Methodology in Business Ethics Research: A Review and Critical Assessment

Gender Differences in Ethics Research: The Importance of Controlling for the Social Desirability Response Bias

“…In particular, this study indicates that it is particularly important to control for social desirability when investigating the effect of gender on ethical decision-making. While prior research recommends controlling for the social desirability response bias (Arnold and Ponemon, 1991;Fernandes and Randall, 1992;Rest, 1986;Schultz et al, 1993;Weber, 1992), a large percentage of the prior ethics research fails to do so (Nyaw and Ng, 1994;Randall and Gibson, 1990). Importantly, then, this article serves as a reminder for researchers to carefully consider the potential effect that the social desirability response bias can have on research conclusions.…”

“…Further, due to the sensitive nature of business ethics research, social desirability may present an incrementally greater risk to the validity of findings in ethics research, relative to other, more conventional studies in organizational behavior (Randall and Fernandes, 1991). Thus, it is concerning to note that the majority of prior ethics research fails to control for social desirability (Nyaw and Ng, 1994;Randall and Gibson, 1990). Specifically, in a review of prior ethics research by Randall and Gibson (1990), only one out of 96 studies attempted to control for social desirability.…”

“…Thus, it is concerning to note that the majority of prior ethics research fails to control for social desirability (Nyaw and Ng, 1994;Randall and Gibson, 1990). Specifically, in a review of prior ethics research by Randall and Gibson (1990), only one out of 96 studies attempted to control for social desirability. In addition to influencing the validity of research findings, the social desirability bias can also lead individuals to perceive that they are more ethical than others.…”

“…Self-report questionnaires are frequently used in ethics research (O'Fallon and Butterfield, 2005;Randall and Gibson, 1990). However, researchers have long expressed concern with relying on selfreported data (Edwards, 1953;Randall and Fernandes, 1991).…”

Patterns of Research Productivity in the Business Ethics Literature: Insights from Analyses of Bibliometric Distributions

“…The Generalized Lotka's Law has been found to hold not only in various natural science disciplines but also in various social science disciplines (refer to Table I earlier), including now in the business ethics discipline. This is all the more interesting and significant given the relatively young, evolving nature of this academic discipline and thus of its underlying research productivity pattern (Randall and Gibson, 1990;Tseng et al, 2010). By presenting systematic evidence to show that the patterns in research outputs generated by thousands of individual researchers in a relatively young academic discipline exhibit the same type of empirical regularity as found in more mature disciplines, our study points to a remarkable consistency in the underlying scientific knowledge creation process across diverse disciplines separated by topical scope and time.…”