Moral Commitment Research Articles

Integrating the Value Belief Norm Theory and Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption Behaviors in Agriculture Production.

Climate change poses a critical threat to global agriculture, particularly in climate-sensitive regions like the Kashmir Valley, India. Despite increasing attention to climate-related agricultural risks, limited research has examined how farmers' psychological and behavioral responses shape adaptation and mitigation efforts. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates how two prominent behavioral frameworks-the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory-explain the pro-environmental behaviors of rice farmers in response to climate change. Rather than identifying the direct impact of climate change itself, the study aims to predict and explain farmers' adaptation and mitigation behaviors using an integrated theoretical model grounded in the TPB and VBN frameworks. Based on data collected from 759 rice farmers via a multi-stage stratified sampling method, the study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships. The analysis reveals that TPB constructs explain 40.6% of the variance in adaptation behaviors and 23.6% in mitigation behaviors, while VBN constructs account for 57.4% of variance in mitigation and 25.7% in adaptation behaviors. These findings demonstrate that adaptation behaviors are primarily driven by self-interest and volitional control (TPB), whereas mitigation behaviors are more closely linked to moral and normative commitments (VBN). The study concludes that differentiated behavioral drivers must inform climate policy, particularly by incorporating farmers' perspectives to foster more sustainable agricultural practices in vulnerable regions.

Service Learning in Premarital Guidance to Enhance the Religious and Psychological Readiness of Prospective Brides and Grooms

Premarital guidance plays a vital role in preparing prospective brides and grooms for marriage by enhancing their religious and psychological readiness. Integrating Service Learning into this guidance program offers an experiential and participatory approach that may improve the effectiveness of preparation. This study employed a qualitative descriptive method with a Service Learning framework, involving five pairs of prospective couples and one religious counselor at the Religious Affairs Office in Percut Sei Tuan. Data were collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews, focusing on the implementation process and its impact on couples’ readiness. Findings indicate that Service Learning-based premarital guidance significantly improves couples’ understanding of Islamic marriage principles and strengthens their emotional maturity and coping skills. Interactive activities and reflections promoted deeper internalization of religious values and enhanced psychological preparedness for marital challenges. The participatory nature of Service Learning fosters moral commitment and emotional resilience essential for harmonious family life. Despite challenges such as limited time and participant variability, this approach effectively combines spiritual and psychological preparation, contributing to the development of stable and fulfilling marriages.

An epistemological reflection on the psychosocial processes experienced by One Health researchers

ABSTRACT In the era of the Anthropocene and the ensuing transitions, the One Health approach is one of the possible answers to rethinking our place on the planet. The aim of this article is to propose an epistemological reflection on the psychosocial processes that concern researchers working with the One Health approach, developing some perspectives that have received limited attention to date. We argue for the importance of making these processes explicit, and to focus on the complexity associated with sticking to both a One Health and a community-based approach. Drawing on our experience as researchers engaged in participatory and community-based research in the field of social psychology of health and ecology, and involved in research projects oriented towards the One Health perspective, we outline four key challenges researchers may face: (1) moving beyond anthropocentric conceptions of health, particularly in human medicine, the social sciences, and public health; (2) integrating moral commitments, values, and plural identities into scientific reflection; (3) collaborating with other ‘disciplinary communities’; (4) integrating non-academic researchers into the co-construction of science, by legitimising the experiential knowledge. For each challenge, we propose theoretical and methodological tools, conceived as resources to support researchers navigating these transitions.

Social Closure in the Youth Sport Field: The Pull of the Game on Class-Privileged Parents

This article addresses a key question in the sociology of social inequality: how the class-privileged come to monopolise formerly open social fields through processes of social closure. We focus on ‘informal social closure’, the less studied form of closure in the literature; our empirical case is youth cross-country skiing in Norway, which historically has recruited across the class spectrum. Based on interviews with ski parents and inspired by Bourdieu’s notion of ‘illusio’ (players’ belief in the game’s importance), we distinguish between three groups of resourceful families who play various roles in exacerbating monopolisation: ‘genuine’, ‘compliant’ and ‘unwilling’ players. Our analysis furthers the understanding of how illusio fuels informal closure processes; compliant players – those with a weaker illusio – play a key role. To understand compliant players’ role, the analysis should scrutinise both how they legitimate the exclusionary code pushed by genuine players and their moral commitments beyond the particular game.

