The Role of Moral Intensity in Ethical Decision Making

Abstract

An empirical investigation found that the dimensions of moral intensity were related to the recognition of moral issues, moral evaluations (i.e., utilitarian, deontological, procedural, and distributive justice), and moral intentions. Consistent with the ethical decision-making framework presented, findings also revealed that (a) the moral intensity–moral evaluation relation was partially mediated by moral recognition for distributive justice and utilitarian evaluations, (b) the moral recognition–moral intention relationwas fully mediated by distributive justice and utilitarian evaluations, and (c) the moral intensity–moral intention relation was partially mediated by the combination of moral recognition and each ofthe moral evaluation processes.