Effects of Ethics Instruction on the Ethical Perceptions of College Business Students

Abstract This article reports the results of a survey in which 537 college senior business majors and 158 experienced businesspeople responded to 10 situations in two ways: first, as they believed the typical businessperson would respond, and then with what they believed to be the ethical response. The students were significantly more accepting of questionable ethical responses than were businesspeople. The completion of ethics courses did not significantly affect students' responses. Male students responded less ethically than did female students. Both students and businesspeople perceived a gap between the ethical response to the given situations and the typical businessperson's response.