Business ethics competencies: controversies, contexts, and implications for business ethics training

This chapter aims to discuss the divergent views of 102 practitioners and academics about business ethics competencies and potential implications for business ethics training. It presents, first, an introduction to the nature of the misalignment between academia and industry and, second, business ethics training issues and controversies. Next, the two phases of the research, including document analysis and a survey in Canada and the US, are noted. When considering practitioner needs, potentially over- or under-emphasized competencies are identified by means of a survey to shed light on the extent of this misalignment, so that future instructional efforts can focus on increasing content considered by practitioners to be under-emphasized, while reducing the content considered to be over- emphasized. Finally,a proposed business ethics competency model is provided, as well as a comprehensive content selection model for business ethics development, designed and recommended for business ethics practitioners and academics