جامعه شناسی کاربردی (Dec 2019)
Factors Affecting Ethical Attitude toward Business (Case study: Female Students of Shahid Beheshti University)
Abstract
Introduction Nowadays, compilation of ethical standards for different professions is an inevitable necessity throughout the world, and it is entirely accepted that, without these standards, there is no hope for proper functioning of professional and occupation rules in various disciplines and professions. Such a need has been felt over the years and has become one of the major concerns in the world's academic and commercial fields, and even international institutions. Therefore some of the major universities in the world began to offer some courses in the field of business ethics and some major companies have also proceeded in compilation of codes of conduct, in order to carry out their business activities within the frameworks of these codes of conduct, and international institutions have prepared alliances to integrate business companies into these frameworks. In Iran, some studies have been conducted on various aspects of business ethics in recent years. But there is no comprehensive research on ethical attitudes of female students who can be future businesses managers or authorities. The present research will undoubtedly create an important contribution to the understanding and recognition of attitudes of future Iranian business managers. This recognition can be used to make appropriate policies in education and decision-making. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting students' ethical attitudes toward business using subject literatures and also field study. Material & Methods The method of this study is descriptive-survey, and in terms of purpose, it is an applied-development research. The statistical population of this study is 210 female students living in the dormitory of Shahid Beheshti University and random sampling was used to select 134 people according to Morgan table. The main tool for collecting information is the questionnaire. In this research, to test the hypotheses and models of structural equations based on variance using partial least squares method, SPSS and PLS software are used. The formal and logical validity of the questionnaire's content was also reviewed by experts including 5 specialist professors in this regard. After studying the measurement tool of the research, the general approach to the model and the examination of the hypotheses are discussed. After reviewing the literature and research background of the study, in order to investigate factors affecting the ethical attitude toward business by the moderating role of age, marriage, education, field of study and work experience, the research hypotheses were formulated in the form of six hypotheses as follows: Ethical factors have a significant effect on the ethical attitude toward business. Age as a moderator variable, moderates the effect of ethical factors on ethical attitudes toward business. Marriage as a moderator variable, moderates the effect of ethical factors on ethical attitudes toward business. Degree of education as a moderator variable, moderates the effect of ethical factors on the ethical attitude toward the business. The field of study as a moderator variable moderates the effect of ethical factors on the ethical attitude toward the business. Work experience as a moderator variable, moderates the effect of ethical factors on the ethical attitude toward the business. Discussion of Results & Conclusions The results of studying six hypotheses showed that four hypotheses were confirmed and two hypotheses were rejected, which are briefly discussed below. In hypothesis 1, this issue was discussed that the ethical factors have a significant effect on the ethical attitude toward the business. Undoubtedly, some individual conditions, regardless of intrapersonal factors, have an effect on ethics. Some parameters such as the growth of greed, discontent, or profiteering, individual selfishness are related to personal ethics. Some other parameters such as lack of awareness of professional ethics, lack of interest and knowledge of the profession, lack of conscience, lack of social responsibility, modeling of inappropriate people are in the field of professional ethics and among all, diminished religiosity and adherence to the principles of business are of these items. Age as a moderator variable does not moderate the effect of ethical factors on ethical attitudes toward business. This outcome may be related to the age of the research sample, which is between the ages of 15 and 40. Marriage as a moderator variable, modifies the effect of ethical factors on the ethical attitude toward the business, so that married women tend to have a better ethical attitude toward business than single women. This conclusion shows that married women are likely to have a higher ethical attitude than single women, because they have more positive attitude towards life and accept responsibility for their marriage life. Their marriage makes the effect of ethical factors stronger on ethical attitudes toward business. Education degree as a moderator variable, moderates the effect of ethical factors on ethical attitudes toward business. In other words, according to the results, this means that ethical factors are lower in undergraduate students. Postgraduate students who have higher academic level strengthen this relationship. It means that more academic literacy has a more powerful positive moderator effect. In addition, the status of academic majors as a moderating variable, moderates the effect of ethical factors on the ethical attitude toward business. According to the results, ethical factors are less common in social science students, and this relationship is weakened by social science students and strengthened by the students of engineering and basic sciences. The warning of this result is that unfortunately, students of social sciences, which have a higher chance of gaining responsibility and management, have a weaker ethical attitude. The results of work experience also indicate that the ethical attitude among different majors is almost the same, and work experience as a moderating variable does not moderate the effect of ethical factors on the ethical attitude toward the business.
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