A phenomenological inquiry into the effects of an ethics course on business degree students

The purpose of the qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the essential meaning adult business school students attributed to the shared experience of an ethics course they took at California State University Sacramento. The study involved gathering data from recorded and transcribed semistructured interviews with 10 volunteer participants. Reductive data analysis involved the use of NVivo7 software and followed Moustakas' (1994) modification of van Kaam's phenomenological methodology. The findings indicated that the participants believed their ethics course experience had sharpened their critical thinking skills and had heightened their awareness of the moral ramifications of their decisions. The participants did not believe that the ethics course would affect their behavior when facing ethical dilemmas. The participants unanimously attributed their conduct in situations with ethical dimensions to the influences in their youth by significant role models.