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An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Identity and Ethics Teaching inBusiness SchoolsAuthor(s): Nelarine Cornelius, James Wallace and Rana TassabehjiSource: Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 76, No. 1, Corporate Identity, Ethics and CorporateSocial Responsibility (Nov., 2007), pp. 117-135Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25075498 .

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Journal of Business Ethics (2007) 76:117-135DOI 10.1007A10551-006-9271-6

An Analysis of Corporate SocialResponsibility, Corporate Identityand Ethics Teaching in Business Schools

? Springer 2007

Nelarine CorneliusJames WallaceRana Tassabehji

ABSTRACT. Recent events have raised concerns aboutthe ethical standards of public and private organisations,

with some attention falling on business schools asproviders of education and training to managers andsenior executives. This paper investigates the nature of,motivation and commitment to, ethics tuition provided bythe business schools. Using content analysis of theirinstitutional and home websites, we appraise theircorporate identity, level of engagement in sociallyresponsible programmes, degree of social inclusion, andthe relationship to their ethics teaching. Based onpublished research, a schema is developed with corporateidentity forming an integral part, to represent the

macro-environment, parent institution, the business

Dr. Nelarine Cornelius, Reader inHuman Resource Management andOrganisational Behaviour, Brunei Business School,Brunei University, is a Fellow of theChartered Institute ofPersonnel and Development and a Fellow of the RoyalSociety ofArts. She is also a Chartered Psychologist and isDirector of both theCentre for Research inEmotion Workand the Human Resource Management and Organisational

Behaviour Research Group at Brunei University.Dr. James Wallace, Lecturer inQuantitative Methods, School ofManagement, University of Bradford, is a Fellow of theRoyal Statistical Society. He has considerable experience ofstatistical and mathematical modelling gained over severalyears in the UK utilities sector and inHE. His currentresearch interests include, applying statistical and mathematicalmodelling approaches toTechnological, Operational and

General Management problems.Dr. Rana Tassabehji, Lecturer in Information Systems and Ebusiness, School ofManagement, University ofBradford, is amember of theBritish Academy ofManagement and theUK

Academy for Information Systems. She worked as an international business consultant and as a consultant in the UKIT sectorand is currentlyan academicmember of the eGISEeGovemment network. Her research interests include ethicsand e-business, Internet security and e-government.

school and their relationships to ethics education provision.This is validated by our findings.KEY WORDS: business schools, corporate identity,corporate social responsibility, ethics, MBA programme

ABBREVIATIONS: AACSB: Association to AdvanceCollegiate Schools of Business International; CI: Corporate Identity; CSR: Corporate Social Responsib?ity;EETF: Ethics Education Task Force; MBA: Master ofBusiness Administration; EMBA: Executive Master ofBusiness Administration

Introduction

The need for established ethical frameworks andpractices in business communities has never beengreater. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) hasalso risen up the corporate agenda, as society isincreasingly demanding that corporations actresponsibly. A core part of CSR is ethical behaviour.

Empirical research has found links between CSR,return on equity, business image and performance(Zairi, 2000). Consequently, CSR has been includedin excellence models impacting on company reputation and corporate image. In this paper, we arguethat this link extends implicitly to corporate identity(CI) and enhances the model introduced by Melewar and Jenkins (2002) accordingly. As dominant

players in the role of management education, business schools will be used to explore the relationshipbetween CI, and the impact of ethics and CSR, byapplying the formalised CI model and adapting it forbusiness schools. The first part of the paper willreview the literature on ethics provision in businessschool, CSR and CI. The CI of top and regularbusiness schools will then be analysed for consistency

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118 elarine Cornelius et al.

of CSR and ethics teaching provision. We concludeby validating that CSR is a subset of the extended CI

model proposed, and identify categories of ethicsteaching provision and their impact on the intro

duction of ethics into the corporation.

Ethics education in business schools

Business schools have a responsibility to providepractitioners with training in the basics of ethics(Pfeffer and Fong, 2004) which would ideally lead toan informed workplace and act as a catalyst tostimulate socially and ethically grounded corporateactivities and programmes.

The creation of the Ethics Education Task Force(EETF), and their accreditation requirement for the

presence of ethics education within the MBA curriculum (Phillips, 2004) underlines the importanceof ethics education in business schools. However, itis not prescriptive regarding the mode of instructionor choice of ethical precepts that inform ethicsteaching.

If the business schools provide what we term'reactive*ethics education, that serves only to inform

regarding legal and regulatory requirements practiceand responsibility to shareholders, organisations aremore likely to introduce procedures that are merelycompliant with legal and fundamental ethical business practice. For organisations to embrace ethicallyand socially responsible thinking, the provision needsto be 'proactive',with fundamental ethics programmestaught by committed and engaged business schools.

Boo and Koh's (2001) research found top management support, links between ethical behaviour andcareer success and organisational ethical climate areall necessary for effective ethical codes.

It could be argued that corporate malfeasance,such as at Enron and Parmalat, would have beenavoided by employing and appropriately monitoring'reactive' business ethics practices and procedures.

