Ethical Orientation Research Articles

Proposal of the Effect of Ethical Orientation on Accounting Students Ethical Sensitivity Post-pandemic (Covid-19) (Empirical Study at Universitas Dian Nusantara)

During the Covid-19 pandemic, lecturing activities were carried out online so there was a lack of social interaction among and between students and lecturers. Students becoming more independent in learning and faced separation situations. This could result in decreasing social sensitivity of students in solving accounting cases, especially in auditing scenarios which could help to sharpen idealism and relativism as well as ethical sensitivity. The study aims to analyze the ethical orientation effect on accounting students’ ethical sensitivity post-pandemic Covid-19 period (Empirical Study at Universitas Dian Nusantara), the research also uses gender as a moderation. This research is important as an evaluation in the new normal and future periods to increase accounting students sensitivity, especially when solving auditing scenario cases. This type of research is quantitative using the causality method. A total of 254 accounting students were included, of which the number of samples were 155 respondents. Questionnaire-style research instruments using Likert scales and the use of Google Surveys to distribute questionnaires and data analysis using structural equation models using the Lisrel software tool. This research should be conducted to test a model that examines ethically oriented causal models regarding ethics and gender sensitivity as moderators of accounting students. This research is expected to inform governments, professional institutions, and educational institutions to incorporate accounting ethics into their curriculum and to produce graduates who are sensitive to accounting practices, and who do not deviate from accounting ethics.
 Keywords: ethical orientation, idealism, relativism, ethical sensitivity, gender, postpandemic Covid-19

Charitable giving and intermediation: a principal agent problem with hidden prices

Abstract Donations are often made through charitable intermediaries that can fund themselves from these same donations. After intermediation, only a fraction of the amount donated may reach the intended beneficiary. The price of charitable output is therefore higher after intermediation than if donors donated directly toward the end cause. At the same time, this price is hidden from donors since they cannot verify how much intermediaries pass on. We show that while donors reduce their donation in intermediation itself, and also reduce their donation because they expect the price of charitable output to increase, both reactions are either fully or partly compensated by their ethical preferences for the recipient’s rights. Charitable output, therefore, can be a Giffen-good.

Secularize, psychologize, neoliberalize: The entangled Jewish self of North American Jews

AbstractThis article unpacks the construction of the Jewish spiritual self in three current projects of Jewish spirituality in North America—Jewish mindfulness, the neo‐Musar movement, and the nascent Positive Judaism—and explores their relations with the neoliberal economic regime and ideology. Based on the content analysis of 30 popular online and offline texts, among them promotional websites, podcasts, and published works, and data gathered during long‐term ethnographic study on Jewish spirituality in Israel and North America, the article argues that the highly individualized Jewish spirituality has become an institutionally mediated form of Jewish self‐expression. By building on anthropological works about the cultural implications of neoliberalism on the self and following the lead of the foundational works linking Jewish cultural production and neoliberalism in North America, this article offers a perspective on Jewish spirituality that recognizes the relations between neoliberalism, self‐cultivation, and community life. Fusing the spiritual, therapeutic, and neoliberal discourses, projects of Jewish spirituality package neoliberal ideals such as choice, emotional, resilience, well‐being, and happiness as Jewish spiritual commodities. At the same time, the subjectivity cultivated in these projects is a Jewish‐specific formation—a self that is highly individualized but remains strongly connected to its religious‐ethnic community and cultural tradition. Jewish spirituality is thus used here as a case study for how neoliberalism affects contemporary forms of religious practice and creates new ethical orientations to communal belongings.

