Lower Moral Reasoning Research Articles

The Digital Siren’s Call: Accepting Unethical AI Advice

The growing ubiquity of artificial intelligence (AI) in business raises concerns about how humans perceive AI-generated advice, especially in ethical contexts. This study, using a preregistered experiment, explores whether people are more likely to accept unethical business advice from AI compared to human advisors, and examines how individual differences in moral reasoning, decision-making style, and trust in AI influence this acceptance. Participants were presented with business decisions based on advice from either an AI or a human, with advice varying in ethicality. Results showed participants were more likely to accept unethical advice from AI than from human advisors. Lower moral reasoning, an intuitive decision-making style, and higher trust in AI were associated with greater acceptance of unethical AI advice. These findings emphasize the risks of overreliance on AI in decision-making and the importance of promoting ethical AI use in business.

Evaluation of Moral Reasoning Skills among Dental Students in the Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia.

One of the main roles of healthcare educators is to prepare students to make the right ethical decisions. This study evaluated the moral reasoning levels of dental students according to Kohlberg's six-stage moral development system. This cross-sectional study was conducted in three dental schools in the Makkah region. Senior-year students completed the self-administered Socio-moral Reflection Objective Measure (SROM), which consists of hypothetical moral dilemmas and options that mirror individual reasoning possibilities. SROM results were matched to Kohlberg's six-stage moral development system and associations with demographic variables and perceptions of educational context variables assessed. One hundred and eighty-eight senior students (mean age 23 ± 1.1 years) completed the SROM. Only 34.6% (n = 44) students reached stage four (morality of law and duty to the social order), while most students (63.8%; n = 81) were at stage three (morality of mutual interpersonal expectations); 1.6% (n = 2) were at stage two (the instrumental relativist orientation). No subject achieved stage 5. Attainment of moral reasoning was not associated with demographic or perception of educational context variables. Students demonstrated a relatively low level of moral reasoning. Healthcare educators must review curricula to provide focused training for students to cultivate their moral reasoning skills. Further studies are also needed to confirm and explain this low moral reasoning level in dental students.

The Effect of Moral Reasoning on Intention to Fraud in the Procurement of Goods and Services under Obedience Pressure: An Experimental Study

This study examines the influence of obedience pressure and individual moral reasoning on the attention to commit fraud in the context of the procurement of goods and services. This study uses a 2x2 factorial experimental design. The participants in this study were undergraduate accounting students who have passed courses in Professional Ethics, Public Sector Accounting, and Forensic Accounting who acted as implementers of the procurement of goods and services. Hypothesis testing in this study used ANOVA. The results of this study found the effect of obedience pressure and individual moral reasoning in committing fraud in the procurement of goods and services. Under conditions of obedience pressure, individuals with low moral reasoning will tend to commit fraud compared to individuals with high moral reasoning. Thus, individuals who have high moral reasoning tend to behave ethically, even though they are faced with pressure from superiors.

Linking Corporate Institutional Logics and Moral Reasoning – Evidence from Large Danish Audit Firms

This paper examines whether organizational levels of owner/partner, CPA manager, supervisor and other audit staff are associated with institutional logics of auditors in large Danish audit firms. Our findings identify the presence of the professional logic and commercial logic with the professional logic being two explicit logics of a fiduciary and a technical-expertise logic. The organizational levels of CPA manager, supervisor and other staff are significant in explaining the presence of the technical-expertise logic, but not the fiduciary logic. Higher moral reasoning of auditors and being a female are significantly associated with the presence of the fiduciary logic. All four organizational levels are significant in explaining the identified commercial logic with further tests indicating that partners place more emphasis than supervisors on the commercial logic. Additional tests examine whether moral reasoning is associated with the professional fiduciary, professional technical-expertise and commercial logics and whether organizational levels explain moral reasoning. We find that a higher professional fiduciary logic is associated with higher auditor moral reasoning. In contrast, lower moral reasoning is associated with higher professional technical-expertise and commercial logics. In addition, increased audit experience is associated with lower moral reasoning.

