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ERIC Number: EJ1191937
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1936-346X
EISSN: N/A
Ethics of Entrepreneurship: Should We Be Teaching Students the Inevitable Moral Dilemmas That Challenge All Entrepreneurs?
McCormick, Marleen; Buttrick, Hilary; McGowan, Richard
Journal of Learning in Higher Education, v14 n1 p29-36 Spr 2018
A colleague who teaches entrepreneurial courses said, "I do not do much with ethics in class. I' d like to do more." Our paper is designed to help our friend inasmuch as the paper offers a primer on entrepreneurial ethics. First, we discuss the nature of entrepreneurship and explore the unique ethical issues present in entrepreneurial activities. Then, we explore ways to convince students of the relevance of ethics to entrepreneurship. We introduce students to some conceptual issues, beginning with the question of whether ethics even bears upon entrepreneurship. Some argue that to take advantage of opportunities, an entrepreneur by definition will often need to break the rules during the creative destructive process (Brenkert, 2009). Others question "whether entrepreneurship may be considered ethical at all" (Jones & Spicer, 2009, p. 103). Next, we show the legal problems unique to entrepreneurial activity, especially as stakeholders are unknown, and inasmuch as character issues present themselves. Specifically, the paper will demonstrate the relevance of ethics to entrepreneurship, including an application of virtue theory and stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984). This section will also explain how stakeholder theory is reflected in the law applicable to entrepreneurial activities, which helps students understand the necessity for other-regarding behavior. This lesson is especially important for students who aspire to start their own businesses and who, in all likelihood, lack the experience necessary to navigate the legal and regulatory landscapes applicable to their fields. The paper will show that entrepreneurial activity, despite its challenges, ought not be without ethics.
JW Press. P.O. Box 49, Martin, TN 38237. Tel: 731-587-4010; Fax: 731-588-0701; Web site: http://JWPress.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A