Heroes as a Context for Teaching Ethics

Abstract

Various external pressures from accrediting and regulatory bodies emphasize the importance of teaching ethics in business and accounting curricula. Traditional approaches to teaching ethics in accounting include philosophy-based approaches with case studies, critiques of unethical behavior, and study of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (1992). In the present study, a method that makes ethical behavior salient to the students is described. The study of ethics is introduced with an assignment that requires each student to identify his or her personal hero. The hero then serves as a personal model for ethical behavior in the formal study of professional ethics. Evidence suggests that heroes may be proxies for an individual's personal value system, externalizing a moral code that can be referred to time and again. Although presented here in an accounting context, the heroes approach is transferable to all business disciplines.