Abstract

With public interest in ethical problems a major theme of the 1990s, business schools are giving increased attention to developing moral reasoning, although controversy exists regarding appropriate methods and efficacy of teaching moral reasoning to business students. ;The problem of this study was to determine whether there are significant differences in principled moral reasoning ability between undergraduate business majors and non-business majors and whether there are significant differences between lower and upper division students. ;Ethics and moral reasoning, considered from the perspective of western philosophical thought, and the emergence of business ethics are examined in the literature review. ;The population was undergraduate students enrolled in day classes in Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, or Business at two private colleges and one state university. The sample , representing a diversity of majors, was examined in four groups--lower division business majors, upper division business majors, lower division non-business majors, and upper division non-business majors. ;A short form of Rest's Defining Issues Test assessed the principled moral reasoning ability of undergraduates, reported as "P" scores. SYSTAT analyzed the data reporting descriptive statistics. ANOVA compared respondents' scores against published norms and between groups. ;The groups exhibited a significant increase in principled moral reasoning ability between lower and upper division status, irrespective of business or non-business major grouping. The P score for upper division non-business majors was slightly higher than that of upper division business majors, but a significant difference between the majors was not indicated. The mean P score of upper division business majors was 2.6 points below that of upper division non-business majors, raising the specter of a deficiency in ethics education in business programs. ;No significant difference was found between any groups compared on age; however, females had higher P scores than males and were significant in lower division non-business majors and both upper division groups. ;Recommendations include additional emphasis on ethics education for business students, delivered by thoughtful, value-oriented faculties. Longitudinal and empirical studies should be conducted measuring the effect of teaching ethics to business students