Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati

Young businessmen are more ethical: study

TIRUPATI: Thousands of pilgrims visiting Tirupati daily contribute a lot to the city’s economic development. However, the thought of having been taken for a ride or hoodwinked by local traders linger in the minds of the devotees once they reach their respective destinations.

Many present-day millionaires of Tirupati started from scratch as small-time vendors of bangles, beads or wrist threads (Kasidaaraalu) on Tirumala hills or the pilgrim-infested areas downhill such as Central bus station, Tirupati East railway station, Govindaraja temple or Alipiri. However, the question that boggles one’s mind is: When the pilgrims give the traders a lot of business, are the latter honest and ethical in delivering goods?

Though ethics is purely a relative term that varies with perception, it is breath for the honest traders and taboo for those who do business with a killer instinct.

The study conducted by the MBA wing of KKC Institute of Post Graduate Studies, Puttur, has found that the present generation of businessmen engaged in pilgrim-related business (beads, caps, laminated photos, brassware etc.) is predominantly God-fearing and ethical.

The study was conducted as per Forsyth’s Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) with a sample size of 100 entrepreneurs in the age group of 20-30 years and the responses were collected on a five-point scale.

The study found the small businessmen with a turnover of less than Rs.10, 000 per day as having more empathy and concern for the poor pilgrims.

Another interesting aspect of the study was that migrant traders religiously adhered to ethics for fear of incurring the God’s wrath, when compared to the locals doing business for generations.

“Businessmen who wish to pass on their legacy to their children first try to establish themselves as ethical and moral,” K. Sudhakar Reddy, principal of the college and the coordinator of the study told The Hindu.

The level of idealism (43.00) and relativism (39.56) are high in the young businessmen, compared to their elders. Similarly, illiterates were found to be spiritual with strong ethical consciousness.

Several hoteliers, industrialists, doctors and even small-time traders like footwear sellers, tailors, bangle-sellers make poor-feeding (Annadanam) a regular habit, with strong belief in ‘Serving the needy is equal to serving the God’ (Manava sevaye Madhava seva).

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