A comparative study of the effect of web-based versus in-class textbook ethics instruction on accounting students' propensity to whistle-blow

The authors examined whether accounting students’ propensity to whistle-blow differed between those instructed through a web-based teaching module and those exposed to a traditional in-class textbook-focused approach. A total of 156 students from a second-year financial accounting course participated in the study. Ninety students utilized the web-based module whereas 66 students were instructed through a traditional teaching approach based on ethical problems presented in the textbook. Subsequently, when presented with a whistle-blowing situation, it was found that students exposed to a web-based ethics instruction module were more likely to whistle-blow than those students exposed to a traditional in-class textbook ethics instruction approach.

Virtue ethics, CSR and corporate citizenship

The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management values the dignity of the individual; human rights; and equal opportunity. Its Code of Ethics declares a professional’s duty to broader society. The code advocates education to reinforce this ethical outlook. This paper contributes a specific approach towards the practitioner’s ethical understanding. It enlists the critique of Alasdair MacIntyre who strongly criticises much conventional ethical theory. MacIntyre’s teleological approach is joined with a notion of a hierarchy of narratives of ethical expectations in an argument which counsels that public relations must always operate at the highest level of these narratives.

The learning alliance : ethics in doctoral supervision

This paper is concerned with the ethics of relationships in doctoral supervision. We give an overview of four paradigms of doctoral supervision that have endured over the past 25 years and elucidate some of their strengths and limitations, contextualise them historically and consider their implications for doctoral supervision in the contemporary university. Two common threads across the four paradigms are a view of doctoral supervision as pedagogical practice and that supervisors have primary responsibility for the supervision of doctoral students. We challenge these assumptions. In their place, we propose that the goal of doctoral supervision is praxis and that this involves a learning alliance between multiple institutional agents grounded in a relational ethics of mutual responsibility.

Cross-curriculum priorities and the ethics of interpreting Indigenous texts

Deakin University’s first-year unit, ‘Reading Children’s Texts’, is mandatory for the B.Ed. (Primary). Newly revised, it addresses the cross- curriculum priorities, Indigenous histories and cultures, and Australia’s engagements with Asia. The unit introduces the study of narrative, genre, and ideology. But how should the political topics embedded in the English curriculum be framed for pre-service teachers, and how relevant are literary texts to the teaching of ethical interpretation of texts to both primary and secondary students?

A crisis of leadership : towards an anti-sovereign ethics of organisation

A common reaction to crises experienced within or brought about by business is to identify a corollary ‘crisis of leadership’ and to call for better (stronger, more thoughtful or, indeed, more ethical and responsible) leaders. This paper supports the idea that there is a crisis of leadership – but interprets it quite differently. Specifically, I argue that the most ethically debilitating crisis is the fact that we look to leadership to solve organisational ethical ills. There is, I argue, a pressing need to conceptualise a business ethics that is not constrained by the straitjacket of official hierarchy – a need to denaturalise ‘leadership’ as the normal or rightful locus of ethical regulation and renewal in business organisation. To this end, I explore a Levinasian ethico-politics of responsibility and proximity as the basis of an alternative, anti-sovereign, ethics of organisation.

Food fortification : the evidence, ethics and politics of adding nutrients to food

This research book presents a critical analysis of mandatory food fortification as a technology for protecting and promoting public health. Increasing numbers of foods fortified with novel amounts and combinations of nutrients are being introduced into the food supplies of countries around the world to raise populations’ nutrient intakes. Three topical food fortification case studies representing the different public health rationales for adding nutrients to food were assessed for their public health benefits, risks and ethical considerations: Universal salt iodisation (USI) to help prevent iodine deficiency disorders; mandatory flour fortification with folic acid (MFFFA) to help prevent neural tube defects; and mandatory milk fortification with vitamin D (MMFVD) to help prevent vitamin D deficiency. These assessments found that whereas USI performs strongly as a public health intervention, MFFFA and MMFVD are associated with more risks and less ethical justification than an alternative policy option. Food fortification can be a blunt policy response to complex policy problems. The findings highlight that the primary predictor of a mandatory food fortification policy’s benefits, risks and ethics is its ability to address the underlying cause of the policy problem. The analysis of the policy-making processes for each case study found that certain powerful actors use their influence to determine what counts as evidence in policy processes to privilege food fortification activities over alternative policy options. Policy-making frequently was notable for the low prominence it afforded ethical considerations and its lack of public engagement. Priority activities to help strengthen policy processes and outcomes are suggested.