Clearly more profound changes to the culture andethos of organisations are needed, to deal withbroader issues of institutional dysfunction due toinadequate social provision or unethical behaviour.In their report, 'Ethics Education in BusinessSchools' (2004), the EETF acknowledge thatreactive ethics educational inputs are necessary,citing the importance of imparting information, for

instance, corporate governance policy guidelines andnational legislation. Examples include the UK'sCadbury Corporate Governance Report (Cadbury,1992), and national legislation such as the USA'sSarbanes-Oxley Act (Sarbanes et al., 2002). Theyalso note the importance of proactive ethics education for the development of flexible ethical management thinking and practice. They observe theabsence of inputs on 'moral courage' in many business school programmes, and the importance of inputs that heighten moral reasoning, hone ethicaldecision-making skills and enable the developmentof ethical leadership. Thus, in practice, reactiveethics education is an essential component within abroader proactive framework.

The EETF stress the importance of ethical culture, conduct and climate of business schools tostudents' tacit awareness and understanding of theimportance and consequences of ethical behaviour.

Practical illustrations of the appropriateness andbenefits of functioning ethically are readilyobservable in the ethical culture of the businessschools and the way inwhich business school Deans,as leaders, "communicate regularly about ethics andvalues, who model ethical conduct, and who holdcommunity members - faculty, staff and students -accountable for their actions" (Phillips, 2004, p. 12).

The picture emerging from research in businessethics teaching is somewhat mixed (Dunfee and

Robertson, 1998; Roussouw, 2002). Cowton andCummins (2003) surveyed undergraduate, postgraduate and post experience teaching of businessethics in 105 UK institutions. They found that58% of business schools taught business ethics, butitwas only a core subject at 18 schools. This couldbe a consequence of the dearth of ethics specialists,or evidence of indifference to the importance ofethics provision

in the curriculum.Conversely,there are examples of innovation in ethics teaching,

where the experiential, action-learning basedprojects atWharton School are taught jointly byfaculty from their Ethics and Leadership programmes (Friedman, 1996). Trompenaars and

Hampden-Turner (1997, 1999) developed aninteractive-learning programme for cross-culturalassessment of moral dilemmas. Despite such initiatives, the overriding concern about the teachingof business ethics remains the extent to which it iscentral or peripheral to the curriculum.


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An Analysis of CSR, CI and Ethics Teaching in Business Schools 119

Business values driving the academic agenda?There are many views regarding the challenge oftransferring ethical learning from the classroom intothe corporation. Cordiero (2003) asserts the development of ethical behaviour in managers ought tobe grounded in their development as leaders, "ethicsis not something a manager 'does'; it is somethingthat amanager 'is'". Pfeffer and Fong (2004) arguethat most effective and influential ethics education isbest located within a pedagogic framework moreakin to traditional professional education. Thiswould incorporate clearly stated professional valuesand responsibilities, consistent with other establishedprofessions, a code of ethics and responsibilitiesshould be defined with clear guidelines for those thatviolate professional standards, and disciplinary procedures to encourage non-tolerance of ethical

malfeasance.The appropriateness of specific pedagogic options

isnot the only source of difficulty with regards to theeffectiveness of ethics education in business schools.

There is a strongly held view amongst someacademics that business schools are reluctant toincorporate moral and ethical thinking into university curricula (e.g., Scott, 1988; Sims and Sims,1991). Kelly (2005)

has observed that a number ofUS business schools are reducing or removing ethics

teaching altogether from their curricula, which mightbe as a result of a lack of availability of appropriatelyqualified staff, over-crowded curricula and indifference among staff not involved in ethics teaching.

Pfeffer and Fong (2004) argue that problemsarise from the tensions between a market-like orientation to education and an absence of a professional ethos. These scholars are concerned with 'thecareerist value proposition' (2004, p. 1508), whichhas taken root at the core of business school ethos as

MBA markets have mushroomed in the USA andEurope. They cite Porter's observation that, "Asstudents become viewed as customers, business values begin to drive the academic agenda, and theresult is a compromising of the values and the verycharacter of higher education" (1997, p. 19). Pfefferand Fong (2004) support the role of businessschools in the development of intellectual capital forcorporations and nations, but argue that, businessschool marketing focuses on enhancement of careersand salary: a position, more likely to facilitate

careerist ethical egoism than amore normative senseof civic virtue or moral agency within leadership.

