WSU Professor Named to Journal of Business Ethics Editorial Board

OGDEN, Utah – The Journal of Business Ethics has invited Shaun Hansen, Weber State University’s associate business professor in the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics, to serve on its editorial board.

 “It is an honor to serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Ethics and to continue to serve as a faculty member in the Goddard School of Business & Economics,” Hansen said. “Not all business schools emphasize ethics, but the Goddard School decided a long time ago to make ethics a top priority. That choice continues to benefit the lives and careers of our students.”

Editorial board members are selected based on a number of criteria including subject matter expertise, research impact and affiliation with key, accredited business schools.

The Journal of Business Ethics is a well-respected publication that discusses original and unique aspects of ethical issues related to business.  

Hansen’s research focuses on gaining the trust of company stakeholders. “We’re finding that when companies truly understand the psychology of trust and use it as a foundational strategy, it can significantly reduce risk, cut costs and boost performance at all levels of a company,” Hansen said.

Weber State’s MBA program is unique in its adoption of trust as a teaching platform for its coursework. MBA students at Weber State begin the program with a course that focuses on the role psychological trust plays in business.

“After our foundational class, students might take a course in marketing, for example,” Hansen said. “In marketing, they learn specific strategies for strengthening customer trust. Similarly, in our organizational behavior class, they learn how to strengthen employee trust; in finance, they learn how to strengthen shareholder trust, and so on, and so forth.”

Dean of the Goddard School Jeff Steagall said the MBA’s teaching process helps students lay a powerful ethical foundation for their professional lives.

“Business people find their ethics challenged on a daily basis due to pressures from Wall Street to show immediate returns or from bosses to squeeze out extra profits through questionable means,” Steagall said. “Every Goddard School graduate not only takes a course in business ethics, but also hears from and engages directly with a multitude of business people about the choices they've made, whether good or bad, and their consequences. Having Shaun as an accessible, hands-on professor, while serving on the editorial board for the Journal of Business Ethics is a win for our students, the companies they serve and the future of ethics in business.”

Hansen earned his Ph.D. in management from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University in 2010 and continues to publish research related to ethical leadership, psychological trust and corporate responsibility. 

Visit weber.edu/mba for additional information about Weber State’s MBA program.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.

Author:

Niki Tonks, Goddard School of Business & Economics marketing manager
801-626-7397 • nikitonks@weber.edu

Contact:

Shaun Hansen, Goddard School of Business & Economics associate professor
801-626-6139 • shaunhansen1@weber.edu