Making Sense of The Research on Gender and Ethics in Business: A Critical Analysis and Extension

TLDR

The article organizes, critiques, and extends existing research on gender differences in business ethics. The authors examine ethical judgment and behavioral intent, conducting two benchmark studies with identical stimuli and measures, followed by two additional studies using the same measures but different stimuli to partially replicate and extend the findings. The studies reveal negligible gender differences in behavioral intent among professionals and only minimal differences in ethical judgment, whereas students show more pronounced gender differences in behavioral intention.

Abstract

Abstract: This article represents an attempt to organize, critique, and extend research findings on gender differences in business ethics. The focus is on two dependent variables—ethical judgment and behavioral intent. Differences in findings between student and professional groups are noted and theoretical implications are discussed. The new research provided for this article contains two benchmark studies undertaken with identical stimuli and identical measures. These studies were followed by two additional studies, using the same measures but different stimuli, as a partial replication and extension of the first two. Findings suggest that little difference exists between the genders on behavioral intent for professional groups and only minimal differences for the ethical judgment measures. Student results, however, produced more substantial differences for behavioral intention.