Moral Attention Research Articles

Ethics-Oriented HRM Systems, Moral Attentiveness, and Workplace Deviance: A Multilevel Investigation

Deviant workplace behavior (DWB) causes enormous costs to organizations, which has sparked considerable interest among researchers and practitioners in identifying factors that may prevent such behavior. Drawing on the theory of moral development, we examine the role of ethics-oriented human resource management (HRM) systems in mitigating DWB as well as the mediating and moderating mechanisms of this relationship. Based on 232 employee-supervisor matched responses generated through a multi-source and multi-wave survey of 84 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan, our multilevel analysis found that ethics-oriented HRM systems relate negatively to employee’s DWB via the mediation of perceptual and reflective moral attentiveness. This indirect relationship is further moderated by two societal-inequality induced factors – employee gender and income level – such that the indirect effects of ethics-oriented HRM system on DWB through perceptual and reflective moral attentiveness were stronger among women and low-income employees.

Moral Education through Literary Aesthetic Experience: A Moral Study of the Harry Potter Series

Abstract This paper attempts to unravel how a reader embraces the idea of moral education while enjoying the aesthetic pleasure of the Harry Potter series. It develops a view on moral education through literary experience, which is intrinsically intertwined with aesthetic experience. The amalgamation of reality and fantasy in the Harry Potter novels creates an authenticity that can easily capture the moral attention of a reader by which his/her self-realized valuable emotional intelligence takes place. The well-knit plot encourages reader's self-efficacy (“I” reactive attitude) that triggers the sui-generis, first-personal sense of morality and gradually develops the third-personal “we” attitude. Finally, based on an empirical study, the article explains how the Harry Potter series is productive in building the reader's positive moral psychology through different applications like moral agency, moral point of view, and moral judgment.

Employee perceptions of individual green HRM practices and voluntary green work behaviour: a signalling theory perspective

Green human resource management (GHRM) practices increasingly receive attention by both HRM scholars and practitioners. Research on these practices has emphasised systems rather than individual HR practices and HR managers' perceptions rather than employees' perceptions of these practices. In addition, little attention has been paid to the mediating mechanisms that link employee perceptions of GHRM practices to voluntary green work behaviour (VGWB) outcomes. This study addresses these research gaps by investigating the impact of employee perception of four individual GHRM practices – recruitment, selection, performance management and compensation – and their impact on employee VGWB in Chinese manufacturing firms. We also investigate the mediating role of reflective moral attentiveness (RMA). Applying signalling theory and drawing on data collected from 300 employees in 50 manufacturing organisations, we found a direct relationship between all four individual GHRM practices and VGWB. We also found that RMA partially mediated the relationship between selection, performance management and compensation practices (but not recruitment) and VGWB. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study findings.

A two-center pilot study on the effects of clinical ethics support on coercive measures in psychiatry

BackgroundThe use of formal coercion such as seclusion, mechanical restraint, and forced medication is one of the most challenging and complex issues in mental health care, on the clinical, the legal, and the ethical level. Clinical ethics support aims at assisting healthcare practitioners in determining the morally most justifiable course of action in these situations. However, the effectiveness of clinical ethics support has hardly been studied so far.MethodsMonthly moral case deliberation (MCD) was implemented in two acute wards of two different psychiatric hospitals in Switzerland. Frequency and intensity of coercion was measured on ward level (npatients = 405), and the Moral Attentiveness Scale, Knowledge on Coercion Scale, and Staff Attitudes towards Coercion Scale were applied on healthcare practitioner level (nHP = 46). Pre-post-comparisons were conducted using multi-level modeling where appropriate.ResultsAfter implementation of MCD, formal coercion was less frequent (particularly seclusion, small effect size; 9.6 vs. 16.7%, p = .034, Cramér’s V = .105) and less intense (particularly mechanical restraint, large effect size; 86.8 ± 45.3 vs. 14.5 ± 12.1 h, exact p = .019, r = -.74), and approval for coercive measures among healthcare practitioners was lower when controlling for the number of MCD sessions attended.ConclusionsClinical ethics support such as MCD may be a hitherto underutilized service for the reduction of coercion, complementing existing strategies and programs. Implementing clinical ethics support may help improve quality of care for persons suffering from severe mental illness.

