Moral disengagement in business school students: Predictors and comparisons

In a survey study, we proposed that moral disengagement in business school students is driven by individual differences students bring with them to college. We also sought to determine if freshmen in business school are more morally disengaged than their counterparts in a college of education. Findings from approximately 700 students in a large research university showed that moral disengagement is driven in part by several theoretically-relevant individual differences (e.g., locus of control, cynicism, sympathy) and that business school students are more likely to be morally disengaged than students seeking education degrees. Among the individual differences examined, social dominance orientation was the strongest predictor of moral disengagement. Implications are discussed for future research and for business education.