Family Values, Competition And The Environment: An International Study Of Business Ethics

Abstract

This study compares the attitudes of international college students concerning personal versus business ethics, the environment, and competition. The sample consists of 999 business students from Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. While Hofstede’s cultural constructs were significant for two of our five research questions (one dealing with family values and the other with ethical practices), Paulus’ (1986) Image Management Subscale was significant for three of the research questions. Our data do not support gender differences in ethical sensitivity after controlling for social desirability response bias on an international sample.