Ethical Horizons in the Workplace: Perspectives from MBA Students and Current Employees

The changing ideas of morality, the evolution of employment laws, and society have influenced ethical perspectives. Although business schools teach the art and science of ethics, identifying the potential future frameworks and morals of organizations and employees is fascinating and challenging to predict. Management, organizations, and society should be cognizant of ethical developments. To ascertain the direction of business ethics changes in the near term, this study compared questionnaire responses of MBA students in central West Virginia with the findings of the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) at Work: 2021 International Survey of Employees. Some of the more notable findings are MBA students’ desire for the organization to practice honesty in their daily operations. The U.S. workers faced more pressure to take shortcuts and meet unrealistic objectives than MBA students. Moreover, U.S. workers were more likely to report unethical issues and more prone to retaliation than MBA students. Barriers to speaking up about ethical wrongdoings differed as the fear of job loss and alienation was greater for U.S. workers, while MBA students were hindered by uncertainty about the correct reporting channel. Furthermore, MBA students were more concerned about future workforce biases, unmet ethical standards, increased unethical behavior from new technologies, and evolving skill requirements due to digitalization. These findings underscore the need for organizations to adapt ethical programs to shifting values and generational expectations.