Scenarios in Business Ethics Research: Review, Critical Assessment, and Recommendations

Abstract

A growing number of researchers in the business ethics field have used scenarios as a data gathering technique in their empirical investigations of ethical issues. This paper offers a review and critique of 26 studies that have utilized scenarios to elicit inferences of ethical reasoning, decision making, and/or intended behavior from managerial or student populations. The use of a theoretical foundation, the development of hypotheses, various characteristics germane to the use of scenarios, population and sampling issues, and the use of statistical measures are explored and assessed. In the interest of improving scenario-based research, ten recommendations are presented to guide future scenario research.

Taking Stock of Accounting Ethics Scholarship: A Review of the Journal Literature

“…Randall and Gibson (1990) also found that the middle bands (21%-50%) were the most common, which is consistent with the accounting ethics mail surveys. Weber (1992) found response rates for random sampling ranged from 21% to 76%, which again is broadly in line with the accounting ethics literature (we found 10% to 70%). Unfortunately, Weber does not give the mean figure, which would provide a more meaningful comparison.…”

“…It is even more contentious to suggest that the results of surveys using students' responses to questionnaires involving business scenarios are reliable as proxies for practitioners, as it may be difficult for students to respond adequately to situations they know little about in practical terms (Weber, 1992). However, this will, to a large degree, depend on the student group as some groups (for example postgraduate) may contain individuals who have relevant experience.…”

“…Randall and Gibson, 1990;Weber, 1992;Robertson, 1993). Such reviews have tended to express two types of concern (Cowton, 1998): first, over the particular challenges entailed in researching sensitive issues; and second, regarding the general social scientific quality of the research.…”

“…• the lack of validity of research instruments (Randall and Gibson, 1990;Weber, 1992;Robertson, 1993);…”

“…• the domination of questionnaire style data collection methods and a resulting lack of qualitative data (Weber, 1992: Robertson, 1993);…”