Linking Corporate Institutional Logics and Moral Reasoning – Evidence from Large Danish Audit Firms

This paper examines whether organizational levels of owner/partner, CPA manager, supervisor and other audit staff are associated with institutional logics of auditors in large Danish audit firms. Our findings identify the presence of the professional logic and commercial logic with the professional logic being two explicit logics of a fiduciary and a technical-expertise logic. The organizational levels of CPA manager, supervisor and other staff are significant in explaining the presence of the technical-expertise logic, but not the fiduciary logic. Higher moral reasoning of auditors and being a female are significantly associated with the presence of the fiduciary logic. All four organizational levels are significant in explaining the identified commercial logic with further tests indicating that partners place more emphasis than supervisors on the commercial logic. Additional tests examine whether moral reasoning is associated with the professional fiduciary, professional technical-expertise and commercial logics and whether organizational levels explain moral reasoning. We find that a higher professional fiduciary logic is associated with higher auditor moral reasoning. In contrast, lower moral reasoning is associated with higher professional technical-expertise and commercial logics. In addition, increased audit experience is associated with lower moral reasoning.

A Study on Academic Dishonesty and Moral Reasoning

Academic dishonesty in the form of cheating and plagiarism among university students has been a prevalent issue. This study investigates the role of moral reasoning as a moderator of fraud risk factors (Fraud Triangle - pressure, opportunity, and rationalization) on academic dishonesty. The data were collected through a survey of 178 undergraduate accounting students in one public university in Indonesia. The result of the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis revealed that pressure, opportunity, and rationalization directly and positively affected academic dishonesty. The structural model was also examined across two groups based on the level of moral reasoning (Group 1: individuals with low moral reasoning; Group 2: individuals with high moral reasoning). The results showed that the pressure, opportunity, rationalization – academic dishonesty model remained invariant between the groups, a new finding contributed to the literature on academic dishonesty and the moderating effects of moral reasoning. The results of the study also suggest that university should uphold academic integrity by creating an environment where academic dishonesty is unacceptable and reduce the opportunity to commit dishonest acts because everybody might commit such acts regardless of their morality.

PENGARUH SKEMA KOMPENSASI, SELF EFFICACY DAN PENALARAN MORAL TERHADAP SLACK BUDGETING

This study aims to examine the effect of compensation schemes, self efficacy and moral reasoning on slack budgeting. In this study the hypothesis is proposed that in the slack inducing compensation scheme the slack budgeting will be greater than using the truth inducing compensation scheme, then managers with low self efficacy will do slack budgeting compared to those with high self efficacy. It is also proposed that the individual with low moral reasoning will do slack budgeting rather than the individual with high moral reasoning. The research design in this study was a quasi 2 x 2 laboratory experiment, with Accounting students who had sat in the 5th semester of Padang State University as lower level managers who participated in budgeting. The statistical method used to test the hypothesis is two-way ANOVA. This study provides results that the compensation scheme can affect slack budgeting actions, self efficacy has no effect on slack budgeting actions, and the interaction between slack inducing compensation schemes with low self efficacy has no effect on slack budgeting actions. Moral reasoning affects slack budgeting actions, and at lower level managers who have low levels of moral reasoning and low levels of self efficacy, interactions with slack inducing compensation schemes affect slack budgeting actions. The results of this study can contribute in the management accounting literature related to budgetary slack and its causal factors.
 Keyword: Slack Budgeting, Compensation Schemes, Self Efficacy, and Moral Reasoning.

BUSINESS ETHICS COURSE ON STUDENT MORAL REASONING

This research aims to identify and measure the effectiveness of business ethics courses on student Moral Reasoning. In-depth interview and a pilot test were conducted to examine the understandability of the experimental instrument. Quasi-experimental methods were conducted on students who join a business ethics course. One hundred twenty-two participants were valid from the manipulation check of pre-test and post-test. Paired T-Test was used to test the score between pre-test and post-test. Moral reasoning was measured using a defining issue test (DIT) to categorise High and Low Moral Reasoning on Participants. The result shows no difference in moral reasoning score between pre-test and post-test on a student who joins the business ethics course. This study finds that student moral reasoning does not improve by joining a business ethics course at university. These results imply that we should evaluate and re-examine the business ethics course syllabus for future research.

