Integration and Exchange

Abstract

Ethics education provided by universities in general, and MBA programs aimed at future business leaders in particular, has come under intense public scrutiny because of corporate scandals and ethical dilemmas. To date, academic research has been mainly devoted to the characteristics of instruction formats and their effectiveness, characteristics of the institutions (private, public, and/or religious affiliation), and the composition of the student body. Furthermore, the way business ethics is taught in MBA programs around the world has been influenced by recommendations of accreditation agencies and professional bodies. Against this background, this article aims to contrast these findings and recommendations with perceptions and expectations of experienced managers studying in part-time MBA programs. By means of 30 in-depth interviews conducted with MBA students of various nationalities studying at a well-known European business school, this research sheds light on an important but neglected perspective in the discussion surrounding ethics education, namely students’ opinions. Findings indicate that exchange with others and integration within the respective business discipline is particularly important in gaining acceptance and instilling relevance in ethics education for this target group.

Keywords

MBA programs ethics education student perceptions

Business ethics is a topic of paramount importance, as ethical organizations are crucial for a vital society (Lau, 2010). Providing a sound ethics education is therefore imperative for growing constituencies. Although there is general agreement concerning the importance of ethical principles within a holistic management education (Brennan, Eagle, Ellis, & Higgins, 2010), there are difficulties in aligning different stakeholder expectations within the actual implementation of business ethics courses. Specifically, the concrete form of ethics education is contingent on various influences and therefore presents particular challenges and obstacles. Business schools place different emphasis on teaching ethics, course instructors bring in their personal perspectives and teaching styles, and, on top of this, accreditation agencies and professional bodies set out their own professional values. This mix leads to an opaque situation in which ethics education differs substantially among business schools and a situation in which delivery format and content of ethics education appear to be driven primarily by the supply side, namely the business schools and their instructors. What appears to be neglected is the view of the customers, an aspect that should be central to marketing educators in particular.

This article offers a new perspective to the widely discussed topic of ethics education within business schools. First and foremost, it contributes to existing knowledge by focusing on student perceptions rather than specific outcome variables such as course effectiveness or the influence of demographic criteria. This addresses a gap in the literature already identified by Brennan et al. (2010), who observed that student experiences and expectations are absent from business ethics research. Second, in contrast to most studies investigating undergraduates, it deals with Executive MBA students and thus a very different sample in terms of demographic variables and professional experience. Additionally, it is likely that these students will also be at a different stage of moral development (Rest, Narvaez, Thoma, & Bebeau, 2000). Finally, whereas Lau (2010) found that most research on business ethics was conducted in the United States, the study reported here provides a European perspective.

The article is organized as follows. A discussion of prior research concerning ethics education first demonstrates that student perceptions and expectations have been neglected within the existing literature. Standards defined by professional bodies and recommendations of accreditation organizations, which shape the landscape for executive education and their requirements in terms of business ethics, are then critically assessed. After this groundwork has been laid, the qualitative design involving 30 in-depth interviews is explained in detail. The findings from these interviews are discussed, with particular reference to perceptions of managerially experienced MBA students. The article concludes by discussing potential future course formats, identifying aspects that are important when teaching business ethics to Executive MBA students, and outlining avenues for future research.

Background

Heightened awareness about ethics in a business and education context has long been reported and research stresses the importance of establishing ethical guidelines for marketers and professionals (Schlegelmilch & Öberseder, 2010; Schoenfeldt, McDonald, & Youngblood, 1991). Moreover, it has been predicted that ethics education within business schools will assume even more importance in the future (Schlegelmilch & Thomas, 2011). Recent corporate scandals and ethical dilemmas have further intensified public scrutiny concerning the ethical preparation of business leaders (Waples, Antes, Murphy, Connelly, & Mumford, 2009). Business schools, therefore, have an important responsibility for sensitizing students about ethical issues and shaping their thinking to prepare the managers of tomorrow (Evans, Treviño, & Weaver, 2006; Giacalone & Thompson, 2006).

Rutherford, Parks, Cavazos, and White (2012), however, argue that all these scandals have led to surprisingly few changes within the higher education system. Furthermore, L. Ferrell and Buchanan (2006) report students’ failure to link marketing ethics with various scandals and to understand the seriousness of these incidents. Consequently, although there is general agreement on the necessity to integrate ethics teaching into business curricula, so far this appears to be relatively unsuccessful. This lack of success might be a reason for the ambiguous results concerning the specific role of education in ethical decision making within companies (Loe, Ferrell, & Mansfield, 2000). As mentioned in the introduction to an ethics and marketing education special issue of the Marketing Education Review, “there is little agreement about what should be taught, how it should be taught, or even whether it can be taught, along with the debates about the domain and subject matter” (O. C. Ferrell & Ferrell, 2004). Continuing to complicate the matter has been the perceived lack of experienced and competent faculty to teach the courses.

