This study investigated undergraduates' responses regarding selected ethical issues facing managers and employees of today's businesses. The focus of the study lies in the influences of two situational variables (organizational roles and prospects) on students' response pattern. Japanese students (306 men and 81 women, M = 20.1 yr., SD = 2.2) imagined that they were managers or operative employees of a middle-sized manufacturing company and that their company had high or low prospects. The response pattern tended to be more ethical for “managers,” whereas the response pattern tended to be less ethical for “employees” in a “low prospect” than in a “high prospect” company.
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