Critical psychology & education: Opportunities outside silos

Many psychologists working in schools acknowledge how their work contributes to the reproduction and mitigation of societal injustices. While professionals engaged in education systems and classrooms may hope to achieve the latter, disciplinary conventions can compete with best intentions. In response, psychologists working in schools have recently been encouraged to realize anti-oppressive schooling by practicing what is referred to as critical school psychology. Although potentially new for school psychology, critical work bridging education and psychology has been available for some time in North America and internationally. To encourage the use of psychology in support of justice and in resistance to oppression, we review some of this work and invite those interested to consider psychosocial justice as an ethical orientation to enmeshed theory∼practice. The purposeful engagement of critically informed work from outside traditional divisional silos will not eradicate every problem facing schools today, but such action will, at the least, provide concerned practitioners options for collaborative knowledge-making and more preferred ways of working.

The roles and ethical perspectives of urban planners in Turkey

ABSTRACT This study examines the influence of ethical rules on Turkish planners’ ability to carry out their duties. Researchers used qualitative and quantitative methods, including a survey with hypothetical scenarios and prioritization tests, to measure ethical preferences. Findings indicate that planners in Turkey make ethically inappropriate choices in providing information outside their field of expertise and publishing information on demand. However, their responsibility to the public and public interest principle come to the forefront in planners’ ethical preferences. Planners preferred deontological ethics in performing their professional duties, but also preferred more political and hybrid roles.

Local Justice and Machine Learning: Modeling and Inferring Dynamic Ethical Preferences toward Allocations

We consider a setting in which a social planner has to make a sequence of decisions to allocate scarce resources in a high-stakes domain. Our goal is to understand stakeholders' dynamic moral preferences toward such allocational policies. In particular, we evaluate the sensitivity of moral preferences to the history of allocations and their perceived future impact on various socially salient groups. We propose a mathematical model to capture and infer such dynamic moral preferences. We illustrate our model through small-scale human-subject experiments focused on the allocation of scarce medical resource distributions during a hypothetical viral epidemic. We observe that participants' preferences are indeed history- and impact-dependent. Additionally, our preliminary experimental results reveal intriguing patterns specific to medical resources---a topic that is particularly salient against the backdrop of the global covid-19 pandemic.

“Then the Nettle People Won’t Be Lonely”: Recognizing the Personhood of Plants in an Indigenous STEAM Summer Program

In this paper, we explore the ways that a STEAM-focused summer program for Indigenous youth supported learning in accordance with Indigenous axiologies (what we value esthetically or morally), ontologies (what we believe to be real and how we enact those beliefs), and epistemologies (what we know and how we know it) or AOE. Part of these AOEs include enacting kin relationships through recognizing the personhood of more-than-human beings. We posit that (1) our socio-cultural, political, and ethical orientations regarding human-nature relations affect our behaviors and that (2) shifting the way we view nature (e.g., recognizing plant personhood) may be a powerful contributor to more equitable climate futures. We present a case study of the relationship between a human child, Talon, and a plant called Stinging Nettle. We specifically move to answer: Did the program design support engagement in the recognition of plant personhood? If so, in what ways? The paper describes six dimensions of recognizing plant personhood. Findings illustrate how the program design resulted in the development of a strong human-plant relationship. We discuss implications for STEM and climate change education in supporting ecologically sustainable living and decision-making.

Teachers in the Private and Public Spheres: Ethical Orientations in Educational Interactions

Aim. The main aim of the article is a presentation of a comparative study of differences in ethical orientations used by teachers in educational practice in two settings: in private life as parents and in the public sphere, working as teachers. Methods. First, a hypothesis was proposed to test the observations by Lawrence Kohlberg (1984) and Carol Gilligan (1993) regarding the relative stability of ethical orientations in terms of the ethics of care and justice. To this end, an assumption was made that teachers prefer the former in contacts with their own children (private sphere) while favouring the latter in relationships with students (public sphere). The paired samples t-test confirmed this hypothesis. Results. Based on the analysis, gender was found not to influence teachers’ ethical orientations in the private sphere; however, it seems to play a part in the public sphere. This ambivalence was revealed in male teachers. Contrary to gender stereotype, in contacts with their own children, they tend to lean towards the ”feminine” ethics of care, but when acting in their public capacity they perpetuate the ‘masculine’ stereotype by following the ethics of justice in their school interactions. Conclusion. It is worth emphasising the ambiguity of the results obtained and the instability of their interpretations. The actions of the teachers studied do not confirm the thesis about the stability of ethical orientations in educational work and are, therefore, indicative of ambivalence towards the role of gender in this process.