Moral attentiveness as a boundary condition: Servant leadership and the impact of supervisor affiliation on pro‐group unethical behavior

AbstractBased on social exchange theory, this research aims to develop and test a model in which supervisor affiliation mediates the impact of servant leadership on employees’ pro‐group unethical behavior a highly competitive intergroup environment. Using a sample of 239 employees from 39 groups in four foreign‐owned engineering enterprises, we found that supervisor affiliation mediated the positive relationship between servant leadership and employees’ pro‐group unethical behavior. Our results also revealed that employees’ moral attentiveness weakened the positive impact of supervisor affiliation on pro‐group unethical behavior. The current study contributes to business ethics research by advancing our understanding of antecedents of pro‐group unethical behavior as well as how servant leadership leads to employees’ unethical behaviors. Implications for theory, practice, and directions for future research are discussed.

Addressing Suffering in Infants and Young Children Using the Concept of Suffering Pluralism.

Despite the central place of suffering in medical care, suffering in infants and nonverbal children remains poorly defined. There are epistemic problems in the detection and treatment of suffering in infants and normative problems in determining what is in their best interests. A lack of agreement on definitions of infant suffering leads to misunderstanding, mistrust, and even conflict amongst clinicians and parents. It also allows biases around intensive care and disability to (mostly unconsciously) affect medical decision-making on behalf of infants. In this paper, I propose the concept of suffering pluralism, which is a novel multidimensional view of infant suffering based on subjective and objective components. The concept of suffering pluralism is more inclusive of the multiple ways in which infant suffering can occur. It acknowledges and defines a subjective component to infant suffering, while also focusing moral attention on objective well-being by describing it using the language of suffering. This concept allows us to better weigh up subjective and objective components of well-being. It also encourages clarity and consistency in claiming suffering, which is likely to improve communication and reduce conflict in medical decision-making for unwell infants and children. I will end by exploring possible critiques and limitations of this concept.

Who pays attention to the moral aspects? Role of organizational justice and moral attentiveness in leveraging ethical behavior

PurposeAlthough there have been several studies on corporate justice and employee ethical behavior, little is known about the conditions in which this link develops. The purpose of this study is to investigate the direct effect of organizational justice and moral attentiveness toward employee ethical behavior. Importantly, this study also considers the moderating role of moral attentiveness on the links between organizational justice and employee ethical behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe data was collected from 350 employees who were assessed directly to supervisors in 12 manufacturing companies placed in Malaysia, operated full-time, and had regular interaction with their direct supervisors. In particular, using two-wave survey data obtained from 270 employees working in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia.FindingsResults showed that organizational justice and moral attentiveness positively impact the employee ethical behavior as predicted. New to the literature, findings disclose that moral attentiveness strengthens this relationship. Importantly, the positive impact of organizational justice is sharply positive under high than low moral attentive employees and ceases to be significant among low morally attentive personnel.Research limitations/implicationsThis research focused on the notion of ethics and how important it is for society. The principles, norms and ideals that guide an individual’s behavior are referred to as ethics. Because the authors need to be treated with dignity as human beings, ethical behavior is essential in society.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study send a clear signal to managers that “failing to ensure that their employees perceive organizational justice” may undermine every effort made by them to improve their organizations’ ethical quality. Importantly, the findings emphasize the role of moral attentiveness in improving the ethical behavior of employees both directly and by strengthening the effectiveness of organizational justice to impact such a behavior positively. So, given the advantages of moral attentiveness in terms of improving employee ethical conduct, businesses should make every effort to hire and choose people who meet this requirement because it is not easy to spot this personality trait. Human resource managers may assess candidates’ moral attentiveness using a range of methods such as group debate, an in-basket exercise, organized interviews and business games that concentrate on specific ethical concerns.Social implicationsThis research focused on the notion of ethics and how important it is for society. The principles, norms and ideals that guide an individual’s behavior are referred to as ethics. Because the authors need to be treated with dignity as human beings, ethical behavior is essential in society.Originality/valueThe results of this study demonstrate how the eye is put to attain organizational moral excellence; the outcomes have shown that acutely attentive employees to the moral cues offered by the organization is vital.

