Designing a Globalization Simulation to Teach Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

There is an increasing need for business students to be taught the ability to wade through ethical dilemmas faced by corporations conducting business on a global scale. This paper describes a multiplayer online simulation game that exposes students to ethical dilemmas in international business. Through role playing and perspective taking, we wanted students to actively work through ethical dilemmas. Qualitative analysis of simulation data demonstrated that students were successful in perspective taking, they were able to understand tradeoffs between profitability and social responsibility, and they were able to come up with creative solutions to difficult tradeoffs.