Merging OBM with Discipline Systems: Making the Case for Performance Recovery

ABSTRACT Too often management attempts to control employee behavior by threats and punishment. Behavior analysis eschews aversive control and organizational behavior management (OBM) exemplifies this philosophical and ethical preference with a rich history of reinforcement strategies for appropriate work performance. Discipline in OBM emphasizes clarification of job requirements, monitoring behavior and results, frequent feedback, and maximizing short-, medium-, and long-term contingencies of reinforcement for effective performance, thus preventing additional problematic behaviors from employees. This results in efficient supervision that promotes employee development leading to successful worker performance and strategic goals for the organization. However, dangerous or inappropriate work behaviors necessitate punitive consequences. Well controlled evidence-based research concerning punishment in organizational settings is lacking and possible benefits are unknown.

Determining environmental ethics, personal norm, knowledge, and waste separation behaviour among households

The behaviour of separation of waste at the source has been identified as one of the key elements towards sustainable waste management which aims to prevent pollution and ultimately preserve the environment. However, the rate of waste separation in Malaysia is still low. Environmental ethics, personal norm and knowledge on waste separation have been identified as among the internal factors influencing household waste separation behaviour. The study employed quantitative research design with online questionnaire as a method of data acquisition while the study population is households in landed properties in the district of Kluang, Johor. Results show that the level of waste separation behaviours, personal norm towards waste separation and knowledge on waste separation are moderate. The study also found that households are holding ecocentric and biocentric environmental ethics orientation, indicating a good sign for pro-environmental support and behaviours through the activation of personal norm. The findings of the study can be used by stakeholders in formulating policies, initiatives, programmes and strategies towards sustainable waste separation among households as part of the whole sustainable waste management system in the country.

Value as ethics: Climate change, crisis, and the struggle for the future

AbstractDrawing on ethnographic research in Houston, Texas, I contribute novel ethnographic insights into how oil and gas experts understand notions of value. I show that prevailing notions of value are normatively defined in economic terms and closely tied to understandings of an American “way of life.” Questions of value, I suggest, reveal our idiosyncratic and shared ethical orientations toward what we think is important and the futures we are fighting to create. The climate crisis, as such, is not a crisis of emissions or hydrocarbons but a crisis of how value is assigned to worldly things. I conclude by arguing that until we address questions of value, we are unlikely to address the existential crisis of anthropogenic climate change.

Attributes and Activities of Religious Communities in Italy: First Results from a City Congregations Study (CCS)

This article explores the attributes and religious, social and political activities of local religious groups in three Italian cities across all religious traditions. This is the first application of Congregations Study methodology in Italy to analyze the social composition, structure and activities of religious communities. The research was conducted between 2020 and 2021 with a total number of 877 communities mapped in the cities of Bologna, Milan and Brescia, and their surroundings. All local religious groups in three cities and their surroundings were counted and one key informant per group was interviewed (N = 566) with a Congregations Study questionnaire. Based on the results of the interviews, we found that, during the last decade, the dynamics of growth of adults’ and children’s regular religious participation was distinct within the Muslim and Christian Orthodox communities. Social service for elderly, environmental programs and political activity were found to be promoted by the Catholic communities to a stronger degree, while activities linked to the support of migrants were endorsed stronger by Muslim and Orthodox groups. Moreover, this study assessed the theological, ethical and political orientation of religious communities, highlighting different trends across religious traditions. The article discusses various configurations of urban religious diversity by bringing similarities and contrasts between communities of dominant religious tradition and minority religions, thus questioning the applicability of City Congregations Study (CCS) methodology to the analysis of configurations of religious diversity in Italy.