However, there are also some encouraging findings. Among students, business ethics education has been shown to positively influence ethical reflection and reasoning processes (Lawrence, Reed, & Locander, 2011). This is particularly true for the case of ethics education, which focuses on a specific subject area, such as marketing (Yoo & Donthu, 2002). There are also a number of positive initiatives aiming at a better integration of ethics education and business practice. Noteworthy are, for example, the online platform “e-businessethics” (www.e-businessethics.com), the ethics initiative developed by the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative of the University of New Mexico (http://danielsethics.mgt.unm.edu), and the Better Business Bureau International Torch Awards for Marketplace Ethics (L. Ferrell & Buchanan, 2006). The latter serves as recognition for companies engaging in outstanding ethics programs and, by integrating students in the nomination process, it further contributes to experiential learning, an approach that is also effective in corporate ethics trainings (Thorne LeClair & Ferrell, 2000).

Despite some encouraging findings and isolated positive examples of ethics education, there is still little agreement concerning specific instruction formats and the respective effectiveness of the formats (Palmer & Zakhem, 2001). Existing discussions are characterized by ambiguity and revolve around opposing views on various facets. Key issues include whether there is a unanimous goal of business education, such as developing ethical awareness (Wynd & Mager, 1989) or the understanding of moral reasoning processes (Kavathazopoulos, 1993; Trevino, 1992); whether business ethics should be grounded in philosophy or business (Trevino & Weaver, 1994); whether business ethics courses should focus on theoretical underpinnings (Monast, 1994) or practical relevance (Stark, 1993); or whether business ethics contributes more to moral development and ethical decision-making when taught within a dedicated module or when integrated throughout the curriculum (Brennan et al., 2010; Ghorpade, 1991). The last issue concerning implementation has received considerable attention, including many suggestions put forward within a separate dedicated journal called Teaching Business Ethics (Loe & Ferrell, 2001). These studies attempt to capture the effectiveness of ethics education and peculiarities of specific instruction formats. Although many of the studies include students as the sample population, none has specifically asked students about their perceptions, as well as their ideas and suggestions, concerning ethics education.

Given their profound professional experience, Executive MBA students constitute a very particular audience and target group for business ethics education. This further complicates some of previously mentioned aspects regarding peculiarities of ethics education. Foremost, the question of balancing theory and practice within ethics education should be reevaluated, given that most Executive MBA students already have real-world experiences with ethics. Additionally, the discussion of whether ethics education should be integrated or stand-alone needs to take into account the fact that Executive MBA students aim to obtain a very specific and practical qualification on completing the program.

Business schools looking for guidance in designing teaching formats for this specific group of students find little concrete support from either professional bodies or accreditation agencies. The former offers statements of professional values and standards that, among others, address ethical conduct of educators. However, these values and standards provide no guidelines on how ethics should be taught in the classroom. For example, the Academy of Marketing Science (2012) indicates that “As teachers, we are intellectual guides and do our best to convey information about marketing. We do this with the highest ethical standards to ensure that marketing contributes to society in significant and substantive ways.” The development of a specific ethics code has been initiated within the late 1990s and has resulted in several articles and commentaries (O. C. Ferrell, 1999; Sirgy, Johar, & Gao, 2006). Sirgy et al. (2006, p. 13) developed a proposal for a code of ethics, including “Ethical standards for marketing educators in their role as teachers.” However, it refers to educator behavior toward students rather than recommendations about teaching ethics. These efforts have unfortunately not led to the adoption of an official code of ethics. Similarly, the American Marketing Association (AMA, 2012) outlines ethical norms and values for marketers and “commits itself to promoting the highest standard of professional ethical norms and values for its members (practitioners, academics and students).” But again, it does not offer any concrete recommendations for teaching business ethics (AMA, 2012). Finally, the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the United Kingdom has issued a list of professional marketing standards directed primarily at marketing practitioners, which aim to “ensure the organization’s activities are ethically and socially responsible” and entice mangers to “incorporate ethics and governance into daily activities” (Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2012).

Turning to the accreditation agencies, business schools find similarly permissive guidelines with few prescriptive requirements (Moore, 2004). Given this study’s contextual setting at a European Business School, there are four accreditation agencies of particular interest to this research project: (a) the European Foundation for Management Development including the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), (b) the Association of MBAs (AMBA), (c) the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and (d) the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA). None of these organizations advances a clear mandate concerning the integration of ethics into program curricula.

