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This study aims to identify students’ perceptions of the importance and objectives of sustainability and business ethics education, considering contextual factors (ethics-friendly environments) and including the social desirability (SD) bias to strengthen data robustness and assess response truthfulness.

A survey was administered to 170 business students at an Icelandic university to measure their attitudes and perceptions toward sustainability and business ethics courses. Descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney tests, χ² tests and multivariate regression were used for the analysis.

The results show no significant differences among participants, depending on individual and organizational factors. The authors did not find significant differences in gender, age or exposure to sustainability and business ethics courses concerning social desirability bias. Contextual solid factors can explain these results.

This study expands on previous research by examining students’ perceptions of sustainability and business ethics education in an “ethics-friendly environment” like Iceland, a new and fertile territory for business ethics education research. These elements are crucial for further research on students’ attitudes toward sustainability and business ethics and the role of this subject in university curricula.

This study examines the effectiveness of instruction in accounting ethics as measured by the impact of that instruction on the incidence of student plagiarism in a college writing assignment.

This study avoids the potential problems inherent in measuring Machiavellianism via a psychological questionnaire by using a “reverse methodology,” whereby Machiavellianism is assessed directly from behavior.

The results support past research suggesting that traditional collegiate ethical education may not affect students’ ethical choices. The findings also suggest that increasing penalties for ethical failures may be an effective means of deterring students and business professionals from engaging in inappropriate activities.

This study supports the use of a behavioral measure of Machivellianism as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of alternative instructional methods in ethics. This behavioral approach is superior to the traditional questionnaire methodology because Machivellianism is judged based on actual behavior rather than having students respond to hypothetical and often stereotyped ethical cases, whereby the student can provide an artificial response that will be viewed favorably by the evaluator.

The findings suggest that higher education needs to recognize the relevance of factors beyond mere ethical education when preparing students for the ethical challenges they will face in the business world.

This paper employs a unique “reverse methodology” to measure Machiavellianism. This reverse methodology has greater external validity in quasi-experimental ethical studies because the results can be extrapolated to real-world scenarios where there is a cost to behaving ethically.

The purpose of this study is twofold: to investigate the correlation between the perception of respondent accountants (N = 164) on ethics elements and their demographic factors and to examine the gap between the expectations of employers (accountants) and the coverage of ethics in the education of professional accountants.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect the data. An analysis of the relevant documents (syllabi and codes of ethics) was conducted to generate and group appropriate items that represent ethics themes. This led to 17 themes such as integrity, conflict of interest, ethics theories and resolving ethical dilemma. Using inputs from the qualitative study and relevant literature, a questionnaire was framed for the quantitative phase of this study.

Within accounting ethics education, more emphasis and awareness is required on the themes of integrity, independence, corruption and insider trading. Four categories emerge for the ethics themes related to education in accounting: “Integrity to Accounting Profession”, “Regulatory Compliance”, “Practical Ethical Issues” and “Sense of Responsibility”. The results of this study reveal there are gaps between ethics education and accountants’ expectations. It is found that accountants perceive more virtue-related elements be put in accounting education.

This study will make accounting educators, accountants and accounting professional associations to be more aware and work together to bridge this gap as well as contribute to a more effective ethics education for accountants in Hong Kong.

End of education is character and not merely the acquisition of intellectual prowess. With Aristotle’s wisdom and the learnings from the many corporate scandals, it would be safe to conclude that education should result in nurturing hearts and character and not just the transfer of worldly knowledge. While there are many studies focusing on perceptions about ethics, ethics education of business students or academics, there are hardly any studies available on accounting professionals’ perceptions on ethics education, especially in Hong Kong. The authors found that accountants want more virtue-related ethics elements included in accounting education.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to present a framework for the interplay between ethics education and consumer wisdom for future empirical research. The paper aims to conceptualize the influence marketing ethics education has on students as consumers, not as future marketing executives per se due to the little literature that exist in this direction. By tackling this research gap, this paper extends the understanding of the social cognitive theory. It examines the role marketing ethics education plays in enhancing students' moral attentiveness and ethical awareness, which consequently shape their consumer wisdom.

The proposed conceptual framework is based on theoretically observing and analyzing the possible interrelations between ethics education and consumer wisdom.

This research offers multiple research propositions to examine these interrelationships through future empirical research.

The value of this paper lies in its potential importance for policymakers and marketing educators. Shedding light on this relationship is beneficial to educational institutions and the means by which courses' curricula are designed. Consequently, students will be equipped with the right foundation to become more ethical and wiser consumers.

This conceptual paper extends the research in the field of consumer behavior and marketing education. It employs the reciprocal causation model of Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory to consumer wisdom; a novel construct in the field of consumer behavior. This opens an array to understanding the potential role of ethics education as a potential antecedent in shaping consumer wisdom. The study also explores the prospective mediating role of moral attentiveness and ethical awareness to the conceptualized relationship.

Quantitative analysis of existing literature is conducted to compare the textual features of ethics education in science and technology under the broad theme of ethics in science and technology. On this basis, the authors reveal the research hotspots and topic evolution in this field, and propose development suggestions in conjunction with the 5W theory.

In this paper, the authors visualize the graph and quantify the indicators in four aspects: time series, institutional collaboration, author co-authorship, and research hotspots.

Compared to ethics of science and technology, the research results in the field of ethics of science and technology education are limited. There is still room for improvement in the low density of cooperation between authors and institutions. The research themes are focused on theoretical discussions and countermeasure research. At present, the reform of ethics of science and technology is still in its infancy and has not yet formed a perfect system for education and personnel training. It is necessary for research on the ethical theory of technology to provide theoretical support.

