Walking Our Talk: Business Schools, Legitimacy, and Citizenship

Abstract

Business and society scholars have analyzed the citizenship activities of private firms, but what of their own institutions? This article introduces the concept of business school citizenship (BSC), examining it as a response to the legitimacy pressures created by competing corporate and university interests in the U.S. management-education context. Theories of corporate and of university social responsibility are used to explain BSC, and these theories form the basis of the argument that such activities can be justified and should be increased.

A Ten-Step Model for Academic Integrity: A Positive Approach for Business Schools

“…Business schools that clearly communicate to their students the value of personal integrity and the folly of academic dishonesty begin to honor these three moral obligations. Faculty members that overlook academic cheating to avoid the work required to follow through on academic discipline are violating a broad variety of stakeholder duties -including duties owed to their schools , to their students (Granitz and Loewy, 2007), to students' future employers (Brubaker, 2003;Nonis and Swift, 2001;Sims, 1993), and to the community at large (Boyle, 2004;Caldwell and Boyle, 2007;Swift and Nonis, 1998). It is important to note that university faculty and administrators who fail to instill principles of academic integrity in their students implicitly contribute to the cheating culture.…”

“…In the last decade, business scholars have given increasing attention to the moral duties that business schools owe stakeholders in a business landscape demanding increased accountability (Bennis and O'Toole, 2005;Boyle, 2004;Caldwell and Boyle, 2007;Mintzberg and Gosling, 2002;Karri et al, 2005). Teaching principles of business ethics and helping students to apply those concepts in a highly competitive business world can be a challenging balancing act (Moberg, 2006) fraught with moral dilemmas (Badaracco, 1997).…”

“…Within a business environment described as ''a dynamic, turbulent, even chaotic world,'' (Cameron, 2003, p. 190), business schools are struggling to train their graduates to be both ethical (Boyle, 2004) and competent (Mintzberg, 2005). The problem of academic dishonesty is a worldwide problem with Callahan (2004) calling American society ''the cheating culture'' and with high percentages of students admitting to cheating in countries other than the United States as well (Baty, 2007;DeLambert et al, 2005;Lin and Wen, 2007;Rawwas et al, 2007).…”

Ethics Instruction and the Perceived Acceptability of Cheating

“…The use of mentors, hands-on training, or even apprenticeships could prove fruitful in steering some individuals toward more ethical attitudes and, hopefully, behavior. In addition, some efforts by business schools, such as developing a managerial code of ethics or establishing credentials and licenses, may not only help enhance students' ethics, but may also enhance the reputation of the business school (Boyle, 2004). Future research on the influence of ethics instruction on individuals' ethical attitudes, decisions, and behaviors should include an examination of various factors that might influence the effectiveness of ethics instruction.…”

The involvement of university faculty members in social planning: motivating and hindering factors

“…In this context, the responsibility of non-profit organizations is prominent (Beito et al 2002;Fries 2003;Smismans 2003). Thus, for organizations in the community, such as businesses and universities, there is a moral and social responsibility to act in the community, beyond the purpose of their basic aims, promoting projects in the community by fundraising or voluntary social action (Austin 2003;Boehm 2002b;Boyle 2004;Stephanos 1999). The first hypothesis of this research differentiates between 'communitarian faculty members', who feel committed to the community in which the university is located, compared with 'liberal faculty members', who seek detachment and freedom from the community.…”