Cultural Effects on Business Students' Ethical Decisions: A Chinese Versus American Comparison

The authors used a corporate code of ethics to create 18 scenarios for examining cultural effects on ethical decisions of Chinese versus American business students. Four cultural differences were hypothesized to contribute to overall less ethical decisions of Chinese students. The results support the hypothesis and indicate strong cultural effects on 5 areas of the code: (a) accurate accounting records, (b) proper use of company assets, (c) compliance with laws, (d) trading on inside information, and (e) reporting unethical behavior. Business educators and corporate ethics trainers should be aware of these cultural effects, and provide more coverage and special emphasis on these areas when they have Chinese students or entry-level personnel.