Decision rules used by male and female business students in making ethical value judgments: Another look

This study was conducted to corroborate findings that females invoke a decision rule that is significantly different from that of their male counterparts when making ethical value judgements. In addition, the study examines whether the same decision rule is used by men and women for all types of ethical situations. The results show that males and females use different decision rules when making ethical evaluations, although there are types of situations where there are no significant differences in decision rules used by men and women. The results do not suggest that any one particular decision rule is used by the majority of either males or females in different types of ethical judgements. There is a greater diversity in decision rules used by females than by males.Sharon Galbraith, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University, Seattle, Washington. She teaches Marketing and does research in the areas of consumer information processing, pedagogy, and business ethics.Harriet Stephenson, Ph.D., Professor of Management in the Albers School of Business and Economics, is Director of The Entrepreneurship Center at Seattle University. She teaches Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management and Business Policy and Organization and does research in areas of business ethics and entrepreneurship, and marketing for small business.This study deals only with the decision processes used in evaluating acceptability or unacceptability of certain actions. This is a sample question from the questionnaire.     

The Spatial Proximity of Metropolitan Area Housing Submarkets

An important question related to housing submarket construction is whether geographic areas must be spatially adjacent in order to be considered the same submarket. Housing consumers do not necessarily limit their search to spatially concentrated areas and may search similarly priced neighborhoods located throughout a metropolitan area when making housing consumption decisions. This article examines two alternative procedures for delineating submarkets: one that combines adjacent census block groups into areas with enough transactions to estimate the parameters of a hedonic house price equation and a second that permits spatial discontinuities in submarkets. The criterion used to evaluate the alternative techniques is the accuracy of hedonic house price predictions.     

The impact of a state mandated expenditure floor on aggregate property values

Using a test of allocative efficiency in the local public sector developed by Brueckner [Journal of Public Economics 19 (1982) 311–331], this study empirically examines the impact of a state minimum education expenditure requirement on aggregate property values in Connecticut communities. The empirical results reveal that the typical community in Connecticut spends less on education and municipal services than the level that maximizes aggregate property values. The results further indicate that spending on education falls further below the property maximization level in those communities constrained by the state expenditure floor. It follows from the analysis that some state expenditure floors can raise aggregate property values and promote efficiency.     

An Examination of Differences in Ethical Decision-Making Between Canadian Business Students and Accounting Professionals

This study investigates the differences in individuals' ethical decision making between Canadian university business students and accounting professionals. We examine the differences in three measures known to be important in the ethical decision-making process: ethical awareness, ethical orientation, and intention to perform questionable acts. We tested for differences in these three measures in eight different questionable actions among three groups: students starting business studies, those in their final year of university, and professional accountants.The measures of awareness capture the extent to which respondents felt that a particular action was unethical according to each of several ethical criteria. We found few differences between the two student groups on these measures, suggesting that their education had minimal effect on raising their awareness of the ethical issues in the vignettes. Indeed, overall, the graduating student's scores were marginally lower than those of the entry-level students. However, the professionals viewed some actions as significantly less ethical than did the graduating students.The measures of ethical orientation capture the weight respondents placed on each of the criteria above in their evaluation of the overall morality of an action. The differences between the three groups were generally small, and were a function of the vignette, consistent with Jones' (1991) model of issue-contingent ethical reasoning.The measures of intention capture the extent to which a respondent perceives that s/he would perform the action. There were significant differences between the groups in three of the eight vignettes, driven by a difference between the professionals and the other two student groups. The awareness measures were strong predictors of intention. We discuss the implications of these findings for professional training and future research.     

Use of social capital among Russian managers of a new generation

Dynamic changes in the Russian political economy during the 1990s led to a unique combination of low levels of social capital at the general (state) level and very high levels of social capital at the interpersonal level. This research uses the three dimensions of social capital as outlined by Nahapiet and Ghoshal [Nahapiet, J. and Ghoshal, S. (1998) Social capital, intellectual capital and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23, 242-266.], to investigate the operation of business networks within Russia. Focusing on a generation of Russian business managers who had minimal exposure to the previous regime and who experienced western education/business practices, this study illustrates one snapshot of social capital in Russia in 2004. Results highlight how this generation of business managers operates and how they conduct their business networks. It is expected that there will be changes in Russian business networks, as formalized legal systems become stronger and the new generation of Russian managers, who have had little exposure to socialist systems and nomenklatura emerge.     

Business Planning Practices of Family‐Owned Firms within a Quality Framework*

Study purpose is to investigate the contribution of an integrated, interfunctional approach to quality management, inclusive of family/business interface management, to the success of 572 small family firms, using multiple measures of success (congruity and business revenues). A positive customer reputation was the most important business goal for 44.6 percent of firms. Interface and business management significantly explained business revenue and congruity between business and family while controlling for owner and business characteristics. Family/business interface management explained 9.7 percent of congruity variance and 8.2 percent of gross revenue variance, whereas business management explained 3.3 percent of congruity variance and 2.2 percent of gross revenue variance.     

The Returns to Higher Education in Britain: Evidence From a British Cohort

We use British birth cohort panel data to examine the impact that degree level qualifications and other higher education qualifications have on the earnings of individuals in the medium to longer term. We compare the outcomes of these individuals with those of individuals who had the prospect of undertaking Higher Education but chose not to. Our approach involves 'matching' these individuals according to observed characteristics which we have in the data such as ability, family background and demographics and then comparing outcomes between individuals who proved to HE and otherwise identical individuals who had the opportunity but did not.     

Corporate social responsibility and employee outcomes: The role of country context

This study examined the association between employee perceptions of two foci of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and work attitudes in different countries. Using data collected as part of a multinational research project with a core team in the United States, we found that perceptions of externally focused CSR enactment were positively associated with employee engagement and affective commitment. Perceptions of internally focused CSR enactment were positively associated with affective commitment but not with employee engagement. Analyses across countries revealed more cultural than economic differences. For example, perceptions of internally focused CSR enactment were consistently associated with affective commitment across cultural contexts, indicating that they might serve as a general foundation for building commitment. Perceptions of externally focused CSR were more strongly associated with affective commitment in Anglo than in Confucian and Latin American countries, suggesting a need for country-specific tailoring. Based on these results, we provided recommendations for planning and implementation of CSR.