University Professors and Teaching Ethics: Conceptualizations and Expectations

Abstract

After the spectacular ethical breaches in corporate America emerged, business school professors were singled out as having been negligent in teaching ethical standards. This exploratory study asked business school faculty about teaching ethics, including conceptualizations of ethics in a teaching context and opinions of the extent to which teaching ethics could positively affect student behavior. This research also identified respondents’ various pedagogical approaches to teaching ethics. Major results indicate that faculty generally do not believe they can change students’ ethical behaviors and that faculty’s conceptualizations of ethics do not match their classroom approaches. Discussion and possible explanations are offered.