Moral Intensity Research Articles

Ethical decision-making, plagiarism, and using ChatGPT in the first-year public speaking course

ABSTRACT This study explores the ethical decision-making of introductory public speaking students (n = 190) when considering using ChatGPT to generate speeches. Using a modified version of Jones (1991) model, this study examined how students perceived moral aspects, recognized ethical issues, judged situations, and formed intentions. Results showed that perceived moral intensity directly affected recognizing ethical problems. Better recognition led to more appropriate ethical judgments, particularly among those with higher perceived moral intensity. Ethical judgments significantly influenced intentions to use ChatGPT for speeches. Students who viewed the use of ChatGPT as ethically problematic were inclined to avoid it.

Ethical Leadership and Emotional Exhaustion: The Impact of Moral Intensity and Affective Commitment

Purpose: The impact of ethical leadership on employee emotional exhaustion has been extensively analyzed. However, the impact of a leader’s moral intensity on an employee’s emotional state has gone largely unnoticed. This research demonstrates that ethical leadership influences employee emotional exhaustion as a function of the extent of the leader’s moral standards. Furthermore, this research finds that affective commitment acts as a mediating mechanism. Methods: A simple mediation model is used. The sample consists of 448 professionals in six organizations in the Colombian electrical sector who responded to an online questionnaire. The sampling is probabilistic by conglomerates. Findings: This research found a positive relationship between ethical leadership and emotional exhaustion, with affective commitment being a mechanism that helps explain this association. Ethical behavior is voluntary in nature and develops in an environment of trust. When an ethical leader surpasses specific moral turning points, a follower’s learning becomes an obligation, preventing affective fluidity. A search for acceptance implies constant consumption of resources that weakens the follower’s capacity for self-regulation until it is exhausted. Moreover, when the leader’s expectations are difficult to meet, affective commitment can lead to significant emotional ambiguity in followers. This context intensifies role stress and increases the likelihood of emotional exhaustion. Lastly, seniority in the workplace promotes emotional exhaustion. Originality: This research challenges conventional wisdom about the mitigating effect of ethical leadership on employees’ emotional states. It broadens the understanding of this management style and fills a crucial knowledge gap by introducing a new perspective. Practical Implications: A balanced and accessible leader can quickly convey a convincing ethical discourse. Emphasizing the vulnerability and importance of human beings can help prevent moral anguish and ethical distances. This, in turn, provides followers with resources to mitigate exhaustion and strengthen commitment.

Using the moral intensity framework to examine whether colleges should have reopened in late 2020 for in-person learning: an in-depth analysis of data from the United States with global implications for higher education

ABSTRACT The decision whether to reopen universities for in-person learning in late 2020 relied on ethical decision-making where the consequences were dire to the mission of the institution, health of the community, financial well-being of the institution and employees, and had political ramifications. The risks that universities faced worldwide included health risks to students, faculty, staff, and the community; financial risks to the institution and employees; and mission risks of the institution. Each of these risks had ethical implications. University reopening decisions were made in the United States as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths were surging globally. Applying a moral intensity framework that assesses the in-person learning decision against six dimensions and using data collected from 62 universities, we show that social consensus and risk mitigation measures designed to reduce the magnitude of consequences and temporal immediacy were important factors in deciding to offer in-person classes. An ex-post facto analysis of COVID-19 infection and death data suggests that university administrators made an ethical decision. When facing a similar crisis management scenario in the future, a moral intensity framework could help university administrators worldwide understand the issues and allow them to make an ethical decision.

Team Factors in Ethical Decision Making: A Content Analysis of Interviews with Scientists and Engineers

The ethical decision making of researchers has historically been studied from an individualistic perspective. However, researchers rarely work alone, and they typically experience ethical dilemmas in a team context. In this mixed-methods study, 67 scientists and engineers working at a public R1 (very high research activity) university in the United States responded to a survey that asked whether they had experienced or observed an ethical dilemma while working in a research team. Among these, 30 respondents agreed to be interviewed about their experiences using a think-aloud protocol. A total of 40 unique ethical incidents were collected across these interviews. Qualitative data from interview transcripts were then systematically content-analyzed by multiple independent judges to quantify the overall ethicality of team decisions as well as several team characteristics, decision processes, and situational factors. The results demonstrated that team formalistic orientation, ethical championing, and the use of ethical decision strategies were all positively related to the overall ethicality of team decisions. Additionally, the relationship between ethical championing and overall team decision ethicality was moderated by psychological safety and moral intensity. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Moral intensity and ethical decision-making: a combined importance-performance map analysis for professional accountants

