Business students' ethical evaluations of faculty misconduct
| Date | 11 July 2008 |
| Pages | 287-300 |
| Published date | 11 July 2008 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880810886286 |
| Author | Sean Valentine,Roland E. Kidwell |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Business students’ ethical
evaluations of faculty misconduct
Sean Valentine and Roland E. Kidwell
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to gauge business school student perceptions of the academic conduct of
college professors, to determine students’ ethical evaluations of certain potential faculty behaviors.
The relationships between perceived facul ty misconduct and several student demograph ic
characteristics including sex and academic classification were also investigated.
Design/methodology/approach – A large sample of undergraduate students attending one of two
diverse universities responded to an anonymous survey. Responses were analyzed using univariate
and multivariate statistical methods.
Findings – Behaviors such as giving lower grades because of opposing opinions in the classroom
and sharing an undergraduate student’s private information with colleagues were rated the most
harshly by student respondents. The 55 items that we used to measure professors’ academic
misconduct distilled into two basic dimensions: “inappropriate sexual situations” involving students
and coworkers and “inappropriate familiarity with students.” Student sex and academic classification
were related to one or both of these dimensions.
Research limitations/implications – The study did not address whether faculty misconduct might
be seen as incompetent by the students rather than unethical. Thesurvey alsodid not ascertain if or how
often the student respondents had observed the behaviors that they judged as unethical or ethical.
Practical implications – Faculty who wish to be more effective teachers and role models should
realize their behaviors are being scrutinized and evaluated by students who make ethical judgments
about teacher conduct.
Originality/value – The study makes an important contribution by distilling 55 established items
on ethical behaviors into two durable ethics scales regarding faculty-student relationships:
“inappropriate sexual situations” and “inappropriate familiarity with students.” These scales can be
applied in future research.
Keywords Business schools,Students, Ethics, Academic staff
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Many ethical challenges related to educational and professional misconduct are
encountered in the college/university setting, especially in the business school.
According to Cabral-Cardoso (2004, p. 76), past research has:
[...] reported that business schools seem to attract candidates for whom “winning is
everything” and for whom ethical issues are subordinated to the demands of academic
achievement (Lane et al., 1998).
Many studies examine student behaviors that are considered unethical, which include
such issues as cheating on class projects and tests, incorrect or inadequate referencing
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0968-4883.htm
The original submission was made in October 2006. It was revised in February and September of
2007. The paper was finally approved in March 2008.
Ethical
evaluations
287
Received October 2006
Revised September 2007
Accepted March 2008
Quality Assurance in Education
Vol. 16 No. 3, 2008
pp. 287-300
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/09684880810886286
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