Corporate social responsibility and corporate identity

Wilson (2000) andMoir (2001) note thatCSR hasrisen up the corporate agenda of many organisations.They acknowledge that in part, some CSR practice ismerely a reactive, pragmatic, compliance-driven re

sponse to public policy, the law, or other regulatoryframeworks, and that there are many differentmotivations behind a company's specific interest inCSR. For example, the impact of CSR on the bottom line might be a key driver. Empirical evidencehas shown a positive relationship between CSR,company reputation index and return on equity(Karake, 1998), aswell as business performance more

generally (Zairi, 2000; Zairi and Peters, 2002).Within CSR, some researchers have concerns

about the balance between compliance and civic dutysimilar to discussions of proactivity and reactivity inethics education. Takala and Pallab (2000) make thedistinction between politico-legal and moral responsibilities, where the former are regarded as processesthat are teleontological in nature, that constrain orlicence while the latter requires amoral engagement

with CSR, a deontological position based on duty orthewill to do right. They draw strongly on Donaldsonand Preston's (1995) work on the moral duties andobligations of power elites, and that of Donaldson and

Dunfee's (1999) work on contractarian business ethics. The reasoning is that managers have a substantialdegree of autonomy, and so are able to shape corporate policies, strategies and goals, and are in a strongposition to influence the ethical agenda.The definition of CSR, developed by the WorldBusiness Council for Sustainable Development (in

Moir, 2001) reflects an alternative, multi-stakeholder, implicitly multidisciplinary and more proactive view of CSR that is gaining popularity:CSR is the continuing commitment by businessto behave ethically and contribute to economicdevelopments while improving the quality of lifeof the workforce and their families as well as thelocal community and society at large

Zairi (2000) proposes that given the proven impactof social responsibility on business performance and


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corporate image, CSR should be included in business excellence models. By extrapolation, it can beargued that if CSR impacts on factors includingcompany reputation and corporate image, that itshares characteristics with, and therefore can beregarded implicitly as, an integral component of atleast some models o? corporate identity (CI). Given thisassertion, the kinds of CI models that are likely to bethe most salient are those that are consonant with theviews of Christiensen and Askergsaard (2001), that"corporate identity should uncover the true 'character' or 'responsibility' of the organisation behind itsvarious appearances".

Stronger justification for this proposed relationship between CSR and CI can be made through abrief account of recent developments in the conceptualisation of CI. Although it continues to beresearched most often in the field of marketing, CI,

which Balmer (2001) locates within the broaderconcept of business identity (and consists of CI,organisational identity, and visual identity), is nowattracting the attention of scholars beyond the marketing discipline. It is possible to identify somecommon features emerging from among morerecent, multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder modelsof CI as summarised in Figure 1.

Albert and Whetton's (1985) view that thesalience of identity is central, distinctive and

enduring, is implicitly present in many of thesemodels. Balmer (2001) reflects the concerns ofmarketers with the potential for change of CI, even

suggesting that 'evolving' would be a suitable alternative for 'enduring'. Irrespective of the terminology, these elements, can be re-interpreted as ethos,values and culture. Balmer (2001) proposes thatidentity, values and traditions are driving forces ofidentity, in line with Albert andWhetton's thinking.

However, leadership and environment - corporatepolicy and the competitive environment ? alsoconstitute key drivers, in Balmer's view.Balmer (2001, p. 291) states that: "Every organisation has an identity. It articulates the corporateethos, aims and values and presents a sense of individuality that can help to differentiate the organisation with it competitive environment". Many of the

multidisciplinary models of CI reflect this view(Balmer andWilson, 1998; Gray and Balmer, 1998).

For example, within his model of identity mix,Balmer (2001) has four key components: strategy,structure, communication and culture, with elementsthat reflect the intersection between the organisationand the broader competitive and macro-environments adding to the four components. Balmer andSoenen (1999) also distinguish four "discrete faces ofidentity" that incorporate the multiple meanings ofCI as a framework for analysing and managing CI.

Melewar andJenkins,2002

CORPORATEIDENTITY

Balmer,2001

Communications

Strategy

BUSINESSIDENTITY

Soenon andMoingeon,2002

Professedidentity

Projectedidentity

Experiencedidentity

Manifestedidentity

Attributedidentity

ORGANISATIONALIDENTITY

Balmer,2001

LeadershipCEO&Board

DRIVINGFORCESOF IDENTITY

Albert&Whetton

1985

THESALIENCEOF IDENTITY

Figure 1. Models of identity.


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Other multidisciplinary models in this field have astrong organisational studies dimension. Building onthe work of Hatch and Schultz (1997), Soenen and

Moingeon (2002) have developed a five-componentmodel of organisational identity. The elements in

this model are professed identity and projectedidentity (most closely associated with CI), experienced identity and manifested identity (most closelyassociated with tradition and culture and whichought, but may not, interact with CI) and attributedidentity.

Among the most recent models of CI is thatdeveloped by Melewar and Jenkins (2002). Their

model consists of four sub-constructs: communications and visual identity, behaviour, corporate culture and market conditions which, they argue, is abalanced and parsimonious combination of psychological, graphic design, marketing and public relations paradigms of CI (Melewar and Akel, 2005;

Melewar and Jenkins, 2002). Balmer and Gray(2001) identify groups of organisations where non

financial objectives have a high priority, as having an"ethical identity", which largely emanates from theorganisation's culture, ideologies of the founders andbusiness strategy. Importantly, all of these models areconsidered useful for the evaluation of CI for bothprofit and non-profit sectors.

Shifting CI within business schools?

