Changes in Attitudes Towards Business Ethics Held by Former South African Business Management Students

The objective of this study was to assess whether, and how, the attitudes towards business ethics of former South African business students have changed between the early 1990s and 2010. The study used the Attitudes Toward Business Ethics Questionnaire and applied a comparative analysis between lead...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2013-03, Vol.113 (3), p.429-440
Main Authors: Price, Gavin, van der Walt, Andries Johannes
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude change
Attitude surveys
Attitudes
Business and Management
Business education
Business Ethics
Business schools
Business structures
Comparative analysis
Corporate governance
Corporate responsibility
Education
Ethical codes
Ethical instruction
Ethics
Ethics and moral life
Factor analysis
Financial crisis
Hypotheses
Management
Moral philosophy
Moral relativism
Philosophy
Political attitudes
Quality of Life Research
Questionnaires
Social responsibility
Sociology
Sociology of knowledge and ethics
Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture
Sociology of organizations and enterprises. Bureaucracy and administration
Sociology of work and sociology of organizations
South Africa
Statistical analysis
Statistical significance
Students
Studies
Variables
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Summary:The objective of this study was to assess whether, and how, the attitudes towards business ethics of former South African business students have changed between the early 1990s and 2010. The study used the Attitudes Toward Business Ethics Questionnaire and applied a comparative analysis between leading business schools in South Africa. The findings of this study found a significant change in attitudes based on a set time frame, with a trend towards stronger opinions on business ethics and espoused values. Eleven factors came out as fundamental, although they were less able to explain the variation in the attitudes than the previous study. A significant change in the rankings of variables was noted and indicated a shift in attitude toward a teleological moral philosophy as well as utilitarian motives. This shows a clear trend towards compliance-based ethics, which can be explained by the proliferation of business legislation and regulation in the wake of recent corporate governance failures and the subsequent global financial crisis.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-012-1314-6