The ethos of business students

Abstract

Since 1913, when the first Dutch business school was established, business schools have grown ever more prominent. Today, they form the largest departments at most Dutch universities, in terms of student numbers (Dutch Inspectorate of Education, 2017). Although business schools emerged in response to a specific demand from the economy-large Dutch corporations such as Philips and Shell were growing rapidly and required suitably educated managers-they are now an established part of academia. Both business education and business research in the Netherlands are publicly funded, which is typical for most university-based business schools in North Western Europe. Their task is to teach students how the world of business works and to prepare them for an active role in it, for example, as managers of companies. Business schools are thus the "nurseries" of the corporate world. However, as the influence of business on our day-today lives can hardly be overestimated, business schools are also important societal institutions that bear great social responsibility. In fact, the problem-solving ability and moral precepts of business school graduates are a major influence on how the economy runs. Their teachers, therefore, influence the goals that corporations set and the means that graduates deploy to achieve them. Positioned at the intersection of academia and the economy, it is reasonable to expect business schools also to help their students reflect on the role of business and markets in society and understand and navigate the moral dilemmas their work will entail (Colby et al., 2011). Of course, business schools are not the only institutions to influence our economy-in fact, many managers are graduates from quite different programs-but their influence is relatively large. The financial crisis of 2007 has strengthened the call to make business schools more socially aware and instill in students a sense of civility (

Ethics of mortgage advisers in the Netherlands: Professional attitudes and moral dilemmas

“…Perhaps one could speculate about the existence of a Factor D, applying to advisers deprived of any morality, say the unethical professional ethos , but such a view à la Milton Friedman does not follow from the data. Although such an ethos might very well exist in mortgage advisory, as other research regarding attitudes in business in general reveals (Nichols, 1969; Van Baardewijk & Graaf, 2021), I do not explore this any further here. After all, this ethological analysis uses Q, and thus I attempt to develop categories from the data and not from theory.…”

“…In other words, Q can help identify the variants of different types of ethos among a certain group. In fact, “ethos” is regularly used as a key concept in Q (Brown, 1980; Van Baardewijk & Graaf, 2021). In a Q‐study, respondents are asked to rank a set of statements on a scale of −4 (strongly disagree) to +4 (strongly agree) (Figure 1) and then explain their motivation for the chosen order.…”

“…The Q method is commonly used in business ethics (Bhatt et al, 2019; De Graaf, 2001, 2006; De Graaf & Van Exel, 2008) and has a tradition of researching visions and opinions in other areas, for example, public administration (De Graaf, 2005), educational research (Cross, 2004; Van Baardewijk & Graaf, 2021), and healthcare (Akhtar‐Danesh et al, 2008; Jedeloo & van Staa, 2009). Q is ideally suited for research in descriptive ethics (de Graaf, 2021) because it provides a conceptual framework for measuring subjectivity in a social context.…”

Reimagining Business Ethics as Ethos-Driven Practice: A Deweyan Perspective

“…In business education and leadership ethics, the concept of ethos-in-character is largely framed by Aristotelian thought. Van Baardewijk & de Graaf (2021) explore Aristotelian moral development in business school curricula, while the ethos of leaders is discussed by Glauner (2018), Yuan et al (2022) and Fujimoto & Uddin (2020). For some studies, like Caza et al (2004), individual virtuousness gives rise to a collective ethos-in-customs.…”

If MacIntyre ran a business school… how practical wisdom can be developed in management education

“…Second, a common critique is that business schools are not as effective in developing ethical, practically‐wise behavior as in transmitting expertise in finance, marketing, production, or strategy. Students are oriented towards efficiency (Van Baardewijk & de Graaf, 2020). “Whenever executives failed, it was rarely because of a lack of expertise or technical training, but of interpersonal skills and practical wisdom” (Bennis & O'Toole, 2005).…”