From Catalyst to Clarity

Photo ID 9988195 © Serialcoder Dreamstime.com Introduction Orphan drugs are therapeutics that treat rare diseases, defined as affecting 200,000 or fewer people in the United States, that normally would not receive investment given the small patient population. Passed in 1983, the Orphan Drug Act (ODA) promoted orphan drug development through incentives, including seven years of exclusivity.[1] However, a 2021 court decision undermined the original spirit of the ODA, resulting in fewer incentives for researching and developing critical therapeutics necessary for treating patients suffering from rare diseases, particularly children. The Retaining Access and Restoring Exclusivity Act (RARE Act),[2] would rectify the impacts of this decision and restore the ODA to its original intent. This would also fulfill the state’s obligations to justice under the application of the difference principle to drug development priority-setting. Background Under the ODA, drug companies obtain an orphan designation prior to clinical trials.[3] If the drug is proven to be safe and effective, then the FDA approves the drug for a specific use or indication. For example, the FDA could approve a cystic fibrosis drug for adults with a given genetic mutation. The exclusivity would then apply only to the use of the drug in that population.[4] The orphan drug designation gives the pharmaceutical company seven years of market exclusivity. Catalyst v. Becerra In 2009, Catalyst received an orphan drug designation for its drug Firdapse (amifampridine) for the treatment of Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS), an autoimmune disease that affects less than 0.001 percent of the population. The FDA approved Firdapse for adults with LEMS in 2018 and granted Catalyst exclusivity through 2025. Jacobus had developed Ruzurgi (amifampridine, the same drug) to treat LEMS and received an orphan drug designation in 1990. In 2019, the FDA approved Ruzurgi for patients less than 17 years old.[5] Catalyst sued the FDA, challenging the FDA’s long-standing interpretation of market exclusivity. The case, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals v. Becerra, centered on how broad exclusivity is and sought to answer the question of whether or not the statutory phrase “same disease or condition” contained in the ODA was ambiguous.[6] The 11th Circuit determined that the phrase was not ambiguous, broadening the traditional FDA interpretation of “same disease or condition.” The court found that FDA approval of Ruzurgi for pediatric patients violated Catalyst’s exclusivity. The court held that Congress would have included specific language for “use or indication” if it had intended the statutory phrase to be interpreted to limit exclusivity to the specific use and indication and to allow other brands to market to subgroups after demonstrating safety and efficacy in those groups.[7] Prior to Catalyst, the FDA interpreted the ODA to limit exclusivity to particular uses and indications. The FDA encouraged other companies to engage in clinical trials to serve subpopulations and approve existing drugs for additional subgroups within a disease. That way, FDA approval of a drug for adults would not discourage others from researching the same drug for pediatrics.[8] The RARE Act would clarify and codify the FDA’s long-standing interpretation of the ODA limiting exclusivity to use or indication. The Ramifications of Catalyst The court’s interpretation of orphan drug development has created a policy landscape that deters orphan drug research, straying from the ODA’s intent. For example, a company that studies an existing drug with an orphan designation but for a different population subgroup, such as children, and demonstrates its safety and effectiveness, would be unable to receive a period of exclusivity.[9] Without that key incentive, many companies would likely focus on other areas of research. Exclusivity is meant to promote rare disease research and eventually lead to new treatments for patients, not constrain them. The court’s ruling has jeopardized the underlying purpose of the ODA in serving the needs of rare disease communities. The downstream effects of Catalyst on drug development are already being observed in FDA approval rates for new drugs. In the 16 months preceding the Catalyst decision, the FDA approved 217 orphan drugs.[10] After Catalyst, that dropped to only 95 drugs being approved.[11] The interpretation proposed by Catalyst and held by the 11th Circuit also ignores important scientific truths recognized by both medical experts and Congress. Children are not simply “small adults.”[12] Children can have different manifestations of the same diseases as adults, as well as respond differently to treatment.[13] In the context of rare diseases, advancing drug treatments is especially important for pediatric populations, as many rare diseases develop during childhood.[14] Congress has sought to address the need to promote drug treatment research in children by passing both the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act and Pediatric Research Equity Act.[15] The interpretation in Catalyst ignores this fact and errs in ignoring the critical need to distinguish indications for granting exclusivity. Without clarification of the RARE Act, drug companies might also be deterred from future orphan drug development, given the existing confusion on the approval process and ambiguity in regulatory guidance. In Catalyst, the court ordered the FDA to set aside the drug in question. While the FDA complied with the court, it also posted a notification in the Federal Register in 2023 regarding its continued intent to grant approvals beyond the scope of Catalyst, using the standard of use or indication.