Although the AACSB had declared ethics to be required knowledge in 1974, they removed this prerequisite in the 1990s (Hussey, 2011). The 2012 version of the “Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation” states that the “AACSB believes that ethical behavior is paramount to the delivery of quality business education. Schools also may foster ethical behavior through procedures such as disciplinary systems to manage inappropriate behavior including honor codes, codes of conduct, etc.” (AACSB, 2012, p. 13). Within the “Standards addressing defining learning goals and measuring achievement of learning goals,” the AACSB further specifies that “such learning areas as communications abilities, problem-solving abilities, ethical reasoning skills, and language abilities are the types of general knowledge and abilities that schools might define as a part of these goals” (p. 62). Finally, the guidelines provide examples of learning goals and measures of achievement including one related to ethical reasoning. It lists the written analysis of a problem situation responding to ethical issues, as well as the analysis of an international marketing campaign including ethical issues presented within the lecture, as potential means to demonstrate the achievement of learning goals (AACSB, 2012).

AMBA’s (2012) current version of the accreditation criteria referring to the MBA curriculum state,

While a specific module is not expected for each of the below, all programs should demonstrate that students acquire a significant understanding of the major areas of knowledge which underpin general management, including [ . . . ] an understanding of the impact of sustainability, ethics and risk management on business decisions and performance. (p. 7)

Although Moore (2004) reported that EQUIS omits any concrete mention of business ethics, the current (2012) version of the EQUIS standards and criteria list does entail some ethics requirements in 2 of the 10 areas that will be reviewed on application. One assessment criteria concerning the area “Students” is “Ethics and Values.” Referring to the personal development of students, the document states that “the School should explicitly and effectively support the personal and professional development of its students beyond the acquisition of knowledge in such areas as managerial skills, values, ethics, leadership, etc.” (EQUIS, 2012, p. 25). EQUIS expects “that the School will educate its students to act ethically in their professional lives. Values such as integrity, respect for others, socially responsible action, service to society should be an integral part of the personal development agenda” (EQUIS, 2012, p. 26). Therefore, institutions seeking accreditation have to “describe the means by which issues relating to business ethics and corporate social responsibility are integrated into personal development processes” (EQUIS, 2012, p. 29). In the area “Contribution to the community,” the EQUIS standards state that “the School should proactively promote ethical behaviour and corporate responsibility as fundamental values underpinning its educational objectives and its own internal and external operations.” This is also the very content area in which “Evidence of this commitment to ethical and socially responsible business practice [ . . . ] should be summarized” (EQUIS, 2012, p. 53). Concerning the information and documents which need to be provided, the guidelines clearly articulate the need for “Course syllabi or programme descriptions that refer to ethics and corporate responsibility in the educational curricula” (EQUIS, 2012, p. 55).

FIBAA, which was established in Germany in 1994, issues an “Assessment Guide for the Accreditation in law, social and economic sciences for Higher Education Institutions” that introduces ethical aspects as an obligation for accreditation. More specifically, concerning the knowledge and skills students should acquire, FIBAA (2012) asks applying institutions to

describe the provision of generic skills such as ethical aspects, managerial skills and management concepts (including leading negotiations, mediation, dispute resolution) as well as contextual knowledge in addition to ‘knowledge for the sake of action,” which are not for the purposes of education (related to employment). (p. 15)

But once again, no further details on how ethical aspects should be taught are offered. Thus, while professional bodies and accreditation agencies are potentially the most powerful actors influencing the development of business ethics education, they have neglected this opportunity to do so (Evans et al., 2006).

Taken collectively, academic research, professional bodies, or accreditation agencies do not provide clear recommendations concerning the teaching of business ethics. More concrete guidance on how to incorporate ethics into the business school curriculum is desirable and student perceptions on how this could best be achieved would be beneficial. In this context, the opinions of Executive MBA students are particularly valuable as they build a natural bridge between practice and academia.

Method

Given the objective of this study to gather insights into Executive MBA students’ perceptions and expectations concerning their ethics education, a qualitative design was identified as an appropriate approach to knowledge generation (Gummesson, 2005). A grounded perspective would allow theoretical considerations to emerge from the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Further guidance was provided by the long interview (McCracken, 1988) and the phenomenological approach (Thompson, Locander, & Pollio, 1989), which ensured a nondirective nature of the in-depth interviews.

Executive MBA students are a particularly interesting unit of analysis, given that they are older and much more experienced than typical university students. Furthermore, because of these characteristics, their ethical conscience might be more developed and mature, rendering the effectiveness of retroactive ethics education questionable. Last but not least, typical Executive MBA students already manage business units and people and hold budget responsibilities, all of which require ethical decision making. The research study took place at a European business school that offers two types of MBA programs aimed at executives. The first is a general management MBA with a number of international residencies, but one without the means to specialize in a particular subject area or industry. This program is called Executive MBA Global. The second is an MBA aimed at executives who want to specialize in a particular subject area (e.g., marketing, finance, etc.). It offers a joint business core followed by a period of specialization. This program is called Professional MBA (PMBA). Both programs are taught in English and the age and experience profile of the participants in each program is similar, with an average age of 38 years in the Executive MBA Global and 37 years in the PMBA. The average work experience is 13 years and 12 years, respectively. What makes these programs particularly interesting for this research objective is the fact that they differ in their thematic priority and instruction format of business ethics. PMBA students have business ethics as a separate core module within their curricula, whereas Executive MBA students receive ethical perspectives integrated within each one of their different subject-focused courses. Purposeful sampling was used to guarantee that interviewees were dispersed among both types of instruction formats.