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of moral intensity on the ethical decision-making process of professional accountants based on a combined importance-performance map analysis (cIPMA). Design/methodology/approach Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on data from 309 accountants, the study examined the relationships between four moral intensity dimensions: magnitude of consequences, social consensus, probability of effect and concentration of effect, and the ethical decision-making process. The study also methodologically complemented by a combined importance-performance map analysis and necessary condition analysis. Findings The findings reveal that moral recognition and moral judgment are necessary conditions for predicting accountants’ moral intent. However, in terms of importance and performance, moral recognition plays a less significant role compared to moral judgment. Furthermore, the influence of moral intensity dimensions is pronounced on moral recognition, while their influence on moral judgment and moral intent is more context dependent. This is also exhibited in the combined importance-performance map analysis results. Research limitations/implications The study highlights the importance of considering specific ethical dilemmas and the differential influence of moral intensity when developing strategies to strengthen ethical decision-making in the accounting profession. Future research is encouraged to explore how cultural backgrounds and diverse settings influence accountants’ ethical decision-making with tailored measurement tools for a more comprehensive understanding. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is among the first to complement the results of PLS-SEM with importance-performance map analysis and necessary condition analysis to examine the relationship between moral intensity and ethical decision-making of accountants.

The Effects of Moral Intensity and Moral Disengagement on Rule Violations: Occupational Safety in UK-based Construction Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic

AbstractWe take an ethics theory perspective to examine rule violations and workarounds in the UK construction industry in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK construction sector remained largely operational during lockdowns in the UK, providing an opportunity to explore the ways in which construction workers made ethical decisions in situ, related to health and safety at work, and COVID-19 rules. We conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with participants from 11 organisations (3 major construction companies and 8 subcontractors) during November 2021 to January 2022. Our qualitative analysis focused on coding responses based on the use of moral disengagement tactics, and the dimensions of moral intensity (magnitude of consequences, social consensus, probability of effect, temporal immediacy, proximity and, concentration of effect). We found instances of ethical dilemmas, including conflicts between compliance with organisational health and safety rules, and following COVID-19 rules. Our analysis showed that rule violations were often justified based on moral disengagement tactics, particularly cognitive reconstrual, obscuring personal agency, disregarding consequences and vilification of the victims. Furthermore, moral intensity played a significant role in making ethical decisions about violating rules. Moral intensity was most influential (across dimensions) for moral disengagement based on cognitive reconstrual (e.g., justifications for choosing to follow one set of rules over another). Social context was highly influential in workers’ ethical decisions, including organisational and group social norms, but wider societal attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic, also played a significant role. We discuss the implications for business ethics theory, policy and practice, including recommendations for businesses and policymakers.

THE EFFECT OF BEHAVIORAL CONTROL, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT, SELF KEFFICACY, AND MORAL INTENSITY ON WHISTLEBLOWING INTENTION

Village Credit Institutions (LPD) play a strategic role in helping micro and small businesses and rural communities. However, several problems such as cases of fraud still occur, so a whistleblowing system is important to detect and prevent unethical practices. This study attempts to gain insight into the influence of behavioral control, organizational commitment, self-efficacy, and moral intensity on whistleblowing intentions. Researchers looked at 75 employees from 9 LPDs in South Kuta District. Probability sampling is utilized in the sampling procedure with a simple random sampling technique, and data is gathered via a survey questionnaire. Data analysis using multiple linear regression shows that behavioral control, organizational commitment, self-efficacy, and moral intensity have a favorable impact on the intents of whistleblowers. Implications related to the theory of planned behavior show that whistleblowing intentions are influenced by the belief that reporting violations helps maintain the integrity and reputation of the organization. This research can be input for LPDs in South Kuta District.