Over the past 20 years, there has been a rapid rise inthe provision of management education by university business schools. AACSB figures show MBAstudent enrolment grew by 35% between 1994 and1999. Universities are examples of a hybrid identity(Albert and Adams, 2002) that is associated with

organisations dominated by the professions, such aslaw and healthcare. Albert and Adams argue thatsuch organisations have 'staying power'. Typically,they have a strong ethos and set of core values, andidentities that are perceived internally as inviolate(nothing about each can be compromised), incom

patible (conflict is inevitable), and indispensable(no identity can be eliminated).

However, some evidence shows that universitiesare moving towards amore 'coherent' position withregards to CI. Melewar and Akel's (2005) caseexample explores the strategic intent of a British

University (Warwick). Using the model of CIdeveloped by Melewar and Jenkins (2002), theyexplore the rationale for the 'change' in identity,arguing that the new CI (developed to modernisethe university's image and consolidate its elite status)also reflects a move from a decentralised towards a

more centralised management style. The diversity ofelements associated with the identities of differentelements of the university, such as schools orresearch centres, were subsumed within a single,university-wide identity.

This move towards a more market-driven, lesshistorical CI is seen by Melewar and Akel as aresponse to the globalisation of the higher educationsector as part of the global business sector,

with education marketing setting standards moreconsistent with consumer goods marketing, "asstudents are recognised as customers, universitieshave to implement strategies to maintain andenhance their competitiveness" (2005, p. 1). It couldbe argued that this view of CI is consistent withBalmer's strategic CI, and a more unitarist, lesspluralistic account of identity.

Some have questioned whether by meeting theneeds of business, business schools have been lesssensitive to, at best, and atworst, more tolerant of theexcesses of business. Empirical research by Pfeffer andFong (2004) and Gioia and Thomas (1996) on thechanging identity of academic institutions duringperiods of strategic change, are illustrative of thisposition. In this context, a concern is whether current business school identity embraces or neglectsidentity characteristics consistent with an ethos ofprofessionalism in terms of ethical action and CSR.

Identity choice and emulation decisions

In Soenen and Moingeon's (2002) typology, experienced identity, is a local, self-attributed form of representation stemming from organisational members'experiences, and manifested identity, is associated withhistorical identity and has characteristics that arestable over time. Both elements of identity are closerto what organisational members experience and do,than the CI, but nonetheless interact with it. This

would suggest that experienced and manifestedidentity are less amenable to corporate control, but

will interact with and influence CI.


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Thus the manipulation of CI, particularly strategicCI as identifiedbyWilkinson andBalmer (1996)maynot intend to, but will inevitably, be modulated byfactors that relate to the actions of organisational

members. Labianca et al.'s (2001) research on emulation - which they define as striving to equal orsurpass comparison organisations on a set of strategicqualities or features - in academia suggests that university administrators target identity-related attributes(reputation, organisational image and identity). In

deed, emulation decisions may be based on tactics ofupward comparison (to equal a superior organisation)or downward comparison (to excel against an inferiororganisation). For any chosen strategic referencegroup, Labianca et al. found that "more subjectiveidentity-related attributes are also crucial to a university's definition of itself. Reputation, identity typeand image: ... guide emulation choices as managersseek to reinforce the cherished aspects of the organisation's identity, and to maintain or improve theimage presented to outsiders" (2001, p. 325).

Research

Here, we investigate the nature and extent of ethicseducation provision in the 'top tier' business schools,known to be drivers of innovation in teaching andresearch within the sector. We also explore andcontrast this with the nature of ethics education inthose business schools that are outside of this higherranked grouping. We investigate any relationshipbetween ethics education provision on MBA courses, the teaching and research that underpins thisprovision, the nature of CSR in the schools delivering specific programmes and the CI of the schoolsand their parent institutions. We pose the followingquestions: is it necessary for

auniversity/businessschool and its faculty to be highly engaged and

committed to CSR and social inclusion in order toprovide the strongest ethics education provision?Are top tier business schools elaborating the subjectand setting the agenda, or are their actions those ofbegrudging compliance? Is commitment to socialresponsibility and social inclusion reflected in CI?In order to gain an insight into what businessschools provide regarding ethical provision on their

MBA programmes, websites provided a rich sourceof information. Business school websites are

increasingly the first medium for students wishing togain information that will influence their choice ofinstitution, such as location, cost, entry require

ments, syllabus, employability and earning potentialon graduation. Websites also provide a contemporaneous note of the institutions' programmes andcurrent thinking and are being used more as ameansof conveying and also changing the CI in universitybusiness schools (Melewar and Jenkins, 2005). Thus,there is the potential for dynamic, flexible andinteractive portrayal and conveyance of information,regarding the nature of business schools throughtheir websites. Furthermore, the potential for accessible, comprehensive exploration and assessment ofthe institution through the representation of its ethosand nature is enhanced through dynamic links, andfactors such as social inclusion/responsibility as reflected by programmes, initiatives, bursaries, affiliations and the like.

