Accounting ethics education and the ethical awareness of undergraduates: an experimental study

This study examines whether an ethics intervention curriculum (EIC) influences the ethical awareness of undergraduate accounting students. The ethics intervention curriculum is designed to teach students about ethical behaviour in the workplace. An experiment using final year students at five faith-based private universities in Nigeria was conducted to identify changes in ethical awareness. A pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design was conducted using ethical vignettes which were administered to both the treatment group and control group to observe for differences in their awareness. This study observed a significant difference in the ethical awareness of the students in the treatment group compared to those in the control group. The study concludes that the ethics intervention curriculum has a positive impact on the ethical awareness of the students. This study exemplifies how an ethics intervention can enhance undergraduate students' awareness of ethical issues that may arise in the workplace.