IABC's research group asked 1,800 communication professionals if they had received any formal ethics training, and 65 percent of respondents said they had not.

Many respondents noted that ethics was never given more than a cursory mention in their organizations, usually on the first day of employment when company policy manuals were distributed.

Additionally, 70 percent of respondents reported studying ethics "not at all" or at a basic level, as part of the coursework for their highest earned degree. Only 8 percent of practitioners had "many lectures or readings," 18 percent took "an entire course on ethics," and 4 percent had "more than one course on ethics or a specialization" in the subject.

According to the report, a majority of respondents agreed that ethical considerations are a vital part of executive decision making and that public relations and communication professionals should advise management on ethical matters.

The study also found that as practitioners gain a greater amount of work experience in the field, they tend to receive additional ethics training from their employers. The study found that 28 percent of practitioners with little work experience received additional ethics training, while 34 percent in the middle range of experience did, and 40 percent of practitioners with high degree of work experience did. Further, a proportionately greater number of males (43 percent) are likely to receive additional ethics training and education once they were hired than their female peers (32 percent).

"In this era of corporate scandals, it is vital that employers make it a priority to marry philosophical ethics education ('why' ethics matter) with practical and regular ethics training ('how' to implement ethical practices and display ethical behavior)," said Kellie Garrett, chair of the IABC Research Foundation.

The study received responses from 1,827 communication professionals from around the world. In addition, qualitative data was collected through focus groups and in-depth interviews with senior and middle-level communicators in North America, New Zealand, Israel and Australia. The final report, The Business of Truth: A Guide to Ethical Communication, offers an employee training section with workbooks and PowerPoint training modules that can be used by practitioners to benchmark a company's ethical culture.

The study was led by Shannon A. Bowen, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Maryland, and sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and ROI Communications.