Moral reasoning and empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: implications for moral education

A mixed methods approach was used to understand moral reasoning and empathy in 12- to 18-year-old adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) compared to same age typically developing (TD) youth. Adolescents completed measures assessing empathy (perspective-taking, personal distress, and empathic concern), and moral reasoning, as well as a qualitative interview asking them to discuss a challenging sociomoral situation and recount their moral competencies and strengths in difficult situations. For quantitative results, both groups demonstrated similar empathic concern, but adolescents with HF-ASD had significantly higher personal distress and lower moral reasoning than TD youth. Qualitative results suggest that adolescents with HF-ASD perceived themselves as having empathic concern but struggled to use these feelings to support their actions in spontaneous challenging sociomoral situations. Results suggest that teachers should be educated in providing specific guidance to adolescents with HF-ASD about how to express empathic concern in ways that promote mutually rewarding relationships.

Can Moral Reasoning Reduce Auditor Misreporting? An Experimental Examination of Investor Salience and an Auditor Sign-Off Requirement

Researchers have questioned whether individual differences in moral reasoning might partly account for the variation in auditor misreporting behavior documented in prior experimental-markets research in auditing. In the first experimental market study to directly test the relation between moral reasoning and auditor misreporting, however, Schatzberg et al. (2005) find that auditor misreporting is more likely with higher than with lower moral reasoning participants as measured by the DIT (Rest 1979). We re-examine the link between moral reasoning and auditor misreporting by manipulating two factors expected to increase moral reasoning and by using alternative measures of moral reasoning from the JPI-R (Jackson 1994). Using the same experimental audit market setting in Schatzberg et al., we find that auditor misreporting is lower when the investor is another participant in the experiment than when the investor is an abstract robot. Auditor misreporting is also lower when the auditor is required to sign off on the audit report, but only when the investor is another participant. In fact, auditor misreporting essentially disappears when the sign-off requirement is present and the investor is another participant in the experiment. Finally, we find that auditor misreporting is negatively associated with the auditor’s score on two measures of moral reasoning from the JPI-R: Traditional Values and Responsibility. Our results provide strong evidence that moral reasoning can reduce auditor misreporting in a market setting where financial incentives to misreport are present.

Moral reasoning theory and illegal behaviour by adults with intellectual disabilities

Many studies conclude there is a strong relationship between moral reasoning and illegal behaviour amongst young offenders. However, there has been no research examining this relationship amongst people with intellectual disabilities. There is some empirical evidence to suggest that the relationship between moral reasoning and illegal behaviour may be curvilinear, such that lower moral reasoning and higher moral reasoning relates to lower rates of illegal behaviour and inappropriate conduct. Given this, and evidence that people with intellectual disabilities are reasoning at a lower moral stage than their same-age peers, it is proposed that some people with intellectual disabilities may actually be less likely to engage in illegal behaviour because they are reasoning at an earlier moral stage, while those with ‘borderline’ intelligence would be more likely to engage in illegal behaviour. This suggests that the relationship between moral reasoning and illegal behaviour is moderated by intelligence, and this has implications for the design of intervention programmes for people with intellectual disabilities, but further research is needed.

