Title: Perceptions of real estate agents on the role of professional training in ethical decision making

Authors: Goitom Tesfom; Nancy J. Birch; Mussie T. Tessema

Addresses: Department of Management, Eastern Washington University at Bellevue, 3000 Landerholm Circle Se, Mail stop 101, Bellevue, WA 98007, USA ' Department of Accounting and Information Sciences, Eastern Washington University, Spokane, 668 N. River point Blvd Suite A, Spokane, WA 99202, USA ' Department of Business Administration, Winona State University, Somsen Hall 324D, Winona, MN 55987-5838, USA

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of the real estate agents on the role of the pre and post licensing training in enabling them to evaluate potential ethical conflicts in their work environment. The findings in this research indicate that real-estate agents/brokers perceive pre-post licensing ethical training as helpful in avoiding obstacles to moral awareness, moral action and developing moral intention. However, the findings also reveal that there is no sufficient evidence to claim that real estate agents view pre-post licensing ethical training as helpful to avoiding obstacles to moral reasoning. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed extensively.

Keywords: ethics; ethical decision making; professional training; real estate agents; brokers; ethical conflict; moral awareness; moral action; moral intention; moral reasoning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2013.059168

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2013 Vol.8 No.4, pp.348 - 375

Received: 15 Apr 2013
Accepted: 18 Oct 2013
Published online: 06 Feb 2014 *

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