Spheres of Influence on Students' Ethical Decision Making

Abstract

Our study contributes to the literature that explores whether age, gender, and various spheres of influence (religious principles, family values, educational training, workplace environment and peer interactions) affect perceptions of individual ethical behavior. We administered a business ethics survey to undergraduate students at a public undergraduate university in West Virginia. All respondents were asked to agree or disagree with twenty business ethics behavioral vignettes using a 4-point Likert type scale. In addition to these responses, we collected demographic information including gender, age, marital status, and academic major. Respondents were also asked to rank their personal spheres of influence: family, friends, religion, education and work environment. They were also required to categorize themselves as “religious” or “not religious”. The results of multivariate ordered probit models indicated that spheres of influence do have statistically significant marginal impacts on ethical decision making and that females, religious students and older students are more likely to engage in ethical behavior.