Students were asked by e-mail to indicate their willingness to participate in the study and approached directly after their classes. Data collection was discontinued at the point of theoretical saturation and repetitively emerging patterns (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), which was the case after 30 in-depth interviews. A sample description, including demographic and behavioral characteristics, of the interviewees is in Table 1. Additionally, the table shows prior student experience with ethics both in a classroom (such as undergraduate courses) and in real-world business situations.

Table 1.

Sample Description.

Int. Number	Name	Gender	Age (years)	Description
1	John	Male	40	The interviewee is enrolled in the Executive MBA (EMBA) (Global) program and will graduate in summer 2012. He has a former education in engineering and works as a program manager. He is originally from Turkey and was taught ethics mainly during his professional career rather than his formal education. The respondent came across various ethical issues during his professional career.
2	Robert	Male	39	The interviewee is originally from Austria and works in the IT industry as a self-employed person. He has completed a master of science program in IT. The interviewee has an ethics background from his previous education in the area Organizational Development and Human Resources and very often came across ethical issues in his job.
3	Christian	Male	39	This Professional MBA (PMBA) student from Australia holds a bachelor’s in commerce and was taught business ethics during his first degree. Today, he works as a sales manager but did not face any ethical issues or conflicts in his professional life.
4	Martin	Male	36	The respondent, originating from the Czech Republic, is an EMBA (Global) student and was never taught ethics during his education. However, he came across ethical issues during his professional career. He is currently working as a CFO. The interviewee concluded his former education with a degree in marketing and management.
5	Melanie	Female	41	The EMBA (Global) student has a Turkish and Austrian background and holds a first degree in business, where she did not receive any ethics-related education. Currently, she works as a head of HR for the CEE region in the field of information technologies and has experienced ethics-related issues during her job.
6	Anna	Female	36	The PMBA student comes from Croatia and currently works in the banking sector. Previously, she studied economics. She did take ethics courses during her studies and faced ethical issues during her professional career.
7	Marco	Male	32	The interviewee originates from Germany and holds a first degree in business informatics. Currently, he is a CEO in the field of IT and is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program. During his previous education, he did not have any ethics-related courses. However, he came across ethical issues in his job, mainly with regard to conflicts of interest among shareholders, customers, and employees.
8	William	Male	27	The interviewee comes from Germany and completed a bachelor’s program in business administration, where business ethics was taught as a separate course. The PMBA student works as a plant manager in the cement industry and deals with ethical matters on a daily basis. He explained that he is working in an industry where he is “dealing with corrupt competitors regularly.”
9	Sarah	Female	33	The interviewee is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program and comes from Austria. Having completed a business degree, she now works as a project manager in the medical industry. She was never taught business ethics in her former education. However, she had to deal with ethical issues in her professional career, where she had to fire employees because of lacking performance.
10	Harry	Male	40	The respondent currently works as a CEO in the field of marketing and communication. His previous education focused on sales and marketing and he is enrolled in the PMBA program. He has never been taught ethics in his previous education. In his professional life in the telecommunication business, he regularly faces ethical dilemmas, mainly with regard to employee compensation and motivation also through incentives, which “is in many cases at the borderline of ethical and unethical behavior.”
11	David	Male	40	The interviewee holds a first degree in technical project management and is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program. He is working as a chief procurement officer for a large energy company and originally comes from Austria. As far as he can remember, he did not have any ethics-related education. However, he had to deal with ethical issues in his work life very often.
12	Maria	Female	44	The respondent has a first degree in engineering and comes from Bulgaria. She is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program and a member of the Management Board of a large energy company. She had some ethics education during her studies but cannot remember any specific aspects. In her professional life, she came across ethical matters on a regular basis, especially during her career at a large Anglo-Dutch oil company.
13	Victoria	Female	29	The respondent holds a master’s degree in international management and comes from Austria. She works as an employee in the field of strategy and is currently enrolled in the PMBA program. Ethical education was only mentioned occasionally throughout her previous degree, however in her job she deals with ethics a lot, as the company follows strict ethical guidelines and employees are obliged to attend ethics trainings.
14	Simon	Male	28	The interviewee originally comes from Saudi Arabia and holds a bachelor’s degree in finance, where he was also taught business ethics. He is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program and works as an investment banker. In his job, he came across ethical issues very often.
15	Lukas	Male	30	The respondent completed a master’s in economics and now works in the field of controlling and banking. The interviewee is Austrian and is enrolled in the PMBA program. During his master’s program, he did not have any ethics courses. However, in his job in the banking sector, he comes across ethical issues regularly.