Impact of Moral Intensity on Moral Behavior in the context of Artificial Intelligence: The Mediating Role of Technology Moral Sense

Impact of Moral Intensity on Moral Behavior in the context of Artificial Intelligence: The Mediating Role of Technology Moral Sense

Should I do this? Incongruence in the face of conflicting moral and role expectations

Moral incongruence—a misalignment between professional role expectations and personal moral values—is an important phenomenon in modern organizations. Though scholarly work has provided us with insights into broad forms of role incongruence, much less is known about the distinct characteristics of moral incongruence. Moreover, we lack understanding of how moral incongruence may shape employee attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on deonance theory and socio-cognitive theory, we develop a model explaining the role of moral incongruence in promoting employee prohibitive voice, withdrawal, and unethical role behavior through the mechanisms of moral outrage and moral disengagement. Examining potential boundary conditions, we also consider the roles of moral identity, self-interest, moral intensity, unethical climate, ethical leadership, and organizational identification. Given the ethical implications of moral incongruence and the significance of the phenomenon for organizations, this work has implications for both theory and practice.

The influence of personal moral philosophies on consumer responses to company moral transgressions: the role of moral reasoning strategies and moral intensity

The influence of personal moral philosophies on consumer responses to company moral transgressions: the role of moral reasoning strategies and moral intensity

An examination of the 2012–2022 empirical ethical decision‐making literature: A quinary review

AbstractThis review summarizes the empirical ethical decision‐making (EDM) research in business published between 2012 and 2022. Utilizing Rest's (Moral development: advances in research and theory, Praeger, New York, 1986) four‐step model for EDM and Jones' (Acad Manag Rev, 16(2): 366‐395, 1991) theory of moral intensity, 85 articles, resulting in 388 findings, were analyzed. Empirical findings in awareness, intent, judgment, and behavior were categorized by their application to individual and organizational factors resulting in the application of 624 and 62 factors, respectively. A maturing of the research environment is seen through the need for grouping individual factors into themes, essentially forming new connections within EDM research. This article prioritizes new factors and themes, such as bad behaviors, customers and selling, fantasy and imagination, and negative experiences. Additionally, new research in reoccurring themes such as demographics, feelings, personality, and power have elements that were seen in prior reviews but are more nuanced in the current. Furthermore, this quinary review discusses the evolution of EDM research highlighting the relationships studied and modifiers and mediators used. These themes help shape the landscape of EDM research by illustrating the intersectionality of variables. This article advances the understanding of how these foundational models are being nuanced to understand more deeply the EDM process. A call for future research incorporating intersectionality, the continued pursuit of complex relationships, longitudinal research, and major societal and organizational movements is included. Research into the effects of underrepresented demographics such as gender identity, veteran status, and ability is suggested. Furthermore, we question whether Rest (1986) and Jones' (1991) models are inherently Western and if comparing outcomes with a decolonialized research method might give insight into EDM. We present this latest 10‐year collection of EDM empirical research based on Rest (1986) and Jones (1991) as a tool for new and future scholars to utilize in their research endeavors.

Testing the effects of moral intensity news frames on consumer boycott intention

PurposeThis exploratory research examined how emphasizing a brand’s unethical behaviour through high moral intensity news framing influences consumer boycott intention.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested and validated using two experimental studies that expose customers of real retail and personal care product brands to news articles that have high and low moral intensity news frames.FindingsThe results showed high moral intensity news framing’s positive effect on consumer boycott intention. The frame’s influence is moderated by moral awareness and partially mediated by perceived moral intensity and moral judgement. The findings suggest that consumers’ perception of the frame and their attitude towards the brand will have a substantial role in boycott intention.Practical implicationsThese research outcomes aid in the understanding of news framing effects on boycott intention, providing both insights for consumer activists and managerial implications for stewards of brands.Originality/valueWhile previous research have examined the impact of news frames on the typical audience, there has been relatively little focus on news framing’s impact on consumers and their decision to boycott brands. This study addresses this gap by applying the work on emphasis framing to a consumer decision-making context. It also introduces moral intensity framing to the news frame classification. In addition, this study expands current conceptualizations of individual ethical decision-making to help explain consumer boycott intent.

Exploring the determinants of (un)ethical decision-making among accountants using PLS-SEM: a developing country context

PurposeThis study aims to examine the determinants of ethical decision-making (EDM) of professional accountants in Sri Lanka, drawing on Rest’s (1986) four-component EDM model. The level of corporate collapses and fraud, coupled with the high level of corruption in Sri Lanka, has highlighted the importance and the timely nature of this research in the EDM processes of Sri Lankan accountants.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from a sample of 315 accountants through a questionnaire survey that included four written ethical vignettes and was analysed using partial least square-structural equation modelling techniques.FindingsThe findings revealed a significant relationship between ethical awareness and ethical judgement, providing support for Rest’s model. However, the study does not support Rest’s model on the direct relationship between ethical judgement and ethical intention. Intrinsic religiosity and moral intensity significantly influenced the ethical awareness of accountants. Several determinants including accountants’ age, education, intrinsic religiosity, organisational ethical culture, familiarity with the professional ethical code and moral intensity influenced ethical judgement. However, the findings did not report any significant relationships between the study’s variables and ethical intention.Originality/valueThe study adds to the existing literature by providing a bigger picture of how various determinants work together in one EDM model and demonstrating that the EDM of accountants is multifaceted. The new finding on an insignificant relationship between ethical judgement and ethical intention implies that the Rest’s EDM process may be mediated and moderated by other constraints blocking accountants’ intention to act due to various pressures in a corrupt society, Sri Lanka, where accountants operate.

Faktor-Faktor yang Mempengaruhi Niat Mahasiswa Melakukan Tindakan Whistleblowing pada Kecurangan Akademik

Whistleblowing is considered one of the effective ways to avoid and detect in revealing cheating in college. This study uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to analyze the complex interaction between three main factors in whistleblowing, namely individual, situational, and organizational factors. This study used primary data through questionnaires obtained from 182 active students from various universities' accounting study programs in Indonesia. This study used data analysis assisted by SPSS 26 software. The findings prove that the factors analyzed in this study have an impact on students' intentions to whistleblowing academic cheating, both collectively and partially. The results of this study prove that the bystander effect does not influence students' choices to whistleblowing academic fraud. When there are more individuals around when fraud occurs, the likelihood of a potential whistleblower discouraging reporting the fraud they witness is higher. While anonymous reporting channels, moral intensity, and trust in leaders positively affect students' intentions to whistleblowing academic fraud.

Judging the Wrongness of Firms in Social Media Firestorms: The Heuristic and Systematic Information Processing Perspective

Social media firestorms pose a significant challenge for firms in the digital age. Tackling firestorms is difficult because the judgments and responses from social media users are influenced by not only the nature of the transgressions but also by the reactions and opinions of other social media users. Drawing on the heuristic-systematic information processing model, we propose a research model to explain the effects of social impact (the heuristic mode) and argument quality and moral intensity (the systematic mode) on perceptions of firm wrongness (the judgment outcome) as well as the effects of perceptions of firm wrongness on vindictive complaining and patronage reduction. We adopted a mixed methods approach in our investigation, including a survey, an experiment, and a focus group study. Our findings show that the heuristic and systematic modes of information processing exert both direct and interaction effects on individuals’ judgment. Specifically, the heuristic mode of information processing dominates overall and also biases the systematic mode. Our study advances the literature by offering an alternative explanation for the emergence of social media firestorms and identifying a novel context in which the heuristic mode dominates in dual information processing. It also sheds light on the formulation of response strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts resulting from social media firestorms. We conclude our paper with limitations and future research directions.

Citizen or Professional: Exploring Heroic Moral Choice Motivations in Photojournalism

Photojournalists make serious and often heroic split-second decisions when covering scenes. One of the dilemmas they might encounter is the choice between humanitarianism, which favors the subject in need, versus professionalism, which focuses on telling the story. This exploratory study aims to understand the moral decision-making situations encountered by professional photojournalists and how they process decisions in these situations. We interviewed nine professional photojournalists and surveyed the moral intensity of the situations they encountered. The results identified three types of situations where photojournalists encounter citizen vs. professional moral dilemmas. We found that most participants situationally prioritized the subject’s needs and emotions in line with postconventional moral development, and preferred to act as concerned citizens rather than exclusively acting as committed professionals.

Investigating the mechanism of international contractors' fraud from a moral perspective: evidence from Chinese international contractors

PurposeThis study aims to clarify the psychological mechanism of international contractors' fraud by linking performance pressure to fraudulent intention through the displacement of responsibility and addressing the moderating role of moral intensity.Design/methodology/approachBased on moral disengagement theory, performance pressure was hypothesized to be positively associated with fraudulent intention by mediating the displacement of responsibility. Drawing on the issue-contingent theory, moral intensity was hypothesized to inhibit the relationship between performance pressure and displacement of responsibility in three aspects: magnitude of consequences (MC), probability of effect (PE) and social consensus (SC). The scenario-based questionnaire was conducted to collect information from contractors spread across 50 countries. The partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to assess the proposed model.FindingsThe results demonstrated that performance pressure was positively associated with the fraudulent intention, and displacement of responsibility exerted a positive partial mediating impact between performance pressure and fraudulent intention. Regarding moral intensity in the moderating analysis, the negative moderating role of MC and PE was significant, while that of SC was insignificant.Practical implicationsThis study provides international construction practitioners with a deep understanding of the formation mechanism of fraud at the psychological level.Originality/valueIt clarifies the psychological mechanism from performance pressure to fraudulent intention by integrating a mediation impact from the displacement of responsibility and a moderation effect from MC and PE. It contributes to the sparse research on how situational factors shape individuals' fraudulent intentions in the international context. It provides a fresh perspective on fraud by constructing a formation model from moral psychological theories.

Enhancing prosocial behaviour and donation intentions through neuroscientific techniques (EEG and eye tracker): Exploring the influence of charitable advertisement appeals

This study investigates the impact of charitable advertisement appeals on prosocial behaviour and intentions to donate, employing cutting-edge neuroscientific techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracker. It also seeks to analyse the moderating effect of altruism, social norms and moral intensity on the relationship between advertising appeal and prosocial behaviour and intention to donate. Findings indicate that negative appeal is more effective than positive appeal in influencing prosocial behaviour and intent to donate. Furthermore, using an eye tracker showed that individuals try to avoid painful scenes in charitable advertisements. This study provides valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms that drive prosocial behaviour and donation intentions by delving into the influence of various charitable advertisement appeals (both positive and negative) on individuals’ neural and ocular responses. We therefore, argue that findings from this research hold significant implications for marketers and advertisers seeking to create more effective and persuasive charitable advertisements, ultimately promoting greater engagement and support for philanthropic causes.

Making the invisible visible: stakeholder capitalism and powerless stakeholders

Purpose Stakeholder capitalism has been proposed as an alternative way of thinking about business purpose and value creation. However, stakeholder capitalism can only work as an alternative model of business if all stakeholders and their interests are visible to and taken seriously by managers. The purpose of this paper is to untangle the challenges that invisible, marginalized and powerless stakeholders pose for theorizing about stakeholder capitalism. Design/methodology/approach This paper is conceptual. The authors first briefly outline the promise of stakeholder capitalism for addressing pressing questions about value creation and stakeholder welfare. The authors then conceptualize stakeholder invisibility as the outcome of a particular stakeholder being both powerless and marginal through the prism of moral intensity theory and one of its elements: proximity. This study discusses the ways in which managers can make invisible stakeholders more visible in their decision-making. Findings For managers truly to manage for stakeholders, as anticipated by stakeholder capitalism, all stakeholders and stakeholder interests must be visible to them. This study analyzes why sometimes they are not, how they can be made more visible and why stakeholder visibility matters for stakeholder capitalism. This study proffers three principles for business practice: ethical commitments to reduce stakeholder invisibility, analyses of business strategies to surface the contributions of marginalized and invisible stakeholders and taking rights seriously. Originality/value This study provides a new perspective on stakeholder capitalism by linking the challenge in operationalizing it to the problems of stakeholder invisibility and marginality.

The role of deceptive advertisements and ethical decision outcomes in determining buying behavior

The study was conducted to identify the opinions of consumers’ regarding deceptive advertisements and the extent to which they considered it immoral. It aimed to collectively examine the impact of deceptive advertisements on consumers’ perceptions and their ability to make an ethical decision regarding buying behavior. A cross-sectional design is conducted in order to gather data from respondents. The digital advertisements were shown to 378 respondents through web survey designs. SEM (structural equational modelling) was used to analyze the data. The results depicted that advertiser make use of moral decoupling strategies in developing countries as it becomes easier for the consumers to get influenced by a transgressor. After identifying the deception in an advertisement, it becomes necessary to analyze the role of consumers’ ethical decision-making abilities in order to determine their buying behaviors. Moral intensity, perceived risks and moral judgements have a significant impact on consumers’ ethical decision-making abilities. However, consumers’ perception regarding a deceptive claim was not found to have any significant impact on their buying behavior. The relation only becomes significant in the presence of consumers’ ethical decision-making abilities.