Alternatives to teaching ‘ethical entrepreneurship’ in higher education: reflections and proposals on the use of religious approaches to ethics

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects on how ethical entrepreneurship can be taught in higher education institutions. During the past years, the concern for the ethics of entrepreneurship has become noteworthy, as unethical behaviours have expanded in the business world. The search for an ethically-driven entrepreneurship has turned the focus on universities and how lecturers address this teaching challenge. Without any consensus concerning the most appropriate means by which it can be accomplished, the proposal of alternatives contributes to nurture the debate and broaden the possibilities of teaching approaches. The alternative proposed in the article is based on the use of religious approaches to ethics. Particularly, it is proposed that a literary use of religious narratives-parables can bring a fresh perspective to the teaching of ethical entrepreneurship and contribute to improving students’ ethical sensibility in ethical business dilemmas through a narrative reasoning. A teaching example is included to illustrate the arguments.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• ethical entrepreneurship
• entrepreneurship education
• ethics
• religion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The proposed exercise is grounded, in part, from the author practices in teaching entrepreneurship and the exercises introduced in some of the entrepreneurship courses at undergraduate and graduate level, with the aim of stressing entrepreneurship’ ethical side. However, the sharing with international colleagues also suggests the issues reported here go beyond individual experiences.