Approaches to learning and ethical judgment of business ethics` students

Abstract

The objective of this study is threefold. The first and second objectives are to explore the approaches to learning the Business Ethics course adopted by students and to examine the relationship between learning approaches and academic performance in respect of the Business Ethics course. The third objective is to examine the factors that affect the ethical judgment of the students. A questionnaire survey was administered to 209 students taking a Business Ethics course in a higher learning institution in Malaysia. The Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) was used to assess the learning approaches adopted by students, whilst the study used the Business Ethics Final Examination result to measure the academic performance of the students. Ethical vignettes obtained from Emerson and Conroy (2004) were used to capture how students evaluate the ethical behaviour depicted in the vignettes. For the first objective, the results indicate that the majority of students, both male and female groups, prefer to use a deep approach in studying Business Ethics and there is no significant difference in the approaches to learning adopted between male and female groups. For the second objective, the findings reveal that there were significant positive relationships between the deep and strategic approaches and the final examination, while a significant negative relationship was found between the surface approach and the final examination result. For the third objective, it was found that Business Ethics result and year of study were factors that have a significant effect on the ethical judgment of students. In terms of theoretical implications, this study contributes to the literature on approaches to learning by using ASSIST, as, to date, not many studies use ASSIST to measure the approaches of students to learning. In terms of practical implications, this study may provide guidance to educators to adopt effective teaching strategies to improve student learning by encouraging the right approaches to learning in order to improve the academic performance of students. This study may also assist accounting practitioners and future employers in recruiting prospective employees, as factors, such as Business Ethics result and year of study have a significant impact on the ethical judgment of students. Employers may want to emphasis these two factors in the process of hiring future employees to ensure that the employees they employ have an appropriate level of moral reasoning and ethical behaviour.