[16] The FDA justified this decision by saying continued adherence to the ambiguous language of the statute would “best serve the public health by facilitating patient access to orphan drugs, especially for difficult-to-study patients such as young children.” The RARE Act would remove any confusion in the approval process by granting the FDA the explicit statutory authority to approve the same drug from different manufacturers if they are able to treat different patient populations. It would also remove the possibility of future drug sponsors challenging competing orphan drug approvals on the basis of the reasoning in Catalyst. The Difference Principle in Context Only about 5 percent of rare diseases have an FDA-approved therapy, and this is after four decades of targeted research and development incentives through the ODA.[17] Subgroups like pediatric populations fail to attract investment and research attention from industry because barriers like confusion over exclusivity exist. Some might argue that incentivizing research into subgroups for rare diseases is a misguided approach, as it encourages investment into drugs which would benefit only a very small population. Why should we promote the use of significant resources for these small populations when those resources could go to drug research that could benefit more people? The difference principle, as proposed by John Rawls, enriches and supports our understanding of the state’s obligations in the context of drug development and priority-setting in research incentives. The principle holds that social and economic inequalities are justified only if they benefit the least advantaged members of society.[18] Applied here, it supports prioritizing research for pediatric rare diseases—even if only a small group benefits—because doing so helps those who are most disadvantaged in the healthcare system, providing them with opportunities to live a good life, as they conceive it, that they would not otherwise have. Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-07), co-chair of the Rare Disease Congressional Caucus, answered the question more concisely by stating that “access to medicine shouldn’t be sacrificed for drug companies’ bottom line.”[19] If you believe that children with rare diseases deserve a fighting chance and should not be neglected for the sake of profit, the RARE Act is a necessary and urgent step to fulfilling that moral commitment. Some argue that without broad exclusivity for an entire disease, companies might not invest in orphan drug development at all. But this concern is overstated. The FDA’s earlier approach still gave companies meaningful protection for specific indications, like adults, while allowing others to step in and develop treatments for different groups, such as children. Broad exclusivity shuts that down, blocking follow-on research that could reach patients with no other options. The RARE Act would fix this by restoring a more practical balance between rewarding innovation and expanding access. Conclusion The House passed the RARE Act in September 2024, although it fell short of being signed into law. Although there has been consistently strong bipartisan support for the legislation, confounding political tensions concerning government inefficiency have caused these provisions to be left in a state of legislative suspension. The language of the RARE Act has been introduced once again as a part of the Give Kids a Chance Act and introduced to the House by Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) this March. Catalyst has jeopardized the original spirit of the ODA as a means of helping those who need it most. Congress must pass the RARE Act to realign the function of the ODA with its intended purpose and fulfill the state’s obligations under an ethical framework that is committed to prioritizing the most vulnerable and worst-off. - [1] Katie Cohen, “A Catalyst For Reform: Charting A Future For Orphan Drug Exclusivity,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review vol. 173, iss. 3 (2025): 909. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9883&context=penn_law_review [2] Now included as Section 6 of the Give Kids a Chance Act (H.R. 1262), [3] Karin Hoelzer, “Congress should protect the intent of the Orphan Drug Act and pass the RARE Act,” NORD, https://rarediseases.org/pass-the-rare-act/ [4] Ibid. [5] Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Becerra, No. 20-13922 (11th Cir. 2021), 7-9. [6] Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Becerra, No. 20-13922 (11th Cir. 2021), 2. [7] Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Becerra, No. 20-13922 (11th Cir. 2021), 13. [8] “FDA’s Overview of Catalyst Pharms., Inc. v. Becerra,” https://www.fda.gov/industry/medical-products-rare-diseases-and-conditions/fdas-overview-catalyst-pharms-inc-v-becerra [9] Ibid. [10] Katie Cohen, “A Catalyst For Reform: Charting A Future For Orphan Drug Exclusivity,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review vol. 173, iss. 3 (2025): 920. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9883&context=penn_law_review [11] Ibid. [12] Thomas R. Welch, “Children are not Small Adults,” Journal of Pediatrics vol. 271(2024). [13] Ibid. [14]Apoorva Kakkilaya, Mahnum Shahzad, and Florence T. Bourgeois, “FDA Approval of Orphan Drug Indications for Pediatric Patients, 2011-2023,” JAMA Pediatr. 179, 2 (2025): 203-205. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.5280 [15] Michael Christensen, “Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act and Pediatric Research Equity Act: Time for Permanent Status,” J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther. 17 (2) (2012):140. [16] “Clarification of Orphan-Drug Exclusivity Following Catalyst Pharms., Inc. v. Becerra; Notification,” Federal Register, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/24/2023-01179/clarification-of-orphan-drug-exclusivity-following-catalyst-pharms-inc-v-becerra-notification [17] Hannah-Alise Rogers, “The Orphan Drug Act and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., v. Becerra,” Congressional Research Service (2023). https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R47653.pdf [18] John Rawls, “A Theory of Justice,” Harvard University Press (1971): 65. [19] “Legislation Included as Part of Rare Disease Package,” https://matsui.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-passes-matsuis-rare-act

