INCREASING ETHICAL AWARENESS AMONG CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS: A PILOT STUDY

Author

• Elizabeth A. Cudney, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
• Amber M. Henslee, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
• Patrick Gamez
• William P. Schonberg, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
• Susan L. Murray, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyFollow
• Sandra L. Furterer
• Ahmad K. Elshennawy

Abstract

Engineers must frequently make decisions during their careers without fully understanding all the consequences, which can lead to unintended or harmful outcomes. Therefore, engineers must consider the ethical dimensions of their decisions while working to satisfy their employer's interests, even if these decisions conflict with their organization's objectives or their own career aspirations. Engineers also have a responsibility to uphold ethical standards that build trust not only in themselves and their organization, but also in their profession. Students entering the workforce must uphold the same ethical standards expected of their profession. Therefore, it is crucial to educate students on the importance of ethics and its impact on their future careers. The current study examined the impact of an ethics module in an upper-level civil engineering course on students' ethical decision-making processes. The module consisted of a pre-survey administered at the start of the semester, a lecture on the principles of ethical decision-making and ethical considerations in the engineering workplace, and a post-lecture survey. In the surveys, students were presented with several scenarios that required them to make ethical judgments as engineers. Both surveys were designed to evaluate students' ethical behavior. The responses were analyzed using the Chi-square test of independence to determine whether ethics training had a significant impact on engineering students' ethical perspectives.

Recommended Citation

E. A. Cudney et al., "INCREASING ETHICAL AWARENESS AMONG CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS: A PILOT STUDY," Journal of Management and Engineering Integration, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 75 - 85, Association for Industry, Engineering and Management Systems (AIEMS), Jun 2026.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.62704/10057/58151

Department(s)

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering

Second Department

Psychological Science

Third Department

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Civil Engineering; Engineering Ethics; Ethical Work Practices; Ethics Training

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

3065-1433

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2026 Association for Industry, Engineering and Management Systems (AIEMS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jun 2026