The implication for this research is that byaccessing business school websites and that of the'parent' university (where appropriate), a breadthand depth of information and a sense of ethos of thebusiness school can be gained rapidly to address theresearch questions posed above. We are also interested in the type of provision (proactive/reactive)

made on MBA programmes, particularly given thattraditionally, the main drivers in business schools areresearch and/or teaching excellence.

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between CSR, CI and ethics teaching provision andthe nature of this teaching from business schools by:

Developing and presenting a consolidatingschema of CI based on current thinking

where specific topics are identified and itemised.

Scrutinising the websites of top businessschools and their parent institutions (wherepossible) as reflective of leading-edge institutes in management education provision, toappraise the various relationships between

CI, CSR and ethics education provision.The CSR aspect was decided on by reference to the stipulations of the AACSB andfindings of researchers such as Pfeffer andFong (2004) and Friedman (1996).

Assessing the extent and consistency of these-a further 25 business schools, not ranked in


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the top 100 as rated by Financial Timesin2004, were selected randomly and compared.

Methods

The data set

Ethics teaching provision on MBA programmes forselected business schools was assessed exclusively

from their websites. Where relevant, that of theparent institution was also used to provide infor

mation. The business schools running the top 25rated MBA programmes worldwide, as determinedby the Financial Times (FT)MBA Top 100 listing(2004), were used as a representative sample of toptier providers. To gauge the extent that regularbusiness schools offering MBA education are alsocommitted to ethics education and to contrast this,and their degree of social engagement, to that of thetop tier schools, an additional 25 US businessschools, not included in the FT list, were randomlyselected and analysed. Sampling was from thoseschools that had AACSB accredited programmes and

was stratified by geographical location to limit potential bias. The top and lower tier business schoolsused in the study are listed in the Appendix.

In order to assess the degree of social and ethicalresponsibility exhibited by each business school, their

Communication and Visual Identity, Behaviour,Corporate Culture andMarketing Conditions following Melewar and Jenkins (2002) and summarised in

Figure 2, were assessed using content and statisticalanalyses of their website and linked internal documents.

The authors cross-validated each subjective assessment, with all minor discrepancies being resolved forconsistency. A similar approach was taken whenappraising aspects of ethics teaching provision. Thestatistical tests conducted for Ethics Teaching aresummarised inTable I and those for Communicationsand Visual Identity, Behaviour, Corporate CultureandMarketing Strategies are summarised in Table II.

Ethics teachingFrom inspection of the website for the businessschool, the mode and type of provision was recorded.In almost all cases, MBA programmes were comprised of compulsory core modules and a number ofoptional elective modules. We examined teaching onboth the core and ?lectives programmes to assesswhether teaching was integrated throughout a specialist module or was delivered as a separate ethics

module. Assessments were made for the standard andExecutive MBA programmes, where these wereoffered. Ethics provision on the undergraduatedegree programmes was also noted but asmost of thetop tier schools did not offer undergraduate tuition,analysis was only provided for the lower tier schools.From the descriptions of the ethics content theresulting programmes were rated as being proactive(P) or reactive (R), based on our earlier definitions of

proactive and reactive ethics education.

Communication andVisual IdentityCorporate communicationsUncontrolled communicationsArchitecture and location

Corporate Visual Identity-*-:

Corporate CultureGoals, philosophies andprinciplesOrganisational imageryandhistorx

Market ConditionsNature of industryCorporate marketingStrategies

BehaviourCorporate behaviourManagement BehaviourEmployee Behaviour

Figure 2. Melewar and Jenkins model of CI.


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124Nelarine Cornelius et al.

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TABLE IIStatistical tests for communications and visual identity, behaviour, corporate culture and marketing strate

Properties assessed Statistical testCommunicationand visual identity

Behaviour

Corporate culture

Marketing strategies

Logo Badge Uniquenessof web image (Business schoolvs. University)

Employees (BE) Management (BM) Corporation(BC)

Components of CSR: SocialInclusion (SI) EthicalResponsibility (ER) SocialResponsibility (SR)Engagement in Society (ES).

Selling value of : Location(S) Educational Quality (E)

Reputation (R) CareerProgression

Likelihood ratio Fisher's exacttest

Ordinal logistic regression

Kendall's Tau-b coefficientsTest of concordance Correspondence Analysis

Kendall's Tau-b coefficientsTest of concordance Binomialtests Correspondence Analysis

Binomial tests (one-tailed)Correspondence Analysis (ofvariables separately)

To determine cobusiness schooland businessuniqueness of we

To determinement of corporatevar?ate and badgschool tier as dic

To determinethe three pairs

BM, BE vs. BCand lower tierengagement:

Medium(moderate)were coded 0,To assess ordinalof top and loweER, SR and ESCSR with declschool. To detecommitment tonent. Graphicalcomponents to

High were codeTo establish ifcommitment tostrategy for toschools. Tographically forschool. (Low, M0, 1 and 2, resp


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present, those from the parent university were used asitwas assumed that these effectively constituted thosefor the school. Within the context of a universityteaching environment, we condensed the remainingaspects of corporate culture into a single ordinalvariable. This measured the business school'sself-declared commitment to excellence in teachingand/or research. Assessment of CSR was based on

written information and visual images whereas that forthe excellence measure and those for the missionstatement declarations were necessarily non-visual.