Simon Clarke’s practical–theoretical dialectic and the unity of purpose: A personal reflection

Simon Clarke played an unrivalled role in the intellectual trajectory of his former students and significantly shaped the research and the field of sociology in post-Soviet Russia. While his work appears comprised of two distinct lines of inquiry, the essential unity of Simon’s intellectual project may be appreciated by zooming in on the factors that motivated the entirety of his work, such as ethical orientation and a desire to understand the mediations of social relations and tensions between capitalism and freedom, autonomy, self-determination and dignity. Whether studying the political economy of ‘post-Fordist’ global capitalism, the class composition of post-colonial South Africa, the development of workers’ movements in post-socialist states, or the relationship between capital as a social relation and the state as a form of contradictory expression of its class character constituted through struggle, there is a unity of purpose in Simon’s work. In this article, I reflect on the above through a personal reflection of a former doctoral student.

Biblical Foundation of Servant Leadership: An Inner-Textural Analysis of Mark 10:41-45

Servant leadership is a holistic style of leadership where the leader engages with followers in a relational, ethical, emotional, and spiritual manner. The leader empowers the followers and allows them to grow into what they can become. The leader develops the followers because of his or her altruistic and ethical orientation. The aim of the study was to understand the biblical foundation of servant leadership by analyzing Mark 10:41-45. Through the study of the text, it is reported that Jesus urged his disciples to be servants and to provide for the needs and well-being of their followers. The Gospel of Mark was set in a time when the Jews were under tremendous political and social upheaval. Like any people in the same predicaments, they began to yearn for a strong, political leader to save them from the tyranny of the Roman Empire, and the scripture had foretold of his coming. Instead, Jesus, a humble leader, came as a servant and a shepherd for all. The disciples did not understand the Messianic mission of Jesus. Mark used James and John to show how the struggle for earthly power is dominant in the world. In contrast, Jesus rejected the type of leadership because it is toxic. He rebuked the Pharisees and the Scribes for having seated themselves on the throne of Moses but failed to care for their people

Do academic CEOs influence corporate social irresponsibility? The moderating effects of negative attainment discrepancy and slack resources

AbstractAcademic experience has been found to significantly impact on the attitudes and behaviors of managerial decision‐makers, which in turn influences corporate strategic decisions. However, the impact of academic decision‐makers on corporate ethical decisions, particularly corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR), has yet to receive due attention to date. In this study, we integrate the upper echelons theory and managerial discretion literature to examine whether and when academic CEOs (CEOs with academic experience) influence corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR). First, we suggest that academic CEOs discourage CSIR because they have higher moral standards; thus, their companies are less likely to engage in CSIR activities. In addition, we propose that negative attainment discrepancy (slack resources) reduces (enhances) academic CEOs' managerial discretion to incorporate their ethical preferences into their decisions, thereby weakening (enhancing) the above relationship. This study is the first to examine the relationship between academic CEOs and CSIR. Additionally, the empirical findings of this study offer crucial insights for shareholders and policymakers to prevent or mitigate CSIR effectively.

Complexities of care in a college microbiology laboratory

ABSTRACT Recognising effects of care departs from previous conceptions of care within science education as an idealised, ethical, and normative dimension of being, thinking and relating. In this article, we hesitate with care’s moralistic qualities to render visible disruptive and complicit moments of care in complex ethical and political situated practices. We follow care inside a college microbiology laboratory, documenting three practices: caring for bacteria, caring for logbooks, and caring for a nation. We show how these care practices potentialise/disrupt bacteria as technoscientific commodities and biotechnicians as a labour force for markets and nations organised along racial and gendered lines. Our paper attends to the complexities of care as an assembling force with its ambivalent ethical and political orientations. We conclude by reflecting on the possibilities of ‘care-full’ science educational analyses. How can we better care for care? What might care offer science education research and practice that other more popular explanatory units (such as concepts and effectiveness) do not?