Psychiatric Nurses' Compassion Fatigue, Moral Commitment, Workplace Civility, and Missed Nursing Care: The Mediating Role of Practice Environment.

To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first to explore the moral commitment and workplace civility of psychiatric nurses working in a Middle Eastern country, as well as the mediating role of the practice environment in the associations between compassion fatigue, moral commitment, workplace civility, and missed nursing care. This cross-sectional and correlational study consecutively recruited psychiatric nurses (n = 207) from three government-owned mental health centers in Saudi Arabia. Five standardised scales were used to collect data from June to November 2024. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was used for data analyses. Psychiatric nurses' moral commitment had a direct, negative, and moderate influence on compassion fatigue (β = -0.24, p = 0.013), practice environment (β = -0.21, p = 0.007), and missed nursing care (β = -0.20, p = 0.008). Compassion fatigue had a direct, positive effect on the practice environment (β = 0.14, p = 0.033) but a negative, direct influence on missed nursing care (β = -0.28, p = 0.003). The practice environment directly and positively influenced missed nursing care (β = 0.16, p = 0.015). Path analyses indicated that moral commitment (β = -0.04, p = 0.027) and compassion fatigue (β = 0.02, p = 0.015) had statistically significant indirect effects on missed nursing care through the mediation of practice environment. Nurse leaders and healthcare institutions are responsible for creating an efficient practice environment for psychiatric nurses, strengthening their moral commitment while effectively managing their compassion fatigue and minimising missed nursing care.

Hinge-certainty and the asymmetricality of ‘deep moral disagreement’

The idea of deep disagreement, as a peculiarly distinct kind of disagreement, was seminally introduced by Fogelin. His diagnosis of the problems posed by deep disagreement was based on what at the time was the unappreciated insight and wisdom of Wittgenstein’s On Certainty (1969). Many epistemologists of deep disagreement nowadays draw on the flourishing research programme of hinge epistemology that derives from On Certainty, and define deep disagreement as a clash of conflicting ‘hinge commitments’. The idea that deep moral disagreement is a distinct subset of deep disagreement, grounded on conflicting moral hinge commitments, has recently come to the fore. This paper critically examines the plausibility of that idea, and the adequacy of hinge epistemologists’ deployment of the concept of hinge commitment to the analysis of deep disagreement. I argue that hinge epistemologists of deep disagreement disregard, ignore, or conflate key distinctions between subjective and objective certainty, and universal and local certainty, in their conception and deployment of the concept of hinge commitment. With the aid of these distinctions, I reveal the individualistic assumptions and framework that epistemologists project onto the idea of deep moral disagreement, and argue that ‘objective’ hinge-certainty is a social property of ways of life, rather than of individual psyches. The paper culminates with a demonstration of why, and how, deep moral disagreements are asymmetrically deep, and disagreements not ‘in opinions but in form of life’ (Wittgenstein in Philosophical investigations. Blackwell, Oxford, 1968, § 241).

