scholarly journals Moral Development in Business Ethics: An Examination and Critique

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Bell DeTienne ◽  
Carol Frogley Ellertson ◽  
Marc-Charles Ingerson ◽  
William R. Dudley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Moral Development ◽  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Behavioral Ethics ◽  
Ethics Research

AbstractThe field of behavioral ethics has seen considerable growth over the last few decades. One of the most significant concerns facing this interdisciplinary field of research is the moral judgment-action gap. The moral judgment-action gap is the inconsistency people display when they know what is right but do what they know is wrong. Much of the research in the field of behavioral ethics is based on (or in response to) early work in moral psychology and American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s foundational cognitive model of moral development. However, Kohlberg’s model of moral development lacks a compelling explanation for the judgment-action gap. Yet, it continues to influence theory, research, teaching, and practice in business ethics today. As such, this paper presents a critical review and analysis of the pertinent literature. This paper also reviews modern theories of ethical decision making in business ethics. Gaps in our current understanding and directions for future research in behavioral business ethics are presented. By providing this important theoretical background information, targeted critical analysis, and directions for future research, this paper assists management scholars as they begin to seek a more unified approach, develop newer models of ethical decision making, and conduct business ethics research that examines the moral judgment-action gap.

The Evolution of Business Ethics to Business Law

2015 ◽  
pp. 145-162
Author(s):  
Ben Tran
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Ethical Behavior ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Moral Awareness ◽  
Business Law

Ethics in business ethics and law in business law are not as ambiguous, rhetorical, and esoteric as practitioners portray. Excuses as such have subconsciously become a habitus platinum safeguard against all wrongdoing. The usage of the habitus platinum safeguard is to defuse the unethical and malpractice of practitioners due to the ambiguous, rhetorical, and esoteric factors of and related to ethics in business ethics and law in business law. The ethical decision-making process, from ethics to law, involves five basic steps: moral awareness, moral judgment, ethical behavior, ethical behavior theorizing, and (business) law.

Ethical Decision-Making by Staff Nurses

1996 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Vogel Smith
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Staff Nurses ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Actual Experience ◽  
Ethics Research ◽  
Metropolitan Hospital ◽  
Nursing Literature

Ethical decision-making is inherent in nursing practice. Although a definite portion of the nursing literature is devoted to ethics and ethical decision-making, the profession is just beginning to ground its ethics research in the actual experience of nurses. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experience of staff nurses as they engage in ethical decision-making. Interview data were collected from 19 staff nurses in a large, midwestern American metropolitan hospital. Interviews were subse quently transcribed and Giorgi's method of data analysis applied. The emerging descrip tion revealed four common aspects of ethical decision-making among staff nurses: context, trigger, ethical decision-making process (i.e. deliberation and integration), and outcomes. This description provides a foundation for future research regarding a descrip tive theory of ethical decision-making in nursing.

The Effect of Organizational Forces on Individual Morality: Judgment, Moral Approbation, and Behavior

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Jones ◽  
Lori Verstegen Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Moral Development ◽  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Ethical Behavior ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Moral Development ◽  
Relative Lack ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract:To date, our understanding of ethical decision making and behavior in organizations has been concentrated in the area of moral judgment, largely because of the hundreds of studies done involving cognitive moral development. This paper addresses the problem of our relative lack of understanding in other areas of human morality by applying a recently developed construct—moral approbation—to illuminate the link between moral judgment and moral action. This recent work is extended here by exploring the effect that organizations have on ethical behavior in terms of the moral approbation construct.

The Evolution of Business Ethics to Business Law

2014 ◽  
pp. 109-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Tran
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Ethical Behavior ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Moral Awareness ◽  
Business Law

Ethics in business ethics and law in business law are not as ambiguous, rhetorical, and esoteric as practitioners portray. Excuses as such have subconsciously become a habitus platinum safeguard against all wrongdoing. The usage of the habitus platinum safeguard is to defuse the unethical and malpractice of practitioners due to the ambiguous, rhetorical, and esoteric factors of and related to ethics in business ethics and law in business law. The ethical decision-making process, from ethics to law, involves five basic steps: moral awareness, moral judgment, ethical behavior, ethical behavior theorizing, and (business) law.