Development and validation of techno-ethical orientation scale for Indian post-millennial students

Purpose Post-millennial youths are well equipped with internet technology and computers since birth and find it easier to operate computers and technologies than their previous generations. With the advancement of technology, the ethical dilemma associated with its use has evolved. This paper aims to develop and validate a measurement scale for the ethical orientation of post-millennial technology usage by capturing the key factors that best describe the behavior adopted by students. Design/methodology/approach A systematic scale development procedure was used, involving both reviews of the literature and focus group discussions to generate the items that specify the domain of this study. After generating items, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to identify latent constructs of techno-ethical orientation. Lastly, the scale was subjected to reliability and validity testing. Findings The study found that the techno-ethical orientation scale has five dimensions: privacy concerns, classroom behavior, accessibility dilemma, social media usage and assignment ethics. Overall, a scale comprising 17 statements was derived. Research limitations/implications The findings of our study attempt to augment the growing efforts to explore all facets of techno-ethics. It is probably the first attempt to develop a valid and reliable scale for the techno-ethical orientation of post-millennial. Practical implications This scale could be used by academicians and practitioners to assess the techno-ethical orientation of post-millennial for positive interventions. Originality/value This study derives a new reliable and valid scale for measuring the techno-ethical orientation of post-millennial toward technology usage.

A feminist embodied ethics of social media use: Corporeal vulnerability and relational care practices

This article adopts a feminist relational orientation to investigate the care practices that women develop when producing and engaging with body-focussed content online. We propose and argue for an embodied ethics of social media use to understand women’s enactments and exchanges as they relate to shared corporeal concerns. Drawing on qualitative interview data, and using Judith Butler’s understanding of corporeal vulnerability as the basis for mutual recognition, this article investigates social actors’ ethical orientations towards, and attempts at, improving the collective experiences of women in the context of Instagram use for physical activity. We identify several ways in which exercising women practice an embodied ethics of care on Instagram, including sharing unedited images of themselves, not judging others’ bodies, awareness-raising and supporting others. By conceptualising women’s everyday social media encounters as an embodied ethical practice, this study develops new theoretical insights to understand women’s sharing of body-focussed content online.

Trolleys, crashes, and perception-a survey on how current autonomous vehicles debates invoke problematic expectations.

Ongoing debates about ethical guidelines for autonomous vehicles mostly focus on variations of the 'Trolley Problem'. Using variations of this ethical dilemma in preference surveys, possible implications for autonomous vehicles policy are discussed. In this work, we argue that the lack of realism in such scenarios leads to limited practical insights. We run an ethical preference survey for autonomous vehicles by including more realistic features, such as time pressure and a non-binary decision option. Our results indicate that such changes lead to different outcomes, calling into question how the current outcomes can be generalized. Additionally, we investigate the framing effects of the capabilities of autonomous vehicles and indicate that ongoing debates need to set realistic expectations on autonomous vehicle challenges. Based on our results, we call upon the field to re-frame the current debate towards more realistic discussions beyond the Trolley Problem and focus on which autonomous vehicle behavior is considered not to be acceptable, since a consensus on what the right solution is, is not reachable.

Ethical Climates Across National Contexts: A Meta-Analytical Investigation

Ethical climates remain one of the most popular ways to assess the ethical orientations of companies. There has been a plethora of studies examining the relationship between ethical climates and critical outcomes, which was triggered by Victor and Cullen's seminal work published 35 years ago. After such a long period of strong research activity in this topic area, it is time to take stock of the accumulated empirical evidence. This meta-analytic review incorporates the considerations of alternative conceptualizations of ethical climates and integrates an international comparative perspective on the consequences of ethical climates. Given the state of the field, it is imperative to assess the tenability of the various relationships of ethical climate types across national contexts. As such, we first provide an update on how ethical climates are related to key organizational outcomes and assess how country-level factors affect the consequences of ethical climates. We present our findings along theoretical, empirical, and methodological issues, discuss the implications of our findings for extant research and provide suggestions for future research for each of the three avenues.