Commitment in the rational relativist perspective and zhi 志 in early Confucianism: Their roles in moral cultivation

ABSTRACT Moral commitments play a role in the process of moral cultivation. This paper explores the concept of commitment and its significance in moral development. Rational relativists argue that commitment is an act of will that guides individuals in making decisions, especially when faced with value conflicts. Through a series of decisions, individuals develop their dispositions and become distinct persons. However, this view of commitment has two major weaknesses: first, rational relativism does not adequately address how to sustain and fulfill long-term commitments; second, commitments driven by selfish motives may undermine long-term moral growth. In response, I turn to the Confucian concept of zhi 志, which offers a more nuanced and holistic approach. For Confucians, the making and maintenance of zhi is a continuous, on-going process of moral cultivation. This paper demonstrates how the Confucian notion of zhi can effectively address these challenges, providing a more sustainable and morally enriching framework for commitment.

Farming insects in the zoopolis?

ABSTRACT This commentary briefly addresses Anne Barnhill and Matteo Bonotti’s Healthy Eating Policy and Political Philosophy before providing a more sustained discussion of Josh Milburn’s Food, Justice, and Animals. In both cases, I’m interested in the beings who receive reduced protections under the authors’ respective views. This is true of animals generally in Barnhill and Bonotti’s book; in Milburn’s, the relevant beings are those beings where we assign a low but non-trivial credence to the hypothesis that they’re sentient. In Barnhill and Bonotti’s case, I point out that the evaluative standards that are constitutive of the accessibility approach to public reason include some substantive moral, theoretical, and empirical commitments, as those commitments are relevant to assessing plausibility. And those substantive assumptions are likely not to be friendly to animals. In Milburn’s case, I make three points. First, the current trajectory of insect sentience research appears to support a less skeptical view about their mental lives. Second, it isn’t clear that we can be sufficiently confident that sentience is the only ground of morally relevant interests. Third, we might think that Milburn’s level of precaution is too low.

Animal ethical mourning: types of loss and grief in relation to non-human animals.

People can feel various kinds of loss and grief in relation to non-human animals. This has been increasingly studied in relation to pets and companion animals. Recent explorations of ecological grief include wildlife loss, and emerging studies observe grief among veterinarian professionals, zoo personnel, and animal researchers. People can mourn many kinds of animals, including farmed animals, but there is a need for more research on the topic. In this interdisciplinary article, we draw attention to various forms of what we call animal ethical mourning: grief experienced as a consequence of moral commitment to animals. We chart many new aspects by applying Pihkala's recent framework of Ecological Sorrow (2024) into three case examples: companion animal grief (including pets), wildlife grief, and farmed animal grief. We find many kinds of loss and grief in relation to the case examples, and we propose two new terms for socially contradicted forms of animal ethical mourning: "contested grief" and "contrapuntal grief." The results are useful for anyone who either experiences animal ethical mourning or wishes to provide more understanding for it in societies. The findings can also inform practices in workplaces which include animals.

Intencje według G.E.M. Anscombe

In the fifties of the previous century G.E.M. Anscombe produced a philosophical theory, which challenged ethical consequentialism, interpreted as a philosophy that comprises all forms of utilitarianism plus those ethical views that reduce the function of moral norms to evaluation of consequences disregarding thereby intentions, fidelity to commitments, moral feelings, noble resolutions and demanding life styles. An outstanding representative of consequentialism was in her mind Henry Sidgwick. Against his position, a reliable version of ethics was to be found in traditional normativism and pure theory of moral commitments. An essential interpretative problem for her ethics was therefore finding a way to justify absolute norms. Anscombe met this requirement by Intencje według G.E.M. Anscombe 45 stating that the role of ethics was to organize the lives of various individuals into a society. A well‑ordered society assigns various roles to various individuals. Each role is executed by performing intentional activities. The roles are combined into a functional system by commitments assigned to individuals who work together by fulfilling appropriate intentional acts and roles. This theory had been strongly inspired by the concept of language games invented by Ludwig Wittgenstein. It opens a strange possibility of saving Saint Peter from the dilemma of either betraying Jesus (once or three times), or losing his moral stature. We may assume that his betrayal was not an abandonment of his formerly professed faith but a choice of the only available appropriate intention in the circumstances – safeguarding divine prophecy.

