA and certain ethical perceptions. In addition to the demographics section, the survey consists of thirty questions covering a wide range of ethical issues. Inferences will be made based on the survey results, and future research opportunities will be considered.

Keywords:

Education, ethics, grades.