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South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences

On-line version ISSN 2222-3436
Print version ISSN 1015-8812

S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. vol.11 n.2 Pretoria Jul. 2008

 

ARTICLES

 

Examining the ethical predisposition of the next generation of business leaders in China and the Republic of South Africa

 

 

Sam FullertonI; Christo BisschoffII; David L MooreIII

IDepartment of Marketing, Eastern Michigan University, USA
IIBusiness School, North-West University
IIIDepartment of Marketing, Le Moyne College, USA

 

 


ABSTRACT

This study was undertaken in an effort to determine the attitudes of business students in South Africa and China toward a battery of questionable actions undertaken by anonymous business entities. In general, practices such as the outsourcing of labour and celebrity endorsements met with little opposition on the part of the students. Conversely, actions such as the shipment of unsafe products to overseas markets and a doctor smuggling a potentially beneficial (but illegal) drug across international borders in an effort to help a patient were strongly condemned. A comparison of the means of the 14 scenarios resulted in statistically significant differences for the two countries on eight of the questionable actions. In seven of the eight, the South Africans exhibited stronger opposition (or a lower level of support for) the behaviour of the organization. Furthermore, the grand means for the two countries also favored the RSA as the country with the higher ethical predisposition.

JEL: D83, 84

 

 

“Full text available only in PDF format”

 

 

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