Support for diversity and the racial status quo in lay and legal samples

While attacks on diversity in higher education have clear ramifications for preserving the racial status quo in the U.S., the impact of embracing diversity is less clear. People may value diversity for some combination of the instrumental benefits diversity provides or their moral commitments to certain values. While decades of court precedent have contributed to the predominance of instrumental over moral rationales, little is known about the psychological factors underlying this differential popularity. Across two observational studies (NTotal = 1101) and one experiment (N = 197) with lay samples of White Americans, attitudes that favor the racial status quo undergirded participants’ inclination toward instrumental over moral rationales. Studies 4 & 5 (NTotal = 285) yield a more complex picture of the potential association between an inclination towards instrumental rationales and endorsement of the status quo in judges’ rulings and lawyers’ defenses of universities’ rights to race-conscious practices. These findings illustrate how university diversity practices—and the law governing them—can reflect dominant group preferences.

Personalist Philosophy, the Relational Trinity, and the Business Firm as a Moral Community

The aim of this study is to identify the excellent goods that are required for the project of forming a moral community in a business firm. Trinitarian theology is used to reflect on these goods. Though there is a massive gap between the way the triune community expresses itself and the way human communities do, the Christian doctrine that humans are made in the image of God, and therefore imago trinitatis, suggests that Trinitarian theology offers a pattern for moral community in a firm. The Persons of the relational Trinity express love through an I–Thou–We modality. The work of Martin Buber and Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) on the I–Thou or interhuman relation is first discussed. It is then noted that Wojtyla goes further in contending that I–Thou alone does not in and of itself constitute a human community; it is only when a plurality of “I”s act together to advance the common good that we can speak of the “we” (the social dimension). It is argued that a correlational reading of social Trinitarian thought and Wojtyla’s personalist phenomenology indicates what is required in a firm aspiring to be a genuinely moral community—namely, both intersubjectivity (I–Thou relationality) and a social profile (the “we”). It is further argued that these modalities are actualized in a business firm through moral friendship, good will (I–Thou), and commitment to the common good (“we”). These are foundational stones of a moral community.

International service-learning projects on water sustainable management in higher education: a case study on improving water quality in a needy community

Purpose The first aim of this paper was to discuss the learning experience of university students who participated in a service-learning project on sustainable water management. By investigating the students’ engagement in a real-world, community-based project, this study also aimed to provide insights into the effectiveness of service-learning as a pedagogical approach for sustainable development education. Design/methodology/approach This paper presented a service-learning project organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University on improving water quality in low-income communities. An overview of the project was provided, including the curriculum design, project contents, implementation process, as well as students’ assessments, evaluation and feedback. Based on students’ assessments, the outcomes and impacts of this project were discussed. Additionally, several barriers were identified during this project, and corresponding suggestions were proposed to improve the service quality and increase its positive impacts. Findings The students established 12 water filtration systems to improve the water quality in a needy village overseas. Apart from the benefits to the service recipients, the participating students experienced personal development and civic engagement measured in 10 aspects, including the application of classroom learning, adaptive problem-solving, creative thinking, community contribution, commitment to helping the disadvantaged, empathy and compassion, concern for those in need, moral commitment to civic affairs, multi-perspective analysis and informed decision-making. Originality/value Although the recorded project was not the first international service-learning project on water sustainable management, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the whole procedure of the service-learning project was documented as a compulsory credit-bearing subject in Hong Kong universities. With the water sustainability project example, this paper shows how to integrate service-learning subjects into university curricula and what benefits and challenges they could bring.

Deviant Behavior in Religious Schools: The Interplay of Psychological Safety, Sanctions, and Academic Commitment

Despite the moral emphasis in religious-based schools, some students still engage in deviant behavior. Weak social bonds within families, schools, or communities may contribute to this issue. This study examines the roles of psychological safety, sanctions, and academic commitment in preventing deviant behavior. A survey was conducted among 200 students from religious-based schools in Bekasi. Validated instruments measured Deviant Behavior, Psychological Safety, Sanctions, and Academic Commitment. Data were analyzed using correlation, mediation, and moderation analyses. Psychological safety (-0.195) and academic commitment (-0.279) showed significant negative correlations with deviant behavior. A psychologically safe environment enhanced motivation and compliance, while academic commitment reinforced moral values. Sanctions also had a weak negative correlation (-0.186) with deviant behavior, supporting social norms. Psychological safety and sanctions together explained 6.8% of the variance in deviant behavior (R² = 0.068). Mediation analysis revealed that academic commitment mediated the effect of psychological safety on deviant behavior but not that of sanctions. Moderation analysis indicated that sanctions strengthened the impact of psychological safety. Although the correlations were weak, they remained statistically significant, highlighting the importance of psychological safety in fostering positive behavior. Family psychology emphasizes parental influence, while legal psychology underscores the role of fair and consistent sanctions. Integrating psychological safety, academic commitment, and sanctions may help reduce deviant behavior in religious-based schools. Future research should explore interventions to strengthen moral commitment and social bonds.