Marketing strategiesThe Market Conditions component of the Melewarand Jenkins model of CI (Figure 2) comprises Natureof Industry and Corporate Marketing Strategies. Weconsidered the former to be consistent for the top andlower tier business schools, so only recorded variablesthat reflected marketing strategies. These were Selling Value of: Location (S); Educational Quality (E);

Reputation (R) and Career Progression (C).From the literature, we expected a difference in

approaches between the business school categoriesand looked for evidence of strong commitment fromthe top business schools but only weak commitmentfrom the lower tier schools. The alternativehypotheses were directed accordingly.

Results

Ethics teachingThe results of the statistical tests conducted on ethicsteaching are presented in Table III for the binomialtests, Table IV for the logistic regression and

Table V for the Fisher's exact tests. A discussion ofthese results follows:

MB^4 coreprogrammeIf present, ethics was being taught either as a core

mandatory programme or as a separate specialist ethicsmodule, but not as a combination for the top and the

lower tier schools in our sample. For top tier schools,integrated programmes, separate programmes or noprovision are equally likely, on average. This was notfound to be the case for the lower tier schools. Basedon our sample, there was clear evidence of signifi

candy greater provision of integrated teachingthroughout the programme. Only 2 of the 25 lowertier business schools did not provide teaching on thecore of theirMBA programmes.

MBA ?lectives programmeNo significant preference for integrated or separateprovision for ethics teaching on the MBA ?lectivesprogramme was evident for the top tier schools, witheach school providing ?lectives options. Of the 11business schools from the lower tier that did haveethics provision on their ?lectives programmes, 6taught this as a separate module or modules.

Although, overall, lower tier business schools do notsignificantly provide ?lectives options, those that doare as likely to offer separate, specialist ethicsprovision as integrated programmes.

MB^4 proactive teaching provisionProactive ethics teaching (based on a broader context than mere legal and business requirements) forthe top business schools was highly significant,

however, provision from the lower tier businessschools was equally likely to be reactive as proactive,on average.

The fitted binary logistic regression for proactivity in ethics teaching

showed that businessschool tier was a highly significant predictor. Aswe move from the top to lower tier schools,provision becomes more reactive, on average. Thisis consistent with the results of the separateBinomial tests.

Executive MBA ethics teaching provisionTests for ordinal correlation and association betweenthe ethics teaching provision and that for Executive

MBA (EMBA) programmes, showed a similar pattern. Relatively low but positive values for Kendall'sTau-b coefficient and concordance tests did notsuggest a reasonable degree of association betweenthe levels of ethics content for theMBA and EMBAprogrammes, both for the core and ?lectives programmes. However, the opposite results wereobtained from the lower tier business schools. Theseresults are present in Table VI and were confirmedby the Binomial tests for the difference in provisionbetween the two standard MBA and EMBA courses.From these Binomial tests for the top tier schools,the provision ismostly the same. Of particular note


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TABLE IIIBinomial tests for ethics teaching

Corelectives Proactive programme

Binomial tests for ethics teaching Top 0.304 (3 d.p.) 0.212 (3 d.p.) 0.002** (3 d.p.)provision from the top and lower Lower 0.002** (3 d.p.) 0.50.212 (3 d.p.)tier business schoolsBinomial tests for a difference in Top 0.016* (3 d.p.) 0.049* (3 d.p.) 0.011* (3 d.p.)ethics teaching provision Lower

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TABLEVIOrdinal correlation for ethics teaching provision between MBA and EMBA programmes

ComparisonS Type Kendall's Tau-b (3 d.p.) Concordance p

Core MBA vs Core EMBAElectives MBA vs. Electives EMBA

Top 0.253Lower 0.843Top 0.298Lower 0.949

0.128 (3 d.p.)0.001** (3 d.p)0.105 (3 d.p.)0.0002*** (4 d.p.)**/>< 0.001.

ness school type. Similarly, having a distinct visualimage does not lead to this differing from that of theparent institution or vice versa.

The ordinal logistic regression for the logit ofexcellence in teaching and/or research, revealed thatbadge and uniqueness are not significant predictorsbut business school type is. The results of theregression given in Table VIII, suggest that thisparsimonious single predictor model provides anadequate fit.

BehaviourThe results of the observed ordinal correlationsand tests for concordance for employee behaviourand management behaviour, employee behaviourand corporate behaviour, corporate behaviour and

management behaviour, for the two business schoolclasses in each case, are given in Table IX.

Employee Behaviour was not significantly concordant with Management Behaviour for the topschools, but the remaining two tests for these weresignificant, demonstrating consistency betweenemployee and management behaviour with that forthe Corporation, i.e. the parent university. None ofthe tests for the lower tier business schools weresignificant.

