The authors conclude that people rely heavily on their personal values when deciding what is ethical or unethical behavior. This is not terribly surprising. So how do business codes of ethics affect ethical behavior? The authors go further to conclude that, when the ethical issue in a given situation is not considered of great importance, people are more likely to consider company standards. So, all other things being equal, employees will do what the company thinks is appropriate, but if they view the issue as significant, then they are more likely to do what they think is right.

I have fairly serious reservations about studying ethics empirically, because empirical studies only tell you what the respondents claim they would do or how they claim they would judge a given action. They do not advance your understanding of what is appropriate behavior, or determine what a person would really do when faced with a specific ethical problem. This latter point is exacerbated when researchers study university students, because what they claim and what they would actually do are even more likely to be inconsistent.

Reservations aside, I find the conclusions of this study to be encouraging because, after all, people ought to think for themselves in important issues, and it really does not hurt to go along on issues of little importance.