Promoting the moral development of accounting graduate students: an instructional design and assessment

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of exposing accounting graduate students to professional ethics. First, a method of instruction that encourages students to consider the ethical implications of business decisions was developed. This instruction included exposure to Kohlberg's theory of moral development, study of professional codes of ethics, and extensive use of written and video ethics cases. Next, instructional effectiveness was assessed through a pre-post-test with control group design. An accounting-specific test instrument was developed and validated. This instrument contains decision scenarios designed to elicit and identify students' stages of ethical reasoning, Test results revealed that students receiving ethics instruction demonstrated gains in ethical reasoning within the decision context. Appropriately designed ethics modules can thus foster consisitent consideration of ethical issues in decision making.