Corporate cultureThe values for Kendall's Tau-b coefficient and theresults for each of the tests for concordance, betweenthe core value measures for components of CSR,

namely, SI, ER, SR and ES and their correspondingmission statement scores, are given in Table X. Withthe exception of SI for the lower tier businessschools, the Kendall coefficient is significantlygreater than zero and each test is highly significantshowing that considerable agreement exists betweenthese elements and the corresponding missionstatements. The classifications for the High categorywere consistent for assessed web content and missionstatement, demonstrating considerable commitmentto Social Inclusion, and consistency between provision and mission statement for the lower tierbusiness schools. The Binomial tests present inTable X, confirm these observations and demonstrate that there is considerable positive commitmentto each of the CSR components.


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TABLE IXOrdinal correlation and concordance for components of

behaviour

Comparison BS Type Kendall's ConcordanceTau-b (3d.p.) (3d.p.)

Employee Top 0.089 0.315behaviour vs. Lower -0.136 0.772

ManagementbehaviourEmployee Top 0.394 0.017*behaviour vs. Lower 0.118 0.257CorporatebehaviourManagement Top 0.394 0.013*behaviour vs. Lower 0.241 0.090Corporatebehaviour

*p

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TABLE XValues for Kendall's Tau-b, concordance and binomial tests for CSR components

Social Inclusion (SI) EthicalResponsibility (ER)

SocialResponsibility (SR)

Engagement withSociety (ES)

Core values vs. Top 0.845Mission statement Lower ?0.042Kendall'sTau-b (3 d.p.)Core values vs. TopMission statement LowerconcordanceBinomial tests for TopCSR components LowerCorevalues ? Missionstatement scores

Binomial tests for Top 0.540 (3 d.p.)CSR components Lower 0.001*** (3 d.p.)

0.00001*** (5 d.p.)0.583 (3 d.p.)

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TABLEXIBinomial tests for marketing strategy components

Marketingstrategies

School type p-value (1-tailed)

Location Top 0.304 (3 d.p.)Lower 0.014* (3 d.p.)Educational Top 0.0000001*** (7 d.p.)quality Lower 0.112 (3 d.p.)

Reputation Top 0.00000003*** (7 d.p.)Lower 0.046* (3 d.p.)Career Top 0.178 (3 d.p.)progression Lower 0.0005*** (4 d.p.)*p < 0.001.

tier schools where no preference was demonstrated.These findings were fundamentally translated fromprovision on the main MBA programme to theexecutive MBA programme. The top businessschools all offered options on the ?lectives programme whereas less than half of the lower tier didso. As a new discipline, proactive business ethicsteaching is likely to be lead-edge, and given theshortage of academics in the area (Cowton and

Cummins, 2003), it ismore likely that top businessschools will be able to more easily fund and attractfaculty. However as a counterbalance, with anabundance of top rate academics from amultitude ofdisciplines, the pressure for teaching time on the

MBA courses at the top business schools is considerable (Kelly, 2005).The majority of the top tier business schools did

not have undergraduate courses. There was, however, strong provision on both the core and electiveundergraduate courses for the lower tier schoolscontrasting with their MBA programmes. This givesan indication that research interests may notunderpin ethics teaching.

Regarding CI, we established that neither tier ofbusiness school attempted to promote itself throughvisual image alone. This is consistent with Baker andBalmer's (1997) observation that universities aremore concerned to communicate the quality of theireducational provision than the uniqueness of theiridentity. Furthermore, there was no relationshipbetween the core value of excellence in teachingand/or research, and visual image, which was seen tobe related exclusively to the type of business school.

Correpondenee Analysis of MarketingStrategies for Lower Tier Schools

2-f

'S 0

1 -H

-2H

LM

OL

RH EH

LH

1,0

0.5

ssa0 -0.5eU

1 -1.0o-1.5

-2.0

-2.5

RM

ELCH

RLLL

EM*

|CM

-2-10 1First Coordinate

Correspondence Analysis for MarketingStrategies for Top Business Schools

CMLL

RM

CL

LM

H~RH

CHLH

-2.4 -1.6 -0.8 0.0First Coordinate

0.8

Figure 3. (a) Correspondence analysis for marketingstrategies of lower tier business schools and (b) Correspondence analysis for marketing strategies of top tierbusiness schools. Selling value of: LQ = Location;E() = Educational quality; R() = Institutional reputation; Reputation; CQ = Career progression (L = Low;M = Medium; H = High).

We found that there were no associationsbetween Management Behaviour (business school),Employee Behaviour (business school) and Corporate Behaviour (university) for the lower tier business schools. However, while our analysis showed


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Political Environment

Figure 4. Factors contributing to ethics educationprovision in business schools. Key: CI: Corporate Identity; CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility; DAE:Depth of academic expertise in ethics teaching andresearch; EE: Ethical Environment; SR: School

Resources; SSO/MO: School Strategic Objectives/Marketing orientation; TP: Teaching Pedagogy.

that there was also no association between Employeeand Management Behaviour for the top businessschools we found that Employee Behaviour wassignificantly associated with Corporate Behaviour, aswas Corporate Behaviour with ManagementBehaviour.