Antonio Cassese and The Man in a Case

Abstract As we mark the 30th anniversary of the Tadić interlocutory appeal on jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, this special contribution commemorates the moment by looking at Antonio Cassese’s impact on international law, with a particular focus on his understanding of his own methodology, which could be described as ‘critical positivism’ and executed by a ‘judicious reformer’. ‘The Man in a Case’ in the title is a reference to a famous short story by Anton Chekov, a piece that Cassese particularly liked. With a wry smile, he used to say that lawyers who adhered to strict legal positivism risked becoming like the character in the story, Belikov, who lived a solitary existence and adhered strictly to a rigid set of rules and principles, building metaphorical walls around himself like a ‘man in a case’. Although Cassese recognized the safeguarding role that legal positivism can play in shielding legal discourse from ideological manipulation, he cautioned against the potential of pure positivism to put distance between lawyers and the socio-political challenges he thought we should be addressing in the real world. In his approach to law, as a scholar, a judge, and a practitioner, Cassese sought to balance methodological rigour with principled engagement. He emphasized the imperative for jurists to avoid becoming mere instruments of power and strove to maintain a delicate equilibrium between adherence to legal principles and active participation in moral and political discourse. In essence, Cassese’s approach sought to harness the protective function of legal positivism to his need to engage his moral and political commitments.

Environmental Awareness and Moral Commitment in Water Usage in Gastronomy SMEs

In recent years, awareness of the sustainable use of water has grown across various industries, including the gastronomic sector. This study aimed to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on environmental awareness, moral commitment, corporate image, and the intention of employees from gastronomic SMEs to responsibly manage water usage. To achieve this objective, 354 surveys were conducted with employees from restaurants in Santiago, Chile, and a PLS-SEM model was utilized for data analysis. The results revealed that CSR had a significant impact on ecological awareness and the intention to conserve water. These findings highlight the critical role entrepreneurs and their employees play in water conservation, as they are directly involved in the management of this vital resource.

The Perceived Impact of Global Surgery Engagement on Career Advancement among US Medical Students.

The Perceived Impact of Global Surgery Engagement on Career Advancement among US Medical Students.

SAMARINDA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS' COMMITMENT: THE IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE, LEADERSHIP STYLE, MORAL HIERARCHY LEVEL, AND MOTIVATION

The goal of this study is to investigate a model of the direct variable relationships between organisational culture, moral hierarchy levels, commitment, motivation, and leadership style. Purpose This study is to find out, the direct influence of school organizational culture, the leadership style of the principal, on teacher commitment, the level of moral hierarchy on teacher commitment, teacher work motivation on teacher commitment, the direct influence of school organizational culture, the principal's leadership style on teacher work motivation, the level of moral hierarchy on teacher work motivation. The study population of all junior high school teachers in Samarinda City. The sampling technique is used non-random, proportional sampling. This technique is to obtain 309 samples from the total population 796 teachers. Path analysis is one analysis technique used to find the relationship between variables. The stages of path analysis techniques are (1) Descriptive statistical analysis, (2) Normality test requirements test and linearity test, (3) Hypothesis test using significance test analysis. Based on the results, it can be said that raising work motivation, moral hierarchy level, leadership style, and organisational culture of the school can all help junior high school teachers in Samarinda become more committed.

Committing to Parenthood

How do adults acquire the moral right to rear a child? In Luara Ferracioli’s new Parenting and the Goods of Childhood, she argues that adults acquire this right when they morally commit to a child. In this note, I’ll critically evaluate Ferracioli’s account. I’ll first describe the moral commitment view in further detail. After this, I’ll argue that it suffers from what I call the Swooping Problem. Contrary to Ferracioli’s defenses, her view permits adults to swoop in and acquire a right to rear a child just by asserting a moral commitment to them even when the mother is still gestating the child or when there is already an established parent-child relationship in place. Since these are undesirable and counterintuitive results, we should modify the moral commitment view to avoid them. Along the way, then, I’ll suggest ways Ferracioli could modify her view to avoid these objections.