16	Elizabeth	Female	33	The EMBA (Global) student completed a first degree in marketing. She originally comes from Russia and emphasizes numerous ethical issues she faced there especially relating to bribery. During her previous education, she was not trained in business ethics.
17	Mike	Male	32	The Austrian PMBA student completed a master’s degree in spatial planning. Currently, he works as a CEO assistant for a large, quasi-governmental organization focusing on infrastructure projects. In this position, he often faces ethical issues with regard to bribery in procurement. During his former education, he was not taught any business ethics.
18	Patrick	Male	50	The respondent holds a degree from the Technical University and works as a CEO in the automotive industry. He is a student of the EMBA (Global) program and comes from Austria. He only had little ethics education and learned most about such aspects during his professional career. Furthermore, he came across ethical issues many times during his job. He explains this fact by referring to the characteristics of Eastern European markets and the “bad cultural habits of these people.”
19	Stephan	Male	37	The interviewee comes from Bulgaria and is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program. He did not have any ethics-related courses during his previous education, where he completed an MBA. He currently works as an economist and deals with ethical issues on a day-to-day basis, especially with regard to negotiations with colleagues.
20	Brad	Male	40	This interviewee works in the financial industry and focuses on international banking supervision. He holds an advanced degree in finance as well as a bachelor’s degree in business. He originally comes from Germany and was taught ethical behavior mainly during his childhood and especially through his catholic education. Furthermore, he had ethics courses during his Bachelor of Science Program. Within his former job as a consultant, he constantly faced the decision between ethical and unethical behavior. Among others, this was a driver for him to step out of the business.
21	Alex	Male	42	This respondent works as a plant manager in the cement industry and is facing many ethical issues. He mainly deals with ethical matters on labor relations. He holds a German as well as a Canadian citizenship and is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program. In his previous education, the respondent completed a master’s in engineering, where he had very little instruction on business ethics.
22	Erik	Male	46	The respondent originating from Croatia holds a Master of Science in economics. As far as he can remember, he only touched on very few ethical aspects during his previous master’s degree. Currently, he works as a manager of a Swiss construction chemicals company and is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program. In his job, he never faced ethical issues. However, his employer states that employees should not do anything that would bring them on the front-page of the local newspaper.
23	Charles	Male	31	The interviewee currently works in the banking sector and holds a bachelor’s degree in business consultancy. He is Austrian and enrolled in the PMBA program. He was never taught ethics in his previous education. During his professional career, however, he often faces ethical dilemmas when he works with corporations that are not behaving in a completely ethical manner.
24	Adam	Male	40	The Serbian respondent is the owner as well as the director of a biotech equipment company. Before he started the EMBA (Global), he completed a master’s program in pharmaceutics, where he was taught ethics. During his job, he is constantly facing ethical issues.
25	Carl	Male	35	The Austrian respondent holds a first degree in law as well as an LLM. He works as a CEO in the field of rails control and is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program. With regard to ethics, he has experienced certain issues, especially when he was working in the CSR department for a human rights institute. During his former education, however, he did not have any ethics-related courses.
26	Jasmin	Female	28	This respondent comes from Spain and completed an advanced degree in the field of accounting and finance. During her previous studies, she enjoyed ethics education integrated into other subjects. She is enrolled in the PMBA program and works as an accountant in the automotive industry. Here, she came across ethical issues mainly at the internal level, as she is not working directly with clients.
27	Joseph	Male	40	The interviewee holds a master’s degree in law and is enrolled in the EMBA (Global) program. He is working in the area of IT Process and Facility Management. The respondent is Austrian and had some previous ethics education, but embedded in other subjects. In his job, he comes across ethical issues on a regular basis mainly in the field of negotiations, where one “needs to decide between the moral way and the one that has the best outcome for the company.”
28	Katie	Female	30	The PMBA student completed a bachelor’s degree in engineering and comes from Romania. Currently, she works as a sales manager in the IT Industry. She is selling software in Eastern Europe and explained that she is often confronted with ethical issues. She was not taught ethics during her former education.
29	Thomas	Male	50	The respondent has an Austrian citizenship and works as a chief operational officer at a large engineering company. He holds a first degree in mechanical engineering. The interviewee never had any business ethics courses during his educational career, yet came across ethical matters during his professional career.
30	George	Male	30	The German respondent works as a corporate consultant in Germany and completed a Bachelor of Science degree as well as an advanced degree in finance. He has never been taught ethics during his former education; however, he was taught ethical values a lot in his parental home.

The interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed verbatim. The analysis process was conducted by three independent researchers. The qualitative data were coded inductively without predefined theoretical input (Spiggle, 1994). Identified elements were consequently abstracted to develop concepts of higher analytical level, compared with each other, and reintegrated. Within the findings section, the main elements of the data analysis are presented in condensed form and displayed in a way to draw concrete conclusions.

Findings

The following discussion first presents general perceptions of ethics education in terms of the importance ascribed by the students as well as the various associations they have with ethics. Consequently, opinions about course format and content are synthesized and presented. Eventually, innovative examples of ethics education as offered by the business school under investigation are provided and discussed.

With two exceptions, all interviewees have been confronted with ethical issues in their professional careers. Given the study’s sample of business professionals, their representation and assessment of the importance of ethics in the real world are more accurate and realistic than those of undergraduates (Jewe, 2008). Not only do interviewees acknowledge the importance of business ethics, they also consider it to be of increasing importance in the future:

Business ethics will increase in importance because trust in your partners will become even more crucial in such a fast paced business environment. People and companies have to understand that ethical conduct leads to win-win situations and reciprocal advantages. And these are ultimately beneficial to individuals’ goals as well. At executive level, the most important thing to be acknowledged is to show that you’re capable of leading your team in an ethical, transparent and comprehensible manner. (Robert, 39 years, EMBA)

These findings mirror the public discussion concerning the importance of ethics and the notion that ethical decision-making is a crucial component of business life. The fact that MBA programs are also responsible for developing a moral conscience among their students is also acknowledged by all interviewees. Furthermore, they are well aware of the criticism surrounding ethics education within MBA programs:

I believe that MBA programs and students are generally under pressure, they are the bad capitalists who are only profit-oriented. Ethics should be part of the program to improve the image of MBA programs as well as the image of the whole profession. And, to round off the mindset of the students, to create a counterbalance and highlight these aspects as well. (Marco, 32 years, EMBA)

Contrary to the unanimous perceptions concerning the importance of business ethics, associations with the concept differ greatly among interviewees. Evoking such spontaneous and unprompted connotations provides a clearer picture of the underpinnings of ethics from the perspectives of the students. These underpinnings are very diverse and depict the influence of personal values, prior education, or even student opinions concerning the incompatibility of ethics and economic goals. Table 2 offers an overview of quoted associations categorized according to their reference to a value system, specific concept, stakeholders, or an area of tension.

Table 2.

Student Associations With Business Ethics.

Value System^a	Concept	Company	Stakeholder	Area of tension
Being ethical	CSR	Win-Win	Being fair to customers/Thinking on behalf of the customer	Conflict of interest
Fairness/Fair play	Compliance	Long-term orientation	Customer satisfaction	Fraud
Equality	Corporate governance	People Management	(Long-term) Relationship to suppliers, partners, employees within negotiations	Authority
Support	Sustainability		Responsibility for society, employees, and company	Rules
Cooperation	Code of conduct			(Anti)Corruption
Respect	Being lawful/in accordance to the law			Cheating
Responsibility	Environmental issues			Doesn’t pay off too often
Balance				Getting penalized for ethical behavior
Trust/trustworthiness				Bad deals
Transparency
Understanding
Tolerance
Integrity
Honesty
Moral
Openness
Loyalty

Associations in italics were named by at least two interviewees; associations in boldface were named by three or more interviewees.

This categorization demonstrates that most interviewees refer to morality and general value systems when thinking about business ethics. Among the many associations put forward, fairness/fair play was most often mentioned (10 interviewees), followed by honesty (7 students) and trust/trustworthiness (4 students). Given the nature of these terms, it seems as if most interviewees have learned basic principles of ethical conduct within their personal development and have acquired moral sensitivity which guides them in all situations of life, including their professional one. Business ethics means “to sleep well at night” (Jasmin, 28 years, PMBA), “to act in a proper way” (Victoria, 29 years, PMBA), or as another student put it,

I believe that it [ethical behavior] is something that rests deep within your soul, whether you adhere to certain principles or not. Sometimes a rulebook is not necessary, because these are absolutely natural and self-evident issues we should be guided by. (Joseph, 40 years, EMBA)

However, one needs to be aware of the fact that personal morals cannot necessarily be equated with professional ethics as they provide no guidance for complex real-world problems (Loe & Ferrell, 2001), or as O. C. Ferrell (1999, p. 226) suggests, “Our parents’ lectures on fairness did not include an instruction on how to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.” What is furthermore alarming is the fact that some students view business ethics as an area of tension in their professional life, which might even conflict with the business goals of the company. Some students argue that business ethics implies a “conflict of interest” (John, 40 years, EMBA), “bad deals” (Katie, 30 years, PMBA), that “it doesn’t often pay off,” or that “you are penalized for not doing everything that is in the best interest of your company, and the best interest is always measured in numbers” (Adam, 40 years, EMBA).

