PERCEPTION OF WHAT THE ETHICAL CLIMATE IS AND WHAT IT SHOULD BE - THEROLE OF GENDER, ACADEMIC STATUS, AND ETHICAL EDUCATION

This study examined ethical attitudes and perceptions of 691 undergrad uate seniors and freshmen in a college of business. Gender was found t o be correlated to perceptions of ''what the ethical climate should be '' with female subjects showing significantly more favorable attitude towards ethical behaviors than males. Further, Seniors had a more cyni cal view of the current ethical climate than freshmen. Freshmen were s ignificantly more likely than seniors to believe that good business et hics is positively related to successful business outcomes. Ethical ed ucation was significantly correlated to both perceptions of ''current ethical climate'' as well as ''what the ethical climate should be''. S tudents who had been exposed to ethical issues in a course were more l ikely to believe both, that ethical behavior is, and should be, positi vely associated with successful business outcomes.