scholarly journals TO BRIBE OR TO CHEAT? EFFECTS OF SELF-MONITORING AND GENDER

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Ana Carla Bon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Task Behavior ◽  
Ethics Research ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Behavior

This study aimed to contribute to business ethics research investigating the effects of two individual differences – self-monitoring personality and gender – on ethical decision making. Applying a bribery scenario (intentions) and a cheating matrix task (behavior), results showed that high self-monitors had more unethical intention and behavior than low self‑monitors. Moreover, low self-monitors had more consistency intention-behavior than high self-monitors, and the inconsistencies of the later were different regarding gender. The bi-dimension of self-monitoring construct – acquisitive and protective – was tested and brought additional evidence about the ones who bribes. Possible explanations of these findings are discussed, with suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals A Framework for Authentic Ethical Decision Making in the Face of Grand Challenges: A Lonerganian Gradation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Larres ◽  
Martin Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Invariant Structure ◽  
Grand Challenges

AbstractThis paper contributes to the contemporary business ethics narrative by proposing an approach to corporate ethical decision making (EDM) which serves as an alternative to the imposition of codes and standards to address the ethical consequences of grand challenges, like COVID-19, which are impacting today’s society. Our alternative approach to EDM embraces the concept of reflexive thinking and ethical consciousness among the individual agents who collectively are the corporation and who make ethical decisions, often in isolation, removed from the collocated corporate setting. We draw on the teachings of the Canadian philosopher and theologian, Fr. Bernard Lonergan, to conceptualize an approach to EDM which focuses on the ethics of the corporate agent by nurturing the universal and invariant structure that is operational in all human beings. Embracing Lonergan’s dynamic cognitive structure of human knowing, and the structure of the human good, we advance a paradigm of EDM in business which emboldens authentic ethical thought, decision making, and action commensurate with virtuous living and germane to human flourishing. Lonergan’s philosophy guides us away from the imposition of over-arching corporate codes of ethics and inspires us, as individual agents, to attend to the data of our own consciousness in our ethical decision making. Such cognitional endowment leads us out of the ethics of the ‘timeless present’ (Islam and Greenwood in Journal of Business Ethics 170: 1–4, 2021) towards ethical authenticity in business, leaving us better placed to reflect upon and address the ethical issues emanating from grand challenges like COVID-19.

Ethical Consumerism: Contextual Issues of Ethical Decision-Making Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 1434-1450
Author(s):  
Ebtihaj A. Al-A'ali ◽  
Abdul Redha Al-Sarraf
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Reward Systems ◽  
Work Roles ◽  
Ethical Consumerism

Ethical consumerism is the outcome of an ethical decision-making process. This research examines situational factors exemplified in context-related issues affecting decision-making as perceived by business students at the University of Bahrain. Reward systems, authority, bureaucracy, work role, organizational culture and national and cultural context are investigated. Qualitative research employing open-ended questions in questionnaire form is used. Two hundred and forty students participated in this research. Five questions were asked in the research. Themes involved are illustrations of reward systems, bureaucracy, organizational culture, national and cultural context and work roles. This research suggests that work roles require to be thoroughly investigated in future research. The research also shows that students are unaware of ethical consumerism. This explains reasons for not translating views of students to behavior as a reflection of ethical consumerism.

scholarly journals Do Business Ethics and Ethical Decision Making Still Matter: Perspective of Different Generational Cohorts

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Klopotan ◽  
Ana Aleksić ◽  
Nikolina Vinković
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Ethical Behaviour ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Generation Z

AbstractBackground: Research in business ethics shows that individual differences can influence one’s ethical behaviour. In addition, variability in attitudes towards ethical issues among different generations is emphasized. Still, results are inconclusive and call for an additional examination of possible generational differences with regard to ethics and ethical values.Objectives: Our objective is to test if the perception of the importance of business ethics, attitudes towards ethical issues and aspects influencing ethical behaviour, differ among the four generations currently present in the workforce.Methods/Approach: Theoretical implications are empirically tested on a sample of 107 individuals, members of Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z.Results: In general, the results indicate that there are little or no generational differences related to the analysed aspects of business ethics. The significant difference is present only in the importance given to factors that influence ethical decision-making: (i) formal rules and procedures, (ii) performance management system and (iii) job pressures, between the members of Generation Z and older generations.Conclusions: In spite of employee diversity, ethics continues to present an important aspect of the business environment. Thus, organizations need to be oriented towards creating ethical leaders and a positive ethical climate that ensures that ethical values and behaviours are present throughout the organization.