The general notion of business ethics and the few specific concepts mentioned by the students (corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and compliance were the ones most often mentioned) might imply that students lack knowledge of business ethics concepts in practice. This points to the same issue as that raised by Stark (1993, p. 38), namely a paucity of “concrete help to managers.” The results of the current data collection reveal that business ethics education has to appeal to and recall basic ethical and moral principles acquired through personal development and experience, while simultaneously educating students about specific practical issues of business ethics within their profession:

A theoretical background [to solve ethics-related topics] is good, but not as useful as a practical example. I always thought, you know, that it is nice but it is usually difficult to really translate it into practical terms. I think [ethics] theory is a difficult topic and I usually find it less useful than really showing a practical example. (John, 40 years, EMBA)

The crucial challenge is to ensure a proper balance of the broad content of a stand-alone ethics course, which might be perceived by students as peripheral to their core business activities, and the specific focus of an integrated course, which might not succeed in releasing a general moral development (Evans et al., 2006). Most of the interviewees agree that ethics should be integrated to establish the connection to the various business applications:

I believe it is better to integrate ethics so that you learn to apply it directly in the specific environment. This way, it is not a detached topic but shows the practical anchor, especially in the areas of finance or negotiations. (Robert, 39 years, EMBA)

Ethics should be incorporated into the respective module when discussing issues to which it is closely related. (Elizabeth, 33 years, EMBA)

However, there are also opinions in favor of a stand-alone course, as some students fear that ethical discussions might perish when being integrated into other modules:

I believe it should be made explicit, within a separate module, because I was not really aware of the ethical issues. I had Managing Globalization and a Finance module and I did not realize that we touched upon ethics. I think when integrated, ethics gets lost in the subjects. (Marco, 32 years, EMBA)

The ideal ethics education, in the view of students, would “emphasize the importance of business ethics and how it is conducted in business” as well as “making students aware of the consequences and responsibilities that executives have towards society and businesses” (Anna, 36 years, PMBA). Whereas ethics education at the undergraduate level needs to provide basic underpinnings and guide students through their moral development within these formative years (Lau, 2010), education at the executive level needs to offer more specific insights. Thus, the course format needs to be tailored to the peculiarities of the audience:

I think it [ethics education] could start with case studies, I would say, to get a basic understanding. When I started studying at university, back in the early eighties, at this time ethics was not a topic at all. Therefore, I haven’t been exposed to that topic too much. So, for people like me–and there are several out there–case studies, to bridge ethics with other business areas, would definitely be beneficial. Then, you should add some theory to get a common understanding about what ethics is about and when people talk about ethics, what they actually mean. (Thomas, 50 years, EMBA)

If you want to do a proper ethics course, it should be about finer details and how to avoid certain traps, because I would say that general topics, like “do not bribe government officials” should not be taught on that level, but rather the finer details of the small print. (Katie, 30 years, PMBA)

Content-wise, especially in a global MBA program, it is important to offer perspectives from a variety of countries as most students work internationally and are confronted with varying standards and issues:

I think in the long term, as Asian companies are growing more and more, we need to find a way to really translate these ethical connections between the two different cultures and business worlds. That’s how I see this trend. (John, 40 years, EMBA)

Opinions referring to the cross-cultural differences of ethical principles not only stem from the travelling and firsthand experiences but also from the fact that the students themselves come from different backgrounds and experience cultural differences in their interactions. This is consistent with prior research demonstrating the impact of environmental influences on ethics-related attitudes. These differences do similarly stem from cultural foundations and values, as well as current ethical standards in specific countries (Crittenden, Hanna, & Peterson, 2009).

Different personal and professional experiences, especially in the context of ethics, render students themselves interesting case studies:

It would be great to have some kind of guided discussions between the participants. I think within these discussions, some real-life examples would naturally be mentioned, and it would be particularly interesting to hear and to learn how people reacted to these issues. (Marco, 32 years, EMBA)

I believe that within the Executive MBA class, there are different people who are facing these [ethics] problems from a smaller to a larger extent, so exchanging these experiences would be really beneficial. Maybe covering the theoretical topics as well, just to understand the baseline. (Simon, 28 years, EMBA)

On a related note, keynote speakers can provide similar insight into ethical issues and decision making within a real-life context:

We had a distinguished guest-speaker, I think he was from XYZ, and we were really able to see it [ethical issues] from other perspectives. And I would say yes, I think it was valuable. (Joseph, 40 years, EMBA)

Such firsthand experiences offer students new perspectives on ethical conduct and increase their moral conscience. Another approach to create ethical awareness, without a specific business focus as in the case of guest speakers, would be to give students insights by offering live projects:

