The effects of an ethics training program on attitude, knowledge, and transfer of training of office professionals: a treatment- and control-group design

Article Type: Abstracts From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 22, Issue 6

Frisque D.A., Kolb J.A.Human Resource Development Quarterly, Spring 2008, Vol. 19 No. 1, Start page: 35, No. of pages: 19

Purpose – studies the effectiveness of an ethics training programme,looking at whether it changed the way that a group of office professionals identified and handled ethical dilemmas. Design/methodology/approach –explains how a group of 91 full-time office professionals who worked for a US university were split into two groups – one which received the training and a control group (both groups having access to the code of conduct that was the basis of the training). Outlines the training that the treatment group received and describes how its impact was measured by analysing responses to surveys answered by the entire sample before the training and after. Findings– reports that the score of the group that had received the training indicated that the training had been effective in improving their handling of ethical dilemmas – the scores in the survey administered after the training being significantly different from those of the group that had not received the training. However notes that this difference was still there but not significant after 90 days. Research limitations/implications –describes the research methods and the analysis of the data. Practical implications – discusses the implications for ethics training and its transfer to the workplace. Originality/value – considers how to make ethics training effective. ISSN: 1044-8004 Reference: 37AM241

Keywords: Ethics, Training methods, Transfer, United States of America