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The purpose of this chapter is to develop a deeper understanding of the CSR perspectives of MBA in the European context. The chapter will review literature from the USA and Europe focused on business school ethics and the CSR. The chapter will then present the findings generated from research into MBA students’ ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a European business school research site.

This was inductive research that used qualitative, semi-structured interviews, along with other qualitative techniques, to collect data. The research population was purposely selected from two cohorts of MBA students, one comprising P/T, the other F/T students.

The research confirmed that there are broad similarities between the USA and Europe, in terms of students’ experiences of business school scholarship and pedagogy. The research also confirmed, however, that these European-based students wanted a greater focus on CSR, for instance in terms of addressing the relationship between business and the environment, which students do not consider is adequately addressed in their programmes. Furthermore, and reflecting US experience, students reported at the completion of the MBA that they were conscious that they had become more focused on their individual ‘rational’ self-interest, with the goal of increasing their own material success. Not all of these students were content with this change, but they reported that it had been embedded within them, as a consequence of studying for an MBA.

US-based research and this example from the European context both point to the conclusion that there is dominant instrumental paradigm in HE business and management pedagogy. This paradigm needs to be challenged to restore society’s ethical and CSR expectations, and also to facilitate the moral education of more socially responsible MBA graduate managers. The research confirmed that students are very much in favour of CSR framed changes to the MBA programme.

This chapter contributes to a developing research stream into MBA programmes and CSR in a European context.

Focuses the preliminary stages of a study conducted by the International Benchmarking Clearinghouse in 1993 to clarify the process of transforming research data into definable improvements. Points out the power of secondary research in identifying benchmarking partners, and in the determination of critical elements to benchmark.

The economic crisis that hit many Asian countries in 1997 has changed the face of Asian politics and business. It contributed to the downfall of many political leaders e.g. President Suharto of Indonesia and the collapse of many corporate giants. The collapse of the East‐Asian and South‐East Asian economies highlighted a crisis of political and corporate governance (International Monetary Fund staff report, 1998). Most of the literature on the crisis has prescribed greater accountability, openness, participation and transparency in political and corporate governance as the solution to the problems of political and corporate governance in Asian countries (International Monetary Fund Staff Report 1998; Economist, 1998). However as highlighted by Velayutham (1999a; b), the assumptions that underlie the dimensions of accountability are inconsistent with Asian values. It is argued that responsibility is discharged in Asian societies through different mechanisms, e.g., shame, purification and sacrifice, that is consistent with collective orientations within Asian societies. In this paper it is argued that Asian societies are facing a crisis of governance and responsibility, and this can be attributed to the lack of development of the moral emotion of guilt and the decline of shame in modern Asian societies. It is pointed out that while guilt was never an important feature of Asian societies, shame was the main moral emotion that contributed to good governance and responsible action in Asian societies. It is then argued that recent change in Asian societies such as the image of gossip in modern society, urbanization, residential mobility, cultural heterogeneity and the obsolescence of the concept of honor have contributed to the slow decline of the moral emotion of shame in Asian societies. The paper concludes with an appeal to the development of communitarianism and reintegration within Asian societies.

This study aims to describe the development and validation of a scale that measures the self-reported sustainable behavior of students in higher education institutions (HEIs) regarding their knowledge on incorporating sustainability into education, research and outreach, mediated by the attitude toward the triple bottom line.

The scale was applied to students from HEIs, with a total of 759 valid cases and respondents from various countries. The technique used was structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis using the SmartPLS software.

Respondents’ self-reported sustainable behavior scale was affected by their economic attitude and the knowledge about sustainability that they assimilated. However, the economic dimension received more attention from the participating students. Both for the total sample and for respondents older than the study average, environmental attitude and social attitude did not affect the self-reported sustainable behavior.

The study’s limitations can offer opportunities for future research, as more constructs should be inserted into the model to check the existence of differences in relation to self-reported sustainable behavior, such as beliefs in the affective stage.

The practical implication is on the fact that HEIs can use the scale of self-reported sustainable behavior to evaluate the incorporation of sustainability in the students behavior. Thus, with appropriate guidelines, HEIs will be able to analyze the results looking for to achieve balance in the incorporation of sustainability in education, research and outreach in a transdisciplinary way, improving HEI program and preparing future decision-makers to collaborate for sustainable development.

The originality of the study is on the verification of the influence of sustainability teaching in higher institutions through self-reported sustainable behavior scale, based on the sustainable development goals in three dimensions – cognitive, affective and conative.

This paper seeks to highlight the contribution of the Catholic practice of confession and the Protestant Reformation to the development of the modern concept of accountability.

A historical analysis of the literature is carried out to identify the contribution of key features of the practice of confession and the reformation of the Church to the development of accountability in Protestant societies.

The study highlights that the practice of confession is similar to accountability and the Catholic Church developed the emotion of guilt necessary for accountability. The Protestant Reformation provided for the further development of accountability to its modern form, through the restructuring of the practice of confession and the extension of the principles of accountability to itself. The conditions necessary for the practice of accountability such as popular power of the people, the concept of contracts and the emotion of guilt developed within the above environment.

This paper highlights the historical development of accountability to provide some insights into understanding of the environment and conditions necessary for the spread of accountability, which is becoming increasingly important in the current economic environment characterized by global integration of markets.