Ad eroticism from a psychological distance perspective: Investigating its effects in light of consumers’ sex, ethical judgments, and moral attentiveness

Building on construal level theory and psychological distance, this paper considers the impact of erotic appeal ads in terms of consumer reactions; the demographic and ethically related psychographic factors of sex and moral attentiveness are also examined. Two experiments delve into different psychological distance types, evoking variant construal levels while promoting a different product category across different levels of erotic intensity in the ad. Findings indicate that as the psychological distance or construal level decreases, reactions become more unfavorable, regardless of the ad’s level of erotic intensity. Furthermore, reactions vary depending on sex and moral attentiveness; women and individuals with high moral attentiveness levels (MALs) express stronger objections. Finally, across the levels of erotic intensity, ethical judgments systematically mediate the ads’ effects on attitudes and behaviors, and this mediation effect is intensified when viewers act under a low construal or psychological distance level and when erotic intensity level increases.

Stronger together: Understanding when and why group ethical voice inhibits group abusive supervision

SummaryIn this research, we integrate social impact theory (SIT) and social cognitive theory (SCT) to examine how group ethical voice, as a form of social influence, reduces group abusive supervision. Drawing on SIT, we hypothesize that the strength of this relationship is contingent on the group's power, size, and social distance from the group leader (i.e., interaction frequency). Results from data collected over two time periods from 521 employees in 98 work groups (Study 1) reveal that group ethical voice reduces group abusive supervision, controlling for general group voice and group performance. Furthermore, we found that the relationship between group ethical voice and group abusive supervision was strongest when the group is larger, powerful, and interacts frequently with the group leader. These findings are replicated in Study 2, a time‐lagged study of employees across three time periods. Study 2 also shows that the interactive effects of group ethical voice, group power, and social distance (but not group size) on abusive supervision are mediated by leader reflective moral attentiveness. Specifically, in powerful and socially proximal groups, group ethical voice reduces abusive supervision by fostering greater reflective moral attentiveness in group leaders.

Establishing factors affecting the tax morale of individuals working in the gig economy

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide insights into the factors affecting the tax morale of workers in the gig economy. Tax morale is defined as the willingness and motivation to comply with tax laws.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from gig economy workers through a questionnaire survey and analysed using second-generation multivariate analysis (partial least squares-structural equation modelling).FindingsThe findings reveal that while the extent of the dependency on the gig economy has a positive relationship with tax morale, the level of education has a negative relationship. However, in contrast to reflective moral attentiveness, perceptual moral attentiveness positively influence tax morale.Originality/valueAs no earlier study has examined factors affecting tax morale in the context of the gig economy, this research will be beneficial to tax authorities and policymakers. This study also offers insights into multidimensional aspects of the tax morale of those working in the gig economy.

Cultivating Moral Attention: a Virtue-Oriented Approach to Responsible Data Science in Healthcare

In the past few years, the ethical ramifications of AI technologies (in particular data science) have been at the center of intense debates. Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding how a morally responsible practice of data science can be promoted and which values have to shape it. In this context, ethics and moral responsibility have been mainly conceptualized as compliance to widely shared principles. However, several scholars have highlighted the limitations of such a principled approach. Drawing from microethics and the virtue theory tradition, in this paper, we formulate a different approach to ethics in data science which is based on a different conception of “being ethical” and, ultimately, of what it means to promote a morally responsible data science. First, we develop the idea that, rather than only compliance, ethical decision-making consists in using certain moral abilities (e.g., virtues), which are cultivated by practicing and exercising them in the data science process. An aspect of virtue development that we discuss here is moral attention, which is the ability of data scientists to identify the ethical relevance of their own technical decisions in data science activities. Next, by elaborating on the capability approach, we define a technical act as ethically relevant when it impacts one or more of the basic human capabilities of data subjects. Therefore, rather than “applying ethics” (which can be mindless), data scientists should cultivate ethics as a form of reflection on how technical choices and ethical impacts shape one another. Finally, we show how this microethical framework concretely works, by dissecting the ethical dimension of the technical procedures involved in data understanding and preparation of electronic health records.

