RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD GENERAL ETHICAL DILEMMAS AND SELECTED ETHNICITY VARIABLES.

• Author: Malinowski, Carl

INTRODUCTION

This author once said that the ultimate diversity is the uniqueness of the individual. Every one of the seven plus billion inhabitants of our planet are important and equal. But in business the size of groups has exceptional value. In marketing, the size of ethnic groups determines whether they form segments that are worthy of targeting. In management, the ethnicity that a group of employee's shares may command sensitive treatment by supervisors.

One trait that ethnic groups in the marketplace and inside multi-national organizations may share is their view of ethics. Companies that are better than their peer organizations in understanding differences in moral attitudes among consumers differing in ethnicity and among employees differing in ethnicity may enjoy a global competitive advantage in marketing their products and holding on to employees they value the most.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The following combination of features distinguishes the current paper from previous research in the area of ethnicity and ethical attitudes: (1) a series of ten general ethics dilemmas based on the work of Michael Sandel will be presented; (2) these dilemmas are different from prior research in this area, which features general business management scenarios or marketing moral dilemmas; (3) the sample size will be larger than previous ethics scholarship, thus limiting sampling error; (4) the sample will include students differing in race, religion, nationality, country born in and primary language spoken in the home when they were growing up; (5) students in different business majors will be studied: accounting, finance, tax, management and marketing; (6) first year, second year, third year and fourth year undergraduates will participate; (7) graduate students will also be asked to volunteer; and (8) both the urban and suburban campuses of the cooperating university will be surveyed.

Prior Research Relating Ethics and Race

Tzalikis and Nwachukwu (1988) examined the business ethics of white and Black students. In a scenario in which higher prices were being charged to Black people in a ghetto, Black students viewed it as a greater injustice than white students did.

Malinowski and Berger (1996) investigated undergraduates' attitudes to nine hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas. One of the dilemmas dealt with developing a brand of cigarettes that would appeal to urban African Americans. Black students were significantly more offended than white students were. Malinowski and Berger (2010) presented the same dilemmas to a new group of undergraduates: "African-Americans responded more ethically than Caucasian-Americans did" (p. 227). In Malinowski (2013), Indian graduate students gave significantly less ethical responses to hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas than Whites or East Asians sixteen times. Although the literature relating business ethics to race appears to be sparse, the following hypothesis is justified:

H1: Students of different races will respond differently to a series of ten general ethical dilemmas based on the work of Michael Sandel.

Prior Research Relating Ethics and Religion

Lynn et al. (2009) found differences in the Faith at Work Scale among Catholic, Evangelical and Mormon managers. Burns et al. (1994) found that students from a religious university gave different ethical views of business practices than did students from a secular university. Kennedy and Lawton (1998) found significant correlations between the willingness to behave unethically and two religious variables: fundamentalism "and intrinsic religiousness" (p.171). Longnecker et al. (2004) found that Evangelical Christians "showed a higher level of ethical judgment" in evaluating "the ethical acceptability of sixteen business decisions" (p. 373). Bloodgood et al. (2008) found that "students who attended worship services more frequently were less likely to cheat than those who attended religious services less frequently" (p. 557). Cheating was measured by falsely reporting test scores.

Malinowski and Berger (2004) investigated undergraduate responses to nine hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas: (1) students attending a Catholic university responded more ethically than those from a non-sectarian institution and (2) when both schools were combined, Catholic students responded more ethically than non-Catholic students. Cham and Hong (2005) asked people in Hong Kong if they saw themselves as ethical and if they were interested in ethics education. Christians responded more ethically than did Protestants, Buddhists, and Taoists. In Malinowski (2013), Hindus gave less ethical responses than Catholics and Jews fourteen times in response to hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas. This was a study of graduate students.

Malinowski (2016) presented the same nine hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas to undergraduates. There were two key findings: (1) "the stronger their identification with their religion, the more ethical the responses" and (2) "the stronger a person's spiritual/religious beliefs, the more positive his/her moral attitudes" (p. 313).

Although the literature relating business ethics to religion approaches religion in a non-unified manner, the following hypothesis is justified:

H2: Students from different religious backgrounds will respond differently to a series of ten general ethical dilemmas based on the work of Michael Sandel.

Prior Research Relating Ethics and Nationality

Okleshen and Hoyt (1996) found U.S. business students to be less tolerant of fraud than New Zealand students. In McCabe et al. (1991), foreign students responded less ethically to moral dilemmas than did U.S. students. Orpen (1987) obtained more favorable attitudes toward corporate social responsibility from U.S. managers than from South African managers. Becker and Fritzche (1987) found more ethical business attitudes among U.S. managers than from French or German managers. Whipple and Swords (1992) got more ethical judgements from U.S. students than from U.K. students. In Akaah (1990), American marketers disapproved of price collusion more than marketers from Australia, Canada, or the U.K.

Berger and Malinowski (1998) investigated the relationship between undergraduates' nationalities and responses to nine hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas. Participants whose ancestral birthplace was the U.S. responded more ethically than those whose nationality was Asian on all nine dilemmas.

Honeycutt et al. (1995) showed that the U.S. is more interested than other nations in upholding codes of ethics. In Whitcomb et al. (1998), Chinese students were more likely to pay a bribe than U.S. students. Davis et al. (1998) found Americans to be more bothered by sexual harassment than Indonesians were. Brody et al. (1999) presented a whistleblower scenario. They found U.S. students more willing than Taiwanese students to inform on a manager. In Baker and Veit (1998), North American professionals rated moral and religious beliefs as more important in investment behavior than did Pacific Rim managers.

Berger and Malinowski (2002) asked undergraduates to respond to nine hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas. As in 1998, students of U.S. ancestry were more likely to believe that the ethically questionable behaviors described in the scenarios were wrong than did Asian participants.

Lopez et al. (2005) studied the ethical perceptions of business students. Hispanic students were more ethical than U.S students on issues like deceit, fraud, and coerciveness. Resick et al. (2006) compared U.S. and Latin American managers. Latin American respondents valued "character/integrity" and "altruism" higher than American participants. In their 1998 study, Berger and Malinowski found that Central American students responded more ethically than U.S. students fourteen times. Priem et al. (1998) studied MBA students. Belizean students resolved business related moral dilemmas at higher stages of moral reasoning than did the U.S. students. Malinowski and Berger (2007) presented undergraduates with nine hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas. Participants whose nationality was Central American were more ethical than those whose ancestry was American.

Lysinski and Gaidis (1991) presented this vignette to business students: "Test results show that an auto part that your firm designs... can cause accidents" (p. 146). U.S. subjects were less likely than Danish subjects to believe top management would report this. Konrad et al. (2006) found that companies in the...