Title: The effect of students' ethics learning experiences to develop ethical reasoning abilities: a comparative study between Japanese and Chinese students

Authors: Satoshi Sugahara, Naohiro Urasaki, Minghai Wei, Gregory Boland

Addresses: Faculty of Commercial Sciences, Hiroshima Shudo University, 1-1-1 Ozuka-higashi, Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima 731-3195 Japan. ' Faculty of Business Administration, Kinki University, 3-4-1 Kowakae Higashiosaka-shi, Osaka 577-8502, Japan. ' School of Business, Sun Yat-Sen University, No.135 Xingang xi Road, Guangzhou 510275, China. ' School of Business and Government, University of Canberra, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Abstract: This study measures the ethical reasoning ability among undergraduate business students from Japan and China for the purpose of assisting the international convergence of accounting ethics education. This study also examined the effect that students| learning experiences had on their overall ethical reasoning abilities. The sample was collected via a questionnaire-based survey administered at four Japanese universities and two Chinese universities in October 2007. A total of 174 undergraduate business students participated from Japan and 174 from China. Rest|s defining issues test (DIT) was applied to compute students| ethical reasoning abilities. The results indicate that the average ethical reasoning ability of Chinese students was higher than that of their Japanese counterparts. It was also discovered that ethics learning experiences obtained in secondary schools were useful for both groups of students. It was found that in these two countries, an understanding of the ethical reasoning abilities of undergraduate students is required before a successful international convergence of accounting ethics education programmes can take place.

Keywords: accounting ethics; international education standards; defining issue test; ethical reasoning; learning experiences; China; Japan; higher education; business education; undergraduate students.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2010.030479

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2010 Vol.6 No.1, pp.54 - 79

Published online: 17 Dec 2009 *

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