Moral reasoning among physical therapists: results of the defining issues test

Although there is extensive literature in other health care fields about the ability to make ethical judgements (moral reasoning), there is a paucity of research addressing the moral reasoning of practising physical therapists. The purposes of this research were to 1) identify the types of moral reasoning used by practising physical therapists as measured by the Defining Issues Test; 2) identify differences in moral reasoning among physical therapists based on educational background, demographic variables, clinical experience, practice setting or expertise in ethics; and 3) compare the moral reasoning of physical therapists with that of other professional groups. The Defining Issues Test of James Rest was used to evaluate moral reasoning. Five hundred thirty-seven physical therapists responded to a mail survey sent to a random sample of 2,000 American Physical Therapy Association members. Twelve physical therapists with expertise in ethics or professionalism completed the same survey. The mean postconventional score for the random sample was 41.93. This score was lower than the mean scores of physicians, nurses, medical students, nursing students and dental students established in previous research. Females, ethics experts and those in academic settings had higher postconventional scores. Physical therapists scored lower in postconventional moral reasoning than some other professional groups with similar educational background. Factors that may inhibit or enhance the development of moral reasoning among physical therapists and possible consequences of high or low moral reasoning scores in physical therapy require further research. These findings may raise concerns about the entry-level educational curriculum and professional development opportunities in the area of ethics and moral reasoning. Results of this research may also highlight the challenges of evaluation, scholarship and research in physical therapy ethics. Further research and theory development is needed to address the relationships between moral theory and descriptive or empirical research within physical therapy.

The intention to download music files in a P2P environment: Consumption value, fashion, and ethical decision perspectives

Downloading unauthorized music file, being framed as a problem of crime, is deemed unethical, but the peer-to-peer systems have boosted its popularity and have become the killer application for the music industry. Two factors, cost savings from CD purchase and the low moral reasoning ability of Internet users, have been frequently attributed as rationales for this behavior. Music download, however, can also be interpreted as a value maximizing behavior that chooses between the values from consuming illicit and legitimate music, wherein the consumption value is partly dependent on one’s degree of fashion involvement since music is fashionable. This paper presents a conceptual model of music download by looking at and integrating these seldom noticed perspectives with traditional explanations. An analysis of 834 samples drew from a survey of P2P users in Taiwan reveals that: people are maximizing value while downloading music; and that fashion involvement influences the perception of consumption value from music download. This study also found that moral reasoning moderate the relationships among fashion involvement, consumption value, and behavioral intention to download music.

An empirical reanalysis of the selection–socialization hypothesis: a research note

Ponemon [Ponemon, L. (1988). A cognitive–developmental approach to the analysis of Certified Public Accountants’ ethical judgments. PhD dissertation, Union College of Union University; Accounting, Organizations and Society 17 (1992) 239] contends that a selection–socialization process exists in which (1) senior-level public accountants in the United States have less capacity to comprehend and resolve basic ethical problems than do accountants in subordinate ranks, and (2) the senior-level accountants perpetuate their ranks by promoting persons of low moral reasoning capacity. Using large, national random samples from 1995 and 2001, and correcting for inherent problems in the key study supporting this hypothesis, the current study yields results that materially contradict that earlier research. The sample sizes provide ample statistical power to conclude that, in the United States, capacity for moral judgment does not differ across rank (position) and this is not a factor in promotion in the public accounting profession as a whole. The study examines both political conservatism and gender as potential confounding variables, but finds that they do not drive the results. A sample of attorneys also gives no hint of selection–socialization. Instead, differences in moral cognition seem to be most relevant when people are making a choice of profession and less so after entering a particular profession.

Do advanced moral reasoners also show wisdom? Linking moral reasoning and wisdom-related knowledge and judgement

Wisdom and morality are both discussed as developmental ideals. They are often associated in theoretical contexts but the nature of their empirical relation is still an open question. We hypothesised that moral reasoning (one facet of morality), would be related to wisdom-related knowledge and judgement, but that the two represent different facets of high level psychological functioning. A sample of 220 adults ranging in age from 20 to 87 years completed measures of wisdom-related performance, moral reasoning, and a battery of cognitive and personality measures. As predicted, moral reasoning was positively associated with wisdom-related performance, although we also found evidence for divergent validity of these two constructs. This association was mediated by person characteristics (e.g., personality, intelligence, and additional measures). In addition, as predicted by a threshold model, very high levels of wisdom-related performance were unlikely among those with very low moral reasoning performance. In line with neo-Piagetian conceptions, exploratory analyses suggested that higher age was associated with higher levels of wisdom-related knowledge and judgement only for those with high levels of moral reasoning. Results are discussed in terms of a lifespan model of wisdom-related knowledge and judgement.

