Cumulative evidence points to the effectiveness of moral dilemma discussion as a pedagogical strategy. However, much of the extant empirical research has been limited to investigating its effect on moral judgment. In addition, the potentially distinct effects of the two major components of the intervention, the intrapersonal contemplation and the interpersonal discussion that follows, have been barely examined. Using the Trolley Problem, this quasi-experimental study (N = 115) examined the effectiveness of moral dilemma discussion and of intrapersonal moral dilemma contemplation (...) in promoting prosocial intentions among individuals in the context of a product-harm situation. The results confirm that moral dilemma discussion positively influences some forms of prosocial intentions. The results also suggest that moral dilemma discussion is not necessarily more effective than intrapersonal moral dilemma contemplation in promoting prosocial intentions. (shrink)

There is an extensive body of work that has previously examined the teaching of ethics in business schools whereby it is hoped that the values and behaviours of students might be provoked to show positive and enduring change. Rather than dealing with the content issues of particular business ethics courses per se, this article explores the philosophical foundations and the structural conditions for developing ethical training programs in business schools. It is informed by historical analysis, specifically, an examination of Platonic (...) and Aristotelian philosophies that inspires virtue ethics, and together provides four conditions for consideration: respect for law, dialectics, imitation and deliberation. We outline the necessary structural conditions for implementing these requirements as well as suggesting the necessary pedagogical protocol applicable to all courses. It is argued that reference to our two ancient Greek philosophers provide many valuable and insightful lessons for the implementation of ethical training today including choice of theoretical content and the approach towards learning. Further, the enactment of a pedagogical protocol requires a policy of recruiting and managing business school teachers-instructors that takes into account, and consciously encourages, intellectual, relational and spiritual pedagogical qualities. (shrink)

Business ethics (BE) professors play a crucial role in sensitizing business students toward their future ethical responsibilities. Yet, there are few papers exploring the ethical challenges these professors themselves face while teaching BE. In this qualitative paper, we rely on the lenses of ethical sensemaking and dramaturgical performance, and draw from 29 semi-structured interview conducted with BE professors from various countries and field notes from 17 h of observation of BE classes. We identify four kinds of rationalities that professors rely (...) on for making sense of in-class ethical challenges, eventually leading them to engage in one of four corresponding types of performances. By juxtaposing high and low scores of two underlying dimensions (degree of expressivity and degree of imposition), we offer a framework of four emerging performances. Additionally, we show that professors can shift from one performance to another during the course of their interactions. We contribute to performance literature by demonstrating the plurality of performances and explaining their emergence. We also contribute to sensemaking literature by offering support to its recent turn from an episodic (crises or disruption-based) to a relational, interactional, and present-oriented understanding. Since professors’ performances have an impact not only on their own teaching experiences but also on students’ learning experiences, undermining these would result in compromising the efforts that business schools have been making toward sensitizing future managers to their ethical responsibilities. (shrink)

The scope of the paper is to investigate whether e-learning is a good alternative to achieve business ethics teaching goals in the challenging context of disembedded economies. To achieve this goal, I used various interdisciplinary methods and approaches, content analysis of the relevant literature, and a case study. Firstly, I focus on the current challenges of business ethics teaching. Then, based on my experience of teaching business ethics in various forms, I distinguish the methods applied within them and evaluate them, (...) taking as criteria the cognitive, applicative, and reflective goals of teaching business ethics. Models and theories of educational psychology provide a framework to distinguish some elements that are responsible for the learning success of the student in terms of the defined teaching goal. Empirical results show that although e-learning scored best when it comes to achieving three differentiated goals of business ethics teaching, it is followed closely by seminars. This leads to the conclusion that perhaps a hybrid form, containing e-learning and seminars, would be the optimal way to achieve the goals. (shrink)