Author(s): Betz Ugras
Many studies have been undertaken on business people’s behaviour and their perceptions of business ethics. However, just a few studies have looked into students' perceptions of corporate ethics. Students are, without a doubt, our future generation, who will play a significant part in Indonesia's business and economy. We make comparisons between groups of students based on maturity, formal business ethics education, gender, and professional backgrounds. Furthermore, students with varying intellectual maturity and professional backgrounds have vastly different perspectives on corporate ethics. In comparison to students without a business background, students with a business background are less ethical. This could be in line with prior research that suggests business students need to be taught more about ethical ideals. In contrast, there are no differences in business ethics perceptions among students from other gender groups or who have taken a formal business ethics course. This could be because formal business ethics education takes time for participants to internalise, or because students who do not attend a formal business ethics course acquire business ethics from other sources.