Research: Smeal a Global Leader in Business Ethics

An academic research paper published in the journal Business & Society ranks the Penn State Smeal College of Business among the top business schools in the world for business ethics. Smeal is ranked sixth worldwide.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (February 29, 2012) – An academic research paper published in the journal Business & Society ranks the Penn State Smeal College of Business among the top business schools in the world for business ethics.

Researchers Chad Albrecht, Jeffery A. Thompson, and Jeffery L. Hoopes surveyed 320 business ethics scholars from around the world and asked them to identify up to three business schools that they perceived to be leaders in business ethics research. They compiled the results into a list of the top 15 business schools in the world for business ethics.

Smeal ranks sixth on the list, tied with the University of Washington Foster School of Business. The Darden Business School at the University of Virginia and The Wharton School came in first and second, respectively. Harvard Business School, the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, and Nottingham University Business School in the U.K. round out the top six.

Several members of the Smeal faculty focus their teaching and research in the area of business ethics. Among them is Linda Treviño, Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior and Ethics, who is an internationally known scholar in the field. She directs Smeal's Shoemaker Program in Business Ethics and has published more than 70 journal articles on the management of ethical conduct in organizations. She is also the co-author of two books in the field, Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to do it Right, published John Wiley, and Managing Ethics in Business Organizations: Social Scientific Perspectives, published by Stanford University Press. A third book, on academic integrity, is in press with the Johns Hopkins University Press.

J. Edward Ketz, associate professor of accounting, is a widely quoted expert on accounting ethics. His book Hidden Financial Risk, published by Wiley, examines the corporate culture and the institutional setting that led to recent accounting scandals and suggests improvements for the accounting profession. Another book, Accounting Ethics, published by Routledge, investigates the accounting profession over the last century by scrutinizing its positions on ethics and its roles in accounting scandals and by exploring how to reduce the number of accounting frauds.

Other Smeal faculty members with a focus in business ethics include Vernis Welmon, associate dean for diversity and Cook Fellow in Business Ethics; John M. Stevens, professor emeritus of management; and Augustus Colangelo, associate dean for undergraduate education.

"Productivity and Prestige in Business Ethics Research: A Report and Commentary on the State of Field" was published in the December 2011 issue of Business & Society.

REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Victoria Fryer in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or mediarelations@smeal.psu.edu.

Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, management and organization, marketing, risk management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.