Ethik: Behavioral Business Ethics & Governance

The focus of this course is the study of ethics in a business context. It combines ethical philosophy with empirical and case studies to understand (un)ethical behavior in a business context and apply and evaluate ethical arguments to dilemma situations.

The course aims to answer the following questions: What is ethics? What are relevant ethical dimensions along which situations and actions of individuals can and should be judged? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different ethical arguments one can advance to defend a particular course of action? What role do emotions and cognitive constraints play in this process? How should we approach lying and deception in business? How important is trust within the firm and how can it be fostered? How and when should employees report unethical behaviour within the firm? What characterizes an ethical relationship between employer and employee? At the level of the marketplace, what constitutes fair pricing and to what degree is competition ethical?

The issues studied will be considered both from a theoretical and an empirical standpoint. Particular emphasis is placed on the contributions of behavioural economics to understand unethical behaviour in a business context. The course will only require basic mathematical knowledge but will call for rigorous reasoning. Basic knowledge of statistical and experimental methods will also be helpful but is not required. In the classes, students are expected to participate actively in the discussions.