ABSTRACT
In the age of numerous accounting and corporate scandals such as the Enron débâcle and the Parmalat bankruptcy, and in the context of the current global financial crisis, society at large has come to recognize that ethical, sustainable and socially responsible behavior play a critical role in good business practice. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is now high on the corporate agenda as society demands that companies act more responsibly (Cornelius, Wallace & Tassabehji, 2007, p. 133). In the wake of so many financial and managerial scandals, the role that business schools played, or didn’t play, in creating or encouraging unethical behavior has been questioned (Cornelius et al., 2007; Ghoshal, 2005; Pfeffer & Fong, 2004). As Ghoshal suggests, ‘business school faculty need to own up to our own role in creating Enrons. It is our theories and ideas that have done so much to strengthen the management practices that we are all so loudly condemning’ (2005, p. 75). Cornelius et al. found that, ‘by meeting the needs of business, business schools have been less sensitive to, at best, and at worst, more tolerant of the excuses of business’ (2007, p. 121). Ghoshal goes as far as to suggest that, ‘by propagating ideologically inspired amoral theories, business schools have actually freed their students from any sense of moral responsibility’ (2005, p. 76). It is now widely acknowledged that business schools need, as a matter of priority, to address these concerns by making a strong commitment to effectively educate students in the areas of ethics and social responsibility to encourage ethically grounded corporate practice.
