In view of corporate wrongdoings like Enron’s accounting fraud and Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, the need to prevent unethical decision-making in the business sector has become widely accepted. Human resource development is of high relevance in this regard: a multiplicity of companies utilizes ethics training programs to teach their managers and employees business ethics and to develop their ethical competences. However, knowledge about the efficacy of these training programs is still rather fragile. In the present study, we (a) develop a framework of relevant design categories to consider in creating ethics training programs; (b) consolidate empirical insights by reviewing 92 studies about the effectiveness of standalone business ethics training programs regarding their impact, dependent variable and measurement methods, design, and conceptual foundation; and (c) identify remaining research gaps and provide theoretical-conceptual considerations for further investigation.

鉴于诸如安然公司的会计欺诈和大众汽车公司的排放丑闻之类的企业不法行为，防止商业领域不道德决策的需求已被广泛接受。人力资源开发在这方面具有高度相关性：众多公司利用道德培训计划来教导其经理和员工商业道德，并发展其道德能力。但是，有关这些培训计划功效的知识仍然相当脆弱。在本研究中，我们（a）建立有关设计类别的框架，以制定道德培训计划；（b）通过审查92项有关独立商业道德培训计划的效果，因变量和衡量方法，设计，和概念基础；（c）找出尚存的研究空白，并为进一步研究提供理论概念上的考虑。