The relationship between pharmacists' tenure in community setting and moral reasoning.

To explore the relationship between pharmacists' tenure in the community setting and their moral reasoning abilities. Systematic random sample design. A large southeastern city in the United States. 450 independent and chain community pharmacists identified from the state board of pharmacy list of licensed community pharmacists. A mailed questionnaire that included a well-known moral reasoning instrument and collected demographic information. Moral Reasoning abilities and tenure of community pharmacists. As a group, community pharmacists with greater years of tenure in community practice scored significantly lower on moral reasoning than those pharmacists with fewer years of tenure (p=0.016). Four plausible explanations for the results are given including: a) a selection of lower ethical reasoners and/or an exodus of higher ethical reasoners from the community setting; b) a retrogression in the moral reasoning skills as community pharmacists obtain tenure in this setting; c) differences between the low and high moral reasoning groups may be due to a cohort effect; and d) the obtained practitioner sample may not have been representative of the population of community pharmacists.

Justice, Care, and Integrated Concerns in the Ethical Decision Making of Nurses

Past research on the ethical decision making of nurses has used Kohlberg's model of moral reasoning, which does not adequately ad-dress issues of caring. The present study builds on the work of Gilligan, Brown, and colleagues to describe issues of moral concern, including justice, care, and integrated concerns. Nurses in the present study articulated justice concerns for fairness, patients' rights, and autonomy. They also stated care concerns for a patient's needs, pain, emotional support, and relationship. Beyond these, nurses expressed concerns that integrated a principled approach (justice) to caring for patients (care) in dealing with issues of deceit and trust, advocacy, and patient dignity in dying. Whereas many earlier studies reported low moral reasoning scores for nurses, the present analysis shows nurses involved in complex and sophisticated ethical considerations and decisions. The analysis also reveals professional constraints on those ethical decisions.

An attempt to induce lower moral reasoning under hypnotic and task-motivated age regression.

In this study, we attempted to partially replicate and extend the findings of the Page (1985) study of hypnotic age regression and moral reasoning. The Kohlberg (1976) Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) was used to assess the initial stage of moral reasoning in 32 adults who were preselected on the basis of their hypnotic susceptibility. Subjects were hypnotized and age regressed to two of four possible ages (16, 13, 10, and 7), or were given task-motivation instructions before being age regressed. All were then administered the MJI, which involves the resolution of certain dilemmas. Both groups were able to lower their moral reasoning scores when given age regression instructions, but no significant differences were found between groups. Thus the results of this study are inconsistent with those of Page (1985), but are consistent with those of O'Brien et al. (1977). Reasons for the failure to reaffirm the earlier results of Page (1985) are discussed.

Moral judgment development of college students

In recent years, psychologists and educators have shown increased interest in the moral development of college students. Kohlberg and Rest discuss a six-stage model of moral judgment development that has generated considerable research. The findings have raised several issues regarding the relevance of attitudes, traits, and experiences in understanding the moral judgment development of students. This study examines the differential impact of (1) college experiences, (2) attribution beliefs and attitudes about punitiveness, (3) educational and academic characteristics, and (4) freshmen level of moral judgment development on the level of moral development of upper-division students, who as freshmen were classified as having either low or high levels of moral reasoning. For freshmen with low moral reasoning scores, their upper-division level of moral judgment development was significantly related to their causal attribution beliefs regarding personal responsibility. For those freshmen with high moral reasoning scores, their initial level of moral reasoning was the most significant factor related to their upper-division level of moral judgment development. For these students, participation in extracurricular activities was negatively related to upper-division moral reasoning scores. The more they had participated in extracurricular activities, the lower their upper-division moral reasoning scores.