A COMPARISON OF THE ETHICAL BEHAVIOR OF GRADUATE BUSINESS STUDENTS VERSUS UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS STUDENTS

Abstract

Several ethical violations in the accounting profession over the past couple of decades have the profession asking what can be done to deter recurrences of such events. One approach under discussion is an increased emphasis upon ethics in the college curricula. In response, this research looks at the choices made by graduate and undergraduate business students when placed in a position that requires an ethical decision and finds that most students do not make ethical decisions. However, ethical behavior varies between graduate and undergraduate students. While female undergraduate students are more likely to make ethical choices than female graduate students, male graduate students are slightly more likely to make ethical choices than male undergraduate students. In addition, undergraduate students with high GPAs are significantly more likely to make ethical choices than graduate students, but graduate students with low GPAs are more likely to make ethical choices than undergraduate students.