Developing ethical managers for future business roles: a qualitative study of the efficacy of “Stand-Alone” and “Embedded” University “Ethics” courses

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Alastair Coldwell ◽  
Robert Venter ◽  
Emmanuel Nkomo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Ethics Courses

Purpose While the problem of unethical leadership is undoubtedly a global one, the urgency of generating ethical leadership to advance the development of Africa has never been more evident than it is today. The challenge for higher education in developing ethical leaders is of core importance, as it is responsible for providing the main recruiting ground of business leaders. The current paper reports findings of a qualitative study of postgraduate students’ ethical development at the end of courses in business ethics aimed to enhance moral reasoning and ethical decision-making. The paper aims to ascertain whether stand-alone ethics courses are more effective than integrated ones in achieving academic ethical competency. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts an idiographic approach which aims at eliciting individual student subjective perceptions of the effects of the direct and indirect courses of ethical instruction on their moral reasoning and ethical practice. The research design broadly follows Mill’s (2017) method of difference. Findings Findings indicate perceived differences in the relative effectiveness of stand-alone and embedded ethics courses among students but also show that most students hold positive overall evaluations of the effectiveness of the both types of ethics instruction. Research limitations/implications Limitations to the study include that it is cross-sectional, involves a small sample of postgraduate students and is restricted to two management courses at one institution of higher learning. Furthermore, while Mill (2017) provides a useful research design in this context, it is not able to indicate causality, as there are other possible unidentified “third variables” that may be the actual cause of student differences between embedded and stand-alone ethics courses. The study is not able to show the durability and transfer of ethical competencies into students’ later working lives. Practical implications The study provides a useful practical educational contribution to the extant knowledge in the field in that it suggests that ethical courses aimed at giving students a moral reasoning “toolkit” for ethical decision-making are more effective when delivered in the stand-alone format, whereas practical decision-making skills are best honed by embedded business ethics courses. Social implications The problem of corruption in business and politics in South Africa is widely documented and has been regarded as responsible for creating a serious developmental drag on the alleviation of poverty and quality of lives of the majority of people in the country. The moral/ethical competency and behavior of future business leaders is partly the responsibility of institutions of higher learning. The study aims to find the most effective means of imparting moral awareness in postgraduate students who are likely to take up business leadership positions in their future careers. Originality/value The study provides useful contribution to the extant knowledge in the field in the African context in that it suggests that ethical courses aimed at giving students a moral reasoning “toolkit” for ethical decision-making are more effective when delivered in the stand-alone format, whereas practical decision-making skills are best honed by embedded business ethics courses.

scholarly journals How do clinical psychologists make ethical decisions? A systematic review of empirical research

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-224
Author(s):  
Becky Grace ◽  
Tony Wainwright ◽  
Wendy Solomons ◽  
Jenna Camden ◽  
Helen Ellis-Caird
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Clinical Psychology ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Ethical Decisions

Given the nature of the discipline, it might be assumed that clinical psychology is an ethical profession, within which effective ethical decision-making is integral. How then, does this ethical decision-making occur? This paper describes a systematic review of empirical research addressing this question. The paucity of evidence related to this question meant that the scope was broadened to include other professions who deliver talking therapies. This review could support reflective practice about what may be taken into account when making ethical decisions and highlight areas for future research. Using academic search databases, original research articles were identified from peer-reviewed journals. Articles using qualitative ( n = 3), quantitative ( n = 8) and mixed methods ( n = 2) were included. Two theoretical models of aspects of ethical decision-making were identified. Areas of agreement and debate are described in relation to factors linked to the professional, which impacted ethical decision-making. Factors relating to ethical dilemmas, which impacted ethical decision-making, are discussed. Articles were appraised by two independent raters, using quality assessment criteria, which suggested areas of methodological strengths and weaknesses. Comparison and synthesis of results revealed that the research did not generally pertain to current clinical practice of talking therapies or the particular socio-political context of the UK healthcare system. There was limited research into ethical decision-making amongst specific professions, including clinical psychology. Generalisability was limited due to methodological issues, indicating avenues for future research.

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