Attitudes towards business ethics of business students in Malaysia

The main objective of this paper is to assess the attitude of a group of Malaysian business students towards business ethics. The survey results indicate that the respondents in general are of the opinion that the businesses in Malaysia consider ethics as secondary. A greater emphasis on ethical values in the business curricular has been strongly supported by the respondents. Moreover, the majority of the respondents believe that moral/ethical education and top management attitudes are the most important factors influencing ethical standards in business practices.Dr Kazi Firoz Alam is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Accountancy, Massey University, New Zealand. He has been teaching Accounting to MBA students since 1984 and has supervised Masterate students in different areas of accounting, including accounting and tax ethics. He has written three books on Accounting and Taxation and has published articles on Corporate Taxation and Company Financial Policy, The Influence of Tax Incentives on Investment Decisions, Taxation and Company Dividend Policy and Business Ethics. Some of the journals where his publications have appeared includeMetu Studies in Development, Managerial and Decision Economics, Accounting Forum, Investment Analysts Journal andJournal of Business Ethics.