Learner-centered experiential approaches such as adoption of vignettes focus on practical experiences and applications in teaching business ethics. Vignettes of different types provide scenarios of events that are logical in order to help learners develop an ethical sensitivity that would influence their decision-making skill. This study focused on adoption of narrative, illustrations, repertoires, documentaries or scripts used as instructional resources for instilling ethical sensitivity among business education students. The study adopted contingency framework for ethical decision-making and targeted 102 year-three business education students at University of Nairobi. Through random sampling 58 students provided information, which was descriptively analysed. Study findings indicated that 93.6% business education students agreed that narratives, 81.8% illustration, 78.6% repertoire, 90.9% documentaries and 97.0% scripts enhance decision-making. The study recommended that teachers be advised to adopted different types of vignettes in teaching, schools provide budgetary allocation for vignettes production and further research on to establish how much vignettes have been used in schools for business studies.

Vignette-based methodologies are frequently used to examine judgments, decision-making processes and ethical sensitivity of business education teachers and learners during the learning process in business ethics instruction. In this study, sources of knowledge content in construction of vignettes, was considered as a foundation on which ethical sensitivity can be inculcated through experiential learning. The study was focused at establishing the effect of vignettes derived from various content sources on ethical decision-making among business education students. A sample of 57 students from a target population provided information through filling questionnaires, which was then analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study adopted Moral Foundations theory (MFT), a social psychological model intended to explain the origins of and variation in human moral reasoning. The finding of the study indicated that vignettes derived from case studies (94.1%) influence ethical decision-making; interviews (75.4%) stories (66.7%), textbooks (80.7%) and personal experiences (91.2%). The study recommended that universities and institutions training teachers should consider developing and adopting vignettes particularly from the learners' personal experiences as an instructional approach in teaching business ethics; business education teachers could adopt vignettes from case studies, textbooks, stories or interviews with business people in business education methods and other subject areas. On practice, the study recommended vignettes as an instructional tool to enhance dialogue, exchange of ideas and critical thinking; and more studies on the extent to which business education teachers have adopted vignettes as an instructional method.

Vignettes have been applied to train professionals in various fields, which has contributed to significant improvements in learning outcomes, ethical sensitivity and learners’ ethical decision-making. At the University of Nairobi’s Department of Educational Communication and Technology, most instructors have been slow to embrace experiential learning and inconsistent in applying vignettes to deliver business ethics lessons that emphasise ethical sensitivity in decision-making, with far reaching effects on the quality of graduates. This study responded to the information gap about the relationship between the use of vignettes and learners’ ethical sensitivity in decision-making at the University of Nairobi. Cross-sectional survey design guided the research process, and primary data were sourced in 2018 from 116 learners. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques were applied. Key results show that learners who agreed strongly that the context of vignettes influences ethical sensitivity in decision-making were about 3.9 times as likely to make ethically sensitive decisions as colleagues who disagreed strongly. Those who agreed that the context of vignettes influences ethical sensitivity in decision-making had about 2.3 times the odds of making ethically sensitive decisions as colleagues who indicted strong disagreement. This means that the more the learners appreciated that the context of vignettes influences ethical sensitivity in decision-making, the higher the chances of them making ethically sensitive decisions, and vice-versa. This brings to the fore the need for instructors to consistently apply the context of vignettes to deliver business ethics lessons to improve learners’ ethical sensitivity and propensity to make ethical decisions. The study recommends that for practice, vignettes business contexts should be integrated in teacher training business studies ethics lessons.

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Research in African philosophy of management can make a significant contribution to the existing literature in African philosophy and management, as well as to the practice of African management. However, to date there is a dearth of substantial African business ethics literature. This on one hand; on the other hand much of what is used is, just like management theories, still largely based on Western ontology which either takes management theory for granted, thereby concerning itself mostly with moral dilemmas of managing following the said theories, or argues that some management theory is unethical. As a consequence, the impact of these ethical theories on the practice of management in Africa is still negligible. A practice of management relevnt to the African situation seems to require a re‐examination of the relationship between philosophy and management within African cultures. This article is an overview and justification of the opinion that a viable business ethics for Africa would have to take into consideration the general African worldview called Ubuntu, which has been proposed by some prominent scholars as an African worldview that can offer a relevant basis for an African Business Ethics.