Comparing the Ethical Attitudes of Business and Criminal Justice Students

Abstract

Objectives To compare and explain differences in the ethical attitudes of criminal justice (CJ) and business students, and explore their ethical malleability. Methods Students rated the ethical acceptability of 25 scenarios using a self‐administered survey. A cross‐sectional comparison of the ethical responses of sophomores and seniors measured their ethical malleability. Results Business students were less willing to condemn unethical conduct than were criminal justice students, but were more receptive to corporate charity. Business students were also moderately receptive to the inculcation of ethical principles. Conclusions Self‐selection and socialization are important factors explaining, respectively, ethical differences between CJ and business students and the latter's ethical malleability. However, the assumption underlying many studies that business attracts morally compromised individuals because it is immoral cannot easily accommodate conflicting findings such as that businesspeople can be charitable and ethically malleable. A more nuanced understanding of how self‐selection works in business is proposed.

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