Can Business Ethics Courses Be Effective? A Quasi-Experimental Mixed-Methods Study of a Cooperative-Learning Approach in Higher Education
通过准实验和焦点小组访谈，评估了以合作学习法设计的商业伦理选修课对研究生道德效能、道德敏感性和道德动机的影响，发现课程能提升道德效能和动机，但对道德敏感性效果不显著。
Abstract This study assesses the effectiveness of an elective course in business ethics designed around a cooperative-learning approach and explores how this pedagogical method supports graduate students in practising ethical attitudes and behaviours. The research employs a mixed-method approach, integrating a quasi-experimental pre- and post-test study with an in-depth qualitative study based on focus groups. The quantitative study investigates the effectiveness of a business ethics course delivered within a university master’s program in improving various ethical outcomes, including moral efficacy, moral sensitivity, and moral motivation. In contrast, the focus groups explore how the cooperative-learning approach adopted within the course enhances the student’s learning process and the overall effectiveness of the course. The quantitative results demonstrate that the business ethics course effectively develops the students’ moral efficacy and moral motivation but not their moral sensitivity. The qualitative results indicated that the cooperative-learning approach contributes to achieving positive outcomes by favouring the motivational, relational, and cognitive dimensions of the student’s learning processes. The study contributes to the literature on business ethics education by providing a robust understanding of the effectiveness of business ethics programs in higher education and highlighting the role of the cooperative-learning pedagogical approach in developing graduate students’ ethical knowledge, skills, and behaviours. In addition, it showed that, despite the complexity of ethics, adopting a cooperative-learning approach in the business ethics course design improves the ability of future employees and managers to take responsibility for individual and collective actions.