A virtual reality game to educate tomorrow’s ethical managers

Economic turbulence caused by poor ethics in business, means educators need to ensure students leave university understanding their responsibility to society. This paper addresses the question: “To what extent can an interactive virtual reality game enhance students’ ethical knowledge, skills and values? The qualitative study evaluates the design and delivery of a virtual reality ethics game developing ethical awareness of undergraduate business students at two UK universities. It documents the design, embedded in ethics modules and evaluates its effectiveness, capturing student responses using semi-structured interviews. Findings show that within ethics teaching, student’s responded to theory presented as ‘real life’ scenarios; gamification techniques such as interaction, rewards and progression levels; used within a combination of pedagogical learning methods. Demonstrating that virtual reality environments impact on the learning experience of students; developing ethical sensitivity, decision-making skills, and potentially influencing future managers of industry.