Ethical Decision-making of Hospitality and Tourism Students

Hospitality and Tourism students perceived higher level of moral intensity in social and economical scenarios and showed lower awareness on ecological ethics. Thai H&T students generally decide according to justice theory when making decisions in ethical situations and they are less teleological in their ethical decision-making. Besides, they place more value on relativism and give a little weight to duties and obligations (deontology). Female respondents showed more sensitivity to ethical situations and they reported lower likelihood that would take unethical actions compare to male respondents. Regarding the effect of education, students’ business education had minimal effect on raising their awareness of the ethical issues so that entry-level and graduating students were very similar in evaluation of ethical scenarios, as well as, in using different theories in their ethical decision-making. Finally, an inverse relationship existed between work experience and students’ ethical behavior. Those without work experience were more ethical in their evaluations of dilemmas than experienced students.