Content area
Full Text
Abstract
Events over the past decade or so have resulted in new efforts to expand ethics education in business schools throughout the United States. While the debate rages on concerning the viability of teaching ethics and the potentiality for making a difference in the ethical decision making thought process, the need to influence ethical decision making in the business community cannot be underestimated. Self-efficacy is one area that has proven to influence both academic achievement and ethical decision making. This article reviews selected scholarship on self-efficacy in regards to the learning process and in relation to ethics. While results indicate a significant link between self-efficacy and academic achievement as well as a significant link between self-efficacy and ethical behavior, further empirical study is needed to build on the body of available research.
Key Words
Ethics, Motivation, Self-Efficacy, Self Regulated Learning, Business Ethics
Introduction
Over the past decade, we have rediscovered the importance of developing and maintaining ethical reasoning skills in business. This rediscovered interest in ethics came as a result of a number of highly publicized ethical failings in the business community. Perhaps the poster child of unethical behavior in business was Enron, a former one hundred billion dollar energy trading company, which went bankrupt in December of 2001.^sup1^ Enron created a culture of unethical behavior from the energy traders who manipulated energy markets (to the detriment of consumers and municipalities) to the higher levels of management who signed off on fraudulent financial statements.^sup2^
It is interesting to note that Enron was not without a corporate code of ethics. In fact, the Enron code of ethics was sixty-four pages long and was based on several Boy Scout values. However, while some corporate codes of ethics provide for enforcement and are effective at helping build an ethical culture within the company, this code of ethics was apparently only for show.^sup3^ As demonstrated in a segment of the CBS evening news, the culture at Enron was one of manipulation, fraud, greed and arrogance. In the news segment, Enron energy traders were shown moving energy out of markets and causing power plants to go down so that they could capitalize on resulting higher energy prices.^sup4^
Although the collapse of Enron was not directly due to the...