Watching TV news, there’s no question that youth have some pretty poor role models, so it’s no surprise we get stories that young people have attitudes about business and ethics that are, well, less than ideal.
A story in the Chicago Sun-Times reported that young people are much less concerned about honesty and fair dealings compared to business owners. I’m sure that’s true. However, Chris MacDonald, author of The Business Ethics Blog, points out a few flaws in the survey from the Sun-Times article.
For one, only 70 students were surveyed, which, MacDonald points out, leaves a significant margin of error. "The margin of error (roughly the amount by which a study with a sample of this size – 70 – might be wrong, just by chance) is huge," he says. "Second, who is supposed to be surprised that a significant proportion of adolescents (maybe) have immature, antisocial attitudes?"
While MacDonald agrees that this is a "serious issue," he proposes that we find better, more "empirical research" before reporting on the topic. Any takers? E-mail MacDonald and he’ll write it up.
