The influence of business schools on the ethical behavior of students: A study from Ghana

Abstract

Business schools are key actors in the education of the future managers of corporate bodies. The incessant business scandals and negative environmental impact by businesses across the world are exposing business school shortcomings. To instill the benefits of ethical practices at the individual, corporate, national and global level in the next generation of managers, business schools are being encouraged to purposefully incorporate business ethics education as a key component of responsible management education in their practices. This study examines the influence of business schools on students’ ethical behavior. The study employs structural equation modeling to validate the hypotheses developed from the literature review. Using empirical data from Ghana, the results firstly show that compared to business schools with public ownership, those with private ownership impact more positively on students’ ethical behavior. Secondly, is found that business schools which have an affiliation status with bigger business schools impact positively on students’ ethical behavior. Lastly, the findings show that teaching of business ethics in business schools, whether as a core course or an elective, has no significant effect on the ethical behavior of students. Implications of the findings on responsible management education, policy and practice are suggested