There should be a theory part and I like the idea of going somewhere, experience a real social project, see what they do and maybe it turns out that we can help in a way with our education. (David, 40 years, EMBA)

Actually, the best way to learn something for executives is to get in touch with some specific topics. Because everybody knows what is going on in this area, having responsibility in a specific sector, but for us, exchanging information about different sectors is the most valuable part. (Maria, 44 years, EMBA)

The mix of teaching methods provided by the business school studied in this research project provides a unique opportunity to compare various pedagogical tools. In the eyes of students, the most important aspect is interaction—both with each other and with professionals in the field via real-world companies or social projects. This is in line with the findings by Conaway and Fernandez (2000) that “educators must continuously interact with business professionals to shape an ethical workplace of the future” (p. 30).

Conclusion

Ethics education has been assigned the crucial and challenging task of forming morally mature and ethically aware actors for the business world. Educators are responsible for helping to create ethical employees who will grow into ethical leaders. Such a development is similarly desirable for companies, universities, and society at large. Despite the increased awareness and demand placed on ethics education by various stakeholders, the opinions and perceptions of students themselves have been largely neglected by academic research. This research aims at filling this gap by aligning student perceptions with prior research related to course format, structure, and content.

Overall, student perceptions are similarly as diverse as the findings of academic research. Despite the general consensus that business ethics is important, students do not agree on the specific implementation of such courses. However, certain tendencies became apparent during the analysis of the qualitative data. First and foremost, the special role of integration and exchange was especially evident in the data. Executive MBA students prefer integration over stand-alone courses. Ethics is an integral part of MBA learning and should be aligned with the given business context. It is therefore advisable to integrate discussions on business ethics in the context of specific subjects, such as marketing, finance, and so on. The findings of the current investigation support Stark’s (1993) vision of more concrete help provided by business ethics to managers. The lack of practical guidance is also apparent in interviewee associations concerning business ethics, which refer more to general values than specific operational concepts or tools. Such integration will be more credible if taught by academic as well as business professionals. This leads to the second important finding concerning the continuous exchange of ethical instances and experiences with other professionals or institutions.

The exchanges among students are imperative, as most of them have been in critical situations and both want to share their own experiences as well as hear from others about their experiences. By this means, students can broaden their horizons and learn from each other. The MBA programs at the analyzed business school take account of this exchange component by offering discussions with distinguished guest speakers who have extensive experiences in the respective area and who can share their personal insights with students. Furthermore, students are provided with firsthand experiences via site visits and contacts with nonprofit organizations. These real-world examples and on-site inspections provide students with practical insights and constitute an important tool to create ethical awareness.

Limitations

Although the findings in this study are insightful and fill a gap in the ethics research, there were limitations inherent in the research project. While the data collection among both Executive MBA (Global) and Professional MBA students allowed investigation into perceptions regarding different course formats (integration vs. stand-alone), assessment of the format in which students had no experience might not be completely accurate. Ideally, one would investigate the perceptions of students familiar with both integrated and stand-alone ethics courses, which was not possible in the current project. Additionally, the data do not include prior exposure to ethics education that the sample respondents might have been exposed to in other educational programs.

The specific composition of the current sample also limits the generalizability of the findings, especially with regard to the nationalities of the students. The various cultural influences, acknowledged by the interviewees themselves, might lead to varying responses and perceptions about ethics education. On one hand, students from countries in which ethical regulations and standards are not as developed might attach special importance to this topic. On the other hand, students who had ethics education in their undergraduate degrees or professional career might feel well enough educated in this subject area. Therefore, findings based on the multicultural student body of the analyzed business school might not be completely transferable to other settings.

Future Research

While integration and exchange are important notions to be pursued in ethics education at all levels, these aspects are particularly important to executive MBA students given their professional background. The exchange among students concerning firsthand experiences might prove problematic in the case of undergraduates, who might not yet have been confronted with ethical issues in a work context. It is therefore a promising avenue to conduct similar research about undergraduate student perceptions and expectations. Such an in-depth understanding will help to tailor ethics courses to the specific needs of this target group. Future research could also take a similar qualitative approach by accompanying MBA students in their professional lives after completing their program and asking them to reflect about the applicability of their ethics education. Rather than providing specific outcome measures regarding the effectiveness, such narratives might help understand how students use the knowledge and skills acquired within their executive education to respond to ethical issues in the workplace. This would consequently lead to more in-depth insights and findings concerning instruction formats and teaching styles.

To conclude, the current research study hopefully provides the insights necessary to tailor ethics education to the respective customer peculiarities and to equip students with the moral maturity and skills to successfully face the ethical issues of professional life.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the assistance of Ms. Isabell Richter and Mr. Johannes Schroll in the data collection process.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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