Gossip 2.0: The Role of Social Media and Moral Attentiveness on Counterproductive Work Behavior

This paper examines the effects of negative workplace gossip (NWG) on counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) through emotional exhaustion. We seek to advance a more nuanced view of the negative gossip on CWB by exploring contingency roles of social media (SM) and moral attentiveness (MA). Using multisource, time-lagged data from 306 Information Technology (IT) professionals and their supervisors, we highlight the importance of SM and MA in understanding how individuals react to negative gossip. Our results indicate a positive relationship between negative gossip and CWB, which is mediated by emotional exhaustion. Notably, we find that the use of SM at the workplace strengthens the positive relationship between negative gossip and employees’ emotional exhaustion. Also, indirect effect of gossip on CWB via exhaustion is further moderated by MA. We end with a discussion of implications and promising avenues for future research.

Fear of goal failure making employees to behave unethically: A cross-national study

This article examines whether ego-depletion mediates the positive link between employees’ fear of failure in meeting their goals and their unethical behavior. In addition, the moderating roles of moral attentiveness on the mediated relationship is examined. Drawing on multi-wave data from sales representatives in the USA (n = 334) and Pakistan (n = 381) ego-depletion was found to mediate the positive relationship between fear of goal failure and unethical behavior. In addition, employees’ moral attentiveness was found to attenuate the positive link between fear of failure and unethical behavior.

Servant Leadership and the Impact of Supervisor Affiliation on Pro-Group Unethical Behavior

Based on social identity theory, this research aims to develop and test a model contending that the supervisor affiliation perceived by employees mediates the influence of servant leadership on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior. Among a sample of 239 supervisor-employee matching data of four foreign-owned engineering enterprises, we found that supervisor affiliation mediated the positive effect of supervisors’ servant leadership on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior. The results also revealed that employees’ moral attentiveness weakened the positive impact of supervisor affiliation on pro-group unethical behavior. The current study continues the momentum on business ethics research by advancing our understanding of antecedents of pro-group unethical behavior as well as how positive servant leadership affects such negative unethical behavioral outcome. This effort also extends research that shows mediating and moderating roles played by interpersonal contextual influence and individual difference. Implications of these results for theory, practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Investigating the Antecedents of Whistleblowing

Prevalence of corporate frauds is critical, therefore, it is very important to detect and institutionalize the black sheep’s in the organization which are involved in misconduct and must be brought to the light via whistleblowing. Ethical leadership equitably influence ethical climate, which in turn will favorably encourages employees in whistleblowing. This study is intended to examine and overcome the research gap based on the mediating aspect of psychological stress and moral attentiveness in association of ethical leadership, ethics oriented climate on whistleblowing. Twelve hypotheses were developed to examine the conceptual framework of the study. A self-administered questionnaire was devised to acquire cross sectional information from 425 employees from the banks in Gujranwala division, Punjab, Pakistan via convenient sampling. Results showed that in the presence of ethical leadership and ethics oriented environment in an organization’ the psychological stress of employees decreases and moral attentiveness of the employees increases and ultimately have the positive impact on whistleblowing. Hence, this research is one of the few cross-sectional researches that examining the mediation mechanism of psychological stress and moral attentiveness in the banking sector of Pakistan.

Managerial ethical leadership, ethical climate and employee ethical behavior: does moral attentiveness matter?

ABSTRACT Ethical leaders can influence followers’ ethical behaviors by establishing an ethical climate. However, followers’ responses to an ethical climate may also differ according to the amount of attention they devote to moral questions. This study analyzes whether moral attentiveness augments the positive effect of an ethical climate on employees’ ethical behaviors, as well as the indirect effect of ethical leadership on employee ethical behavior through an ethical climate. Data from 270 employees in the Malaysian manufacturing industry indicate that the positive impact of an ethical climate on ethical behavior is greater among employees who exhibit high rather than low moral attentiveness; this moderating role also applies to the relationship between ethical leadership and employee ethical behavior through the ethical climate. This study thus sheds new light on the notable role of moral attentiveness in ensuring that ethical leadership and ethical climate enhance ethical behavior in the workplace.