There is strong evidence of commitment to ethical and social issues by the parent universities for thetop business schools. Furthermore, the researchinterests in ethics of the employees indicate thatthere has been considerable recruitment by thebusiness schools of recent. This recruitment wouldrequire individuals to demonstrate a high degree ofconsonance with a socially and ethically involvedmission statement. Equally, applicants are likely to beattracted to those universities whose missions are

most in accord with their personal values. In addition, institutional structures and quality assurancepolicies are likely to stimulate or influence the initiatives made by business schools regarding the nature and extent of social responsibility exercised. Theassociations can therefore be seen as consistent withrecent recruitment and well-led universities withengaged, local management in the business schools.

For corporate culture, itwas found that there was avery strong accord between the activities of all thebusiness schools in our study and their correspondingmission statements. There was also demonstrable,positive commitment

to all aspects of social andethical engagement by all the business schools.Broadly, both the top tier and lower tier business

schools showed consistency across the marketingstrategies. Whilst the selling value of reputation wasshown to be important for both tiers of businessschool, which reflects the views of Baker and Balmer(1997), the other attitudes to the other marketingstrategy were discordant. The lower tier businessschools focused on location. From their websites,they appeared to be more focused on attractingquality local students and meeting local employmentneeds in preference to targeting international students. Educational quality was a favoured marketingstrategy for the top business schools, which isprobably reflective of their academic reputations.These findings are broadly consistent with thefindings of Labianca et al. (2001) that structurelimited identity emulation options in higher education. This schema is sufficient to accommodatereactive and proactive provision and the differencesthat we have identified associated with tier of busi

ness school.

Conclusions

We have shown that CSR is a subset of the CI modelas proposed by Melewar and Jenkins. Moreover, wesuggest that because of its generality, CSR necessarilyshould be subsumed by allmulti-stakeholder modelsof CI. In the current climate where CSR and ethicsare firmly places on the socio-political and businessagendas, the concept of CI can be seen largely as amanifestation of CSR and ethics at this point in time.

The implications are that organisations will beengaging more actively in CSR and ethics programmes to ensure that not only do they complywith regulations, but also that their CI is one which isfavourable to its stakeholders and commercial milieu.

Two distinct categories of ethics teaching provision were identified that are likely to have profoundly different effects on the introduction of ethicsinto the corporation. The top business schools pre

dominantly offer proactive education with the lower


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tier offering a more reactive form of education. Itwas argued that this is likely to be a consequence ofrecruitment. Given that the majority of businesseducation is provided by lower tier schools that havelimited availability of suitably qualified staff, the

nature of ethics training will remain relatively reactive for the foreseeable future. Unless these universities retrain substantial numbers of their faculty, theethics climate in the business environment is unlikely tomatch the aspirations of stakeholders such asthe AACSB. In order to capitalise on the integrationof CSI and CSR and ethics, business schools need toinvest further in developing faculty research andteaching of proactive ethics. They need to activelyengage their stakeholders to become involved intraining, research and community programmes that

promote and engender CSR and ethics awareness.The study is limited by the small sample size, whichcould be extended in future research to include a

stratification of top business schools. Although top andlower tier business schools demonstrated commit

ment to social and ethical issues, the degree towhichthey attempt to create an ethical environment as ameans of reinforcing tacit ethical learning was notinvestigated. It is also not clear from the research

whether high level inclusion of ethical aspects in CI,influence a choice of business school. Both of these are

potential topics for future investigation.

AppendixTop tier business schools according to Financial TimesGlobal MBA Programme Rankings 2004

1University of Pennsylvania: Wharton2Harvard Business School3 Columbia Business School4 Insead4 London Business School4 University of Chicago GSB7 Stanford University GSB8 ew York University: Stern9MIT: Sloan

10 Dartmouth College: Tuck11Northwestern University: Kellogg12 IMD13 lese Business School13 Yale School of Management15 Instituto de Empresa

Appendix cotinued16 Cornell University: Johnson17 Georgetown University: McDonough17University of North Carolina: Kenan-Flagler19 University of Virginia: Darden20 Duke University: Fuqua21 University of Toronto: Rotman22 York University: Schulich22 Rotterdam School of Management22 UC Berkeley: Haas22 Emory University: GoizuetaSource: http://www.rankings.ft.com/rankings/mba/rankings.html

Lower tier business schools accredited by AACSB

North Dakota State University (business school)The Marylhurst University College of Graduate StudiesThe MJ. Neeley School of Business (Texas ChristianUniversity)Old Dominion UniversityQuinippiac UniversityThe University of Tulsa, College of BusinessUniversity of Arkansas Walton CollegeUniversity of Kentucky GattonAdelphi UniversityBall State-MillerUniversity of Central FloridaMontclair State UniversityUniversity of DelawareEmporia State UniversityWest Kentucky UniversityWeber State UniversitySouth East Missouri State UniversityBoise State UniversityMarshall University

Michigan Technological UniversityUniversity of Northern IowaUniversity of West GeorgiaVirginia Commonwealth UniversitySyracuse UniversityKent State University


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