This paper aims to report a case history delivered to MBA students that developed their understanding of corruption and also enhanced their ability to be able to contribute to the anti-curriculum agenda. This case history method selected was innovative, as it was constructed from multi-disciplinary archival sources. The case focus was the egregious affinity fraud of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS), with court documents taken from “United States V. Bernard L. Madoff And Related Cases USAO-SDNY”, including court sentencing records, victim impact statements and the defendant’s “Plea Allocution”. The case study aimed to enhance students’ ability and inclination to recognise and oppose corrupt practices. The longer-term ambition of the case was to contribute to developing the students’ moral awareness, character and facility for self-reflection, in terms of responding to corruption. The case study exercise also addressed rising societal expectations for more robust responses to corruption, in terms of illustrating how business school pedagogy can be expanded to emphasise the centrality of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) to economic life. The case history was analysed within Carroll’s CSR pyramid and also with themes derived from the developing area of behavioural ethics, including a deontological, justice for its own sake and focus.

This research used the qualitative case method (Stake, 2000; Yin, 2004, 2010, 2011) to investigate lived experience from the viewpoint of those being studied and to provide the case history “experience”, using an analytical lens developed from Carroll’s CSR pyramid (1991) and from behavioural ethics research. Furthermore, following Chell’s recommendation, the case history of the BLMIS fraud was chosen – “[…] for analytical purposes to produce insight into the phenomena in question” (2008). The case was constructed from archival sources, including court records of the sentencing of Bernie Madoff.

The findings of the research are that students gained knowledge and understanding of the nature and practice of corruption, as well as developing their understanding of the anti-corruption agenda. The case also facilitated students to develop their moral awareness, character and facility for self-reflection with reference to corruption. In sum, the findings are that case histories, using archival sources, in this instance taken from the court records, have the potential to enhance teaching and learning in business ethics and responsible management education.

A limitation of this research is that it is reporting on one instance of a classroom delivery of the case study. In consequence, a recommendation for future research is for CSR and ethics focussed educationalist to conduct similar case study teaching to add to and complement the conclusions reached in this paper.

This paper is original in detailing and reflecting on a case history teaching example of global corruption. This case history teaching method was innovative, as it was constructed from archival sources taken from court records to include victim impact statements and the defendant’s “Plea Allocution”.

The purpose of this paper is to identify whether ethics is incorporated into the curriculum in postgraduate banking and finance programmes. There is growing concern that moral failure preceded the global financial crisis with waves of ethical scandals overwhelming the global banking industry highlighting a lack of integrity. Consequently, banking and financial institutions have received much criticism for focusing on higher financial returns that bring personal rewards with significant costs to the majority of society.

The population for this study is Australian universities offering banking and finance postgraduate programs. The data for this study were collected from information available on university websites. The study uses content analysis to examine course content in 897 courses offered within banking and finance programmes.

Findings reveal that 809 (90 per cent) out of 897 courses do not incorporate ethics into banking and finance programmes. Most of the 88 courses incorporating ethics as include the course as “core”, with a relatively small number offering ethics as an “elective”. Only a few courses were offered as stand-alone ethics courses. It appears from the information available that little focus is given to assessment of ethics.

This is the first study to explore whether ethics is featured in postgraduate banking and finance programmes.

The purpose of the paper is to determine the extent to which ESG education in graduate finance programs at Kazakhstani universities impacts ESG-related issues incorporating emissions, unemployment rates and corruption.

This research relies on cross-sectional data for 20 regions of Kazakhstan and 66 universities clustered in those regions for the academic year 2022–2023. This study uses a multiple linear regression method to ascertain the relationship between ESG education and ESG problems.

Findings indicate that environmental education and overall ESG education have a negative impact on the volume of emissions and the youth unemployment rate. The number of universities is positively related to all three dependent variables representing issues on each aspect of ESG.

I might have omitted some important variables that can play a pivotal role in elucidating ESG-related problems, including the mobility of students from one region to another. Furthermore, the paper analyzed only finance programs at a graduate level, without touching undergraduate-level studies and other programs. Finally, the variables and, hence, the regression results are based on the academic year of 2022–2023; it does not account for the change for the past years and does not include time-series analysis.

This paper is original, as it examines whether ESG education helps to curb ESG-related issues at a national level in Kazakhstan, and the studies on sustainability education in Kazakhstan are limited.

This paper aims to outline how certain lessons from ethical systems can be relevant and applicable to tackling unethical behavior, including financial crime, within the finance profession.

This paper adopts a pragmatic perspective while acknowledging that there is a myriad of reasons managers act unethically, including the reality that many do so knowingly and deliberately. The matter is further complicated by human nature, given an individual’s behavior (ethical or unethical) is not easily discernable from their psychological, sociological, theological or cultural attributes.

Although such systems may not solve the problem of corrupt behavior, research suggests that industry professionals can learn to act in a more responsible and ethical manner. Given the wounded reputation of the financial sector, owing to their role in committing financial crimes such as money laundering, advances in ethical conduct would elevate both the effectiveness of the sector, as well as its reputation.

It is impractical to think we can completely resolve the problem of unethical behavior. Improvement, however, seems possible through promoting virtuous character traits and ethical behavior in individuals and organizations. Virtue ethics can play a significant role in combating financial crime and supporting anti-money laundering initiatives.