In the context of sustainable development strategies, it is beneficial to explore the path of pedagogical optimization of ethics of science and technology in this study. This includes the maintenance of a good research environment and the realization of a healthy development in the field of science and technology.

Given the calls for increased ethics education following recent corporate collapses, this paper aims to examine the significance of ethical issues that challenge the profession and, more specifically, professional accounting bodies.

The study assesses the perceptions via an online survey of 66 professional accounting bodies worldwide in respect of ethical issues, potential causes of ethical failure and the need for ethics education.

Respondents identified a number of important challenges including conflicts of interest, earnings management and whistle‐blowing. The findings also demonstrate strong support for participation in prescribing the nature of ethics education by members of professional accounting bodies.

The results of this study are based on feedback from 41 per cent of member bodies of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). Despite a number of follow‐up reminder notices, some regions are under‐represented in the responses to the survey distributed to the (then) 160 member bodies of IFAC. Geographic isolation and language limitations contributed to the failure to gain a higher response rate.

The findings demonstrate that professional bodies support ethics education at the pre‐ and post‐qualifying levels of education and a willingness to take an active role in promoting ethics education to their members.

By addressing member bodies' attitudes to ethics education, this paper fills a gap in prior literature that has been restricted to addressing the attitudes of academics, students and business organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to closely assess the level of business ethics education in one of the Lebanese educational institutions, namely the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) through shedding light on how the Faculty of Business and Economics' curriculum is set to meet the national and regional markets' requirements of sound business education.

Descriptive, analytical and statistical analyses are used in this study.

The study reveals several factors that affect business ethics education at AUST, namely students' ethics literacy and ethical perceptions, students' attitudes towards ethical issues, ethics and personal actions, personal morality, religious and ethical business conducts. This is in addition to the impact of formal business ethics education as implemented in the university's curriculum.

Several insights could be inferred from this study. First, business ethics could be taught if a comprehensive formal and purposeful direction exists in an institution to make students internalize their perception of business ethics. Accordingly, the Faculty of Business and Economics is recommended to provide formal coverage of an ethics chapter in all business fields, and objectively expose the differences in applications as related to culture and national preferences; and third, reinforce the use of case studies on ethics dilemmas and make such studies obligatory for all majors. Another insight that is considered an important outcome of the study is its academic contribution to the few publications found on the subject matter in Lebanon and the region. Its results can be used by Middle Eastern educational institutions to analyze the reported western ethics' know how and practices and perform a series of research projects to address the differences between these two cultures in perception, applicability, sensitivity to beliefs and their influence on the way business is conducted in Lebanon and the surrounding Arab nations. Finally, this paper is an eye opener to the fact that individual's religious entity and beliefs may make a difference in the formation of ethical judgment and decision making. However, further research studies on the latter issue is needed, knowing that Lebanon is considered a mosaic religious community with 18 different official religions.

The findings presented in this research can be used by Middle Eastern as well as by Western academicians, managers, employees, and students as an eye opener to the implications of business ethics education on decision making.

The paper adds to the minimal body of knowledge of business ethics education in the Middle East; and its findings constitute a catalyst for further research on how ethics education enhances students' future decision making in the real world.

The current body of research has separately examined ethics education design and evaluation, as well as the development of ethical identity in managers. However, a notable deficiency in the literature lies in the absence of a comprehensive investigation into the interconnections between these two areas. This conceptual paper aims to address this lacuna.

Building on the theoretical foundations of identity control theory, this paper presents a conceptual model that outlines the dynamics of ethics education for managers, whether outside the organization or as a human resource development (HRD) initiative. Drawing upon a diverse range of literature sources, the model places significant emphasis on the interactive nature of identity formation, taking into account both individual agency and the educational context.

The conceptual model developed based on identity control theory illuminates the functioning of ethics education and its impact. The model illustrates the multifaceted nature of the relationship between ethics education and the development and sustenance of ethical identity in managers. It underscores the iterative process of identity control, wherein managers continuously navigate their ethical identities in response to internal and external influences.

While ethics education in management and HRD studies is widely acknowledged, there is a significant gap in understanding the psychological mechanisms that explain the maintenance of self-identity and the dynamic interplay between individuals and their social environment. This gap is particularly relevant to educational programs, which not only shape the social environment for trainees but also aim to foster the development and preservation of their individual identities.

This study aims to explore the provision of accounting ethics education in Ethiopian accounting programs through structuration theory.

A qualitative case study methodology was used, and data were collected through semistructured interviews with faculty members, practitioners and regulatory bodies. The interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Accounting curricula were also analyzed to triangulate and support the findings.

The study revealed a significant gap in the status of accounting ethics education, primarily attributed to a misunderstanding of its importance. While faculty initiatives and student interest have partially mitigated this gap, systemic challenges such as rigid curricula, a lack of awareness and commitment, resource constraints and limited stakeholders’ support persisted. A combined approach to accounting ethics education is required to foster ethical behavior. Hence, the structuration theory highlighted how meanings, power dynamics and norms and values constrained and enabled the provision of accounting ethics education.

The study emphasized the need for stakeholders to influence policymakers’ perceptions regarding the significance of accounting ethics education. The study also provided empirical support for structuration theory. Future research should involve cross-cultural comparisons and explore the ethical behavior of accounting professionals using diverse research designs to highlight the gaps and inform effective educational interventions.

This study contributes to the theoretical application of structuration theory in accounting ethics education. It underscores the critical role of comprehensive curricular reforms, stakeholder engagement and resource allocation.