Ethical Determinants for Generations
X and Y
David Boyd
ABSTRACT. The present study examines student
perception of protagonist behavior in three case vign-
ettes. One demographic group consists of professionally
employed MBA students who show characteristics of
Generation X. The second cohort consists of Generation
Y business undergraduates. Differences emerge between
the groups. Even when they propose similar action, their
respective rationale differs. Generation Xers show
themselves to be astute pragmatists whose focus is on self
rather than society. Yet the younger cohort, in its quest
to find fulfillment, may give short shrift to some sea-
soned tenets of corporate conduct, including organiza-
tional mission, organizational politics, and organizational
loyalty.
KEY WORDS: generations X and Y, student ethical
dilemmas, workplace values clarification
Research avers that MBA’s cheat more than other
graduate students. Likewise undergraduate business
students allegedly cheat more than their nonbusiness
counterparts (McCabe et al., 2006). Such studies
surmise that these students are simply emulating
business practices. If such behavior becomes part of
their habituated repertoire, they may some day join
the ranks of those reviled for defiling their calling.
Since MBA programs are seen as a passport to Wall
Street, business schools must now endure guilt by
association.
Reacting with defensive gusto to this professional
degradation, Harvard Business School students
recently waved banners heralding their ‘‘MBA
Oath.’’ They promised to eschew pursuit of their
‘‘own narrow ambitions’’ at the expense of others
(Wayne, 2009). Across the land students move to
recast the MBA as more than a speedway to surfeit.
They willingly make public vows analogous to the
Hippocratic Oath of aspiring physicians. Schools
are themselves also moving to the ethical fore.
Over 55 institutions are participating in a Yale
School of Management curricular pilot that grounds
workplace behavior in a value-based framework
(Sorkin, 2009).
While such students eschew Madoff-like machi-
nations, do they show regard for the subtle nuance of
ethics (Wood et al., 1988)? For many students, the
folly of hedge fund managers is all too apparent, yet
at the same time it is remote from the purview of
their daily lives. As long as investors are making
money and CEOs are staying out of jail, is stew-
ardship peripheral rather than pivotal? In their per-
sonal lives, do students remain ethical agnostics
whose mindset is denominated in dollars (Boyd and
Yilmaz, 2007)? Avowing legality falls short of
adopting ethics. Even when students act upon eth-
ical premises, their value drivers may be genera-
tionally distinctive. Ethical notions evolve through
time and espoused precepts can vary by age cohort.
Demographic differences in attitude can result in
customized definitions of appropriate conduct.
The observations in this article are culled from the
iterative use of case vignettes in a classroom setting
over the past 5 years. These vignettes are instructive
since they depict actual student encounters with an
ethical dilemma. By grounding an event in student-
based experience, vignettes create a relevant context
for audience discussion.
While such incidents lack the high drama associ-
ated with corporate titans, their very ambiguity pro-
vides fodder for values clarification. Three sample
caselets are profiled in this article. They offer insight
into the disparate mindsets of two student segments –
Generation X MBA students and Generation Y
undergraduate business students.
Journal of Business Ethics (2010) 93:465–469 Ó Springer 2009
DOI 10.1007/s10551-009-0233-7