Reciprocal relationship between workplace incivility and deviant silence—The moderating role of moral attentiveness

AbstractIn the present study, we examine the reciprocal relationship between employees' perceptions of workplace incivility and their deviant silence. We also explore the moderating role of moral attentiveness on the relationship between workplace incivility and deviant silence. Utilizing three‐waves of longitudinal data from 297 full‐time employees working in different industrial sectors in the United States, we find support for the reciprocal model as the best fit to the data, thus validating relationships over time between our study variables. Taken together, our results suggest that workplace incivility at T1/T2 significantly predicted deviant silence at T2/T3. The results also reveal that deviant silence at T1/T2 significantly predicted workplace incivility at T2/T3. Importantly, we found that reflective but not perceptual moral attentiveness significantly reduced the negative influence of workplace incivility on deviant silence in subsequent time periods.

Admired and disgusted? Third parties’ paradoxical emotional reactions and behavioral consequences towards others’ unethical pro‐organizational behavior

AbstractUnethical pro‐organizational behavior (UPB) is often visible to co‐workers; however, reactions to UPB are rarely considered in empirical research in spite of their importance to the social dynamics in the workplace. Drawing upon appraisal theory of emotion and the behavioral ethics literature, we predict that observing UPB would lead third parties to experience admiration due to thepro‐organizationalnature of UPB; these third parties would in turn be motivated to display more helping behavior towards the UPB actor. Conversely, we predict that observing UPB would lead third parties to experience disgust due to theunethicalnature of UPB; these third parties would dis‐identify themselves from the UPB actor by instigating incivility. Meanwhile, they would disengage themselves from the UPB actor by avoiding them in subsequent interactions. In addition, the observing employees might also engage in action‐oriented behavior such as whistle‐blowing behavior to sanction the UPB actor. Across an experience‐sampling study with three daily assessments as well as an experimental study, we find support for these predictions. Furthermore, we find that third parties’ moral attentiveness moderates the link between observed UPB and disgust, such that observed UPB leads to heightened feelings of disgust only when third parties have high levels of moral attentiveness. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our work.

How Buddhist beliefs relate to blood donation intention: The role of moral attentiveness and self‐monitoring

AbstractBuddhism is prevalent in Asia and has been growing in Western countries. Its perspectives have subtle influences on people’s ways of thinking and behaving. This study focuses on the association between Buddhist beliefs and blood donation intention. We draw on a social‐cognitive perspective to delineate how this link is mediated by moral attentiveness and moderated by self‐monitoring. Data were collected via online surveys, and 508 respondents were included in the final sample. We used Hayes’ PROCESS macro and simple slope analysis to assess all relationships in our moderated mediation model. Results indicated that Buddhist beliefs were positively related to blood donation intention, and moral attentiveness mediated this relationship. Moreover, self‐monitoring was found to moderate the direct relationship between Buddhist beliefs and moral attentiveness, as well as the indirect relationship between Buddhist beliefs and blood donation intention through moral attentiveness. The associations were strengthened with increased self‐monitoring. This research provides a nuanced explanation of the manner in which Buddhist beliefs are associated with blood donation intention. Blood donation recruitment campaigns can incorporate instrumental elements of Buddhist teachings, such as the pursuit of moral perfection, the cultivation of the virtues of unselfishness, benevolence and understanding, and the laws of Karma. Meanwhile, mindfulness as a core practice in Buddhism can be utilized to improve moral attentiveness and self‐monitoring, thereby promoting blood donation intention.

Could CSR Practices Increase Employee Affective Commitment via Moral Attentiveness?

The impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on companies’ macroeconomic indicators (financial performance, sustainability) has been the subject of many studies. However, more recently, the effect of CSR activities on individual variables (microeconomic indicators) has begun to attract attention. Although CSR itself is founded on the moral roots of the society in which it operates, it seems that the effect of individuals’ moral attentiveness has been neglected. The CSR effect, which is the focus of this study, is examined using three dimensions to understand how CSR can directly and indirectly affect the organizational commitment of employees. A theoretical model is developed in this paper, the focus of which is on the ethical framework of CSR and the proposition that it may have an effect on employees. The sample comprises individuals working in two of the country’s most important private production facilities in the western capital of Turkey. An online questionnaire form was prepared and shared. The online form was active between 2 March 2020 and 11 May 2020. Out of 472 forms, 465 were usable and, therefore, used in the analyses. We found proof for most of our assertions. Implications and future research suggestions are discussed.