Two studies analyzed the factor structure of the 8-item Multidimensional Ethics Scale (MES) (Reidenbach and Robin, 1988, 1990), a 30-item MES (the 30 items used to develop the 8-item measure), and a Perceived Moral Intensity Scale. Factor analyses supported a 3-factor structure for the 8-item MES, marginally supported a 5-factor structure (but more strongly suggested a 1-factor structure) for the 30-item MES, and supported a 3-factor structure for the Perceived Moral Intensity Scale. These scales were then used in a third study that examined the effect of manipulated and perceived moral intensity (Jones, 1991) on participants' ethical judgment of actions taken in 18 scenarios of an arguably ethical nature. A within-subject design found that manipulated moral intensity had a significant effect on ethical judgment, but perceived moral intensity did not. When ethical judgment (as measured by the three factors of the 8-item MES) was regressed on age, gender, major, perceived moral intensity factors, and interactions between age, gender, major and perceived moral intensity factors, the variance accounted for (R2) was significant for each of the three ethical judgment factors in both high and low intensity conditions using a between-subjects design, but was only significant for one of the ethical judgment factors (Moral Equity), and this only for low intensity scenarios, using a within-subject design. One explanation for the difference in effect appears to be that the means for the three perceived moral intensity factors were significantly different for the low versus high intensity condition using the between-subjects design, but the means of two of the three factors were not significantly different using the within-subject design. Three explanations for this were suggested: perceived moral intensity may not have reached a necessary threshold due to explicit referents for comparison; cognitive demand may have been greater when two versions of a single scenario were being evaluated; and, the online administration of the study may have introduced greater error variance than the in-person paper-pencil administration. Ethical judgment was found to be a more robust predictor of intention than perceived moral intensity using a within-subject design. Suggestions were made for future research. / Ph. D.

<p>The aim of this research was to examine whether a significant relationship exists between ethical decision-making had an impact on HR employees within a retail organisation. The questionnaire for the South African Board for People Practices, and the Ethical Position Questionnaire was administered to a sample of 150 employees in a large retail organisation within the Western Cape &ndash / South Africa. The researcher used a non-probability sampling technique specifically, a convenience sampling approach. The results of this study indicate that there is a statistically significant correlation between moral awareness and decision-making amongst HR employees. However with regards to gender there seems to be no statistical significant relationship amongst HR employees and ethical decision-making. Similarly results also indicated that there was no significant relationship between ethical ideology and ethical decision-making. Notwithstanding the limited generalisability of this study, implications for research and practice are suggested and recommendations are made to facilitate improved functioning.</p>

<p>The aim of this research was to examine whether a significant relationship exists between ethical decision-making had an impact on HR employees within a retail organisation. The questionnaire for the South African Board for People Practices, and the Ethical Position Questionnaire was administered to a sample of 150 employees in a large retail organisation within the Western Cape &ndash / South Africa. The researcher used a non-probability sampling technique specifically, a convenience sampling approach. The results of this study indicate that there is a statistically significant correlation between moral awareness and decision-making amongst HR employees. However with regards to gender there seems to be no statistical significant relationship amongst HR employees and ethical decision-making. Similarly results also indicated that there was no significant relationship between ethical ideology and ethical decision-making. Notwithstanding the limited generalisability of this study, implications for research and practice are suggested and recommendations are made to facilitate improved functioning.</p>

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / The aim of this research was to examine whether a significant relationship exists between ethical decision-making had an impact on HR employees within a retail organisation. The questionnaire for the South African Board for People Practices, and the Ethical Position Questionnaire was administered to a sample of 150 employees in a large retail organisation within the Western Cape - South Africa. The researcher used a non-probability sampling technique specifically, a convenience sampling approach. The results of this study indicate that there is a statistically significant correlation between moral awareness and decision-making amongst HR employees. However with regards to gender there seems to be no statistical significant relationship amongst HR employees and ethical decision-making. Similarly results also indicated that there was no significant relationship between ethical ideology and ethical decision-making. Notwithstanding the limited generalisability of this study, implications for research and practice are suggested and recommendations are made to facilitate improved functioning. / South Africa

In this research, a model for ethically questionable decision-making is developed by amalgamating several decision-making theories. The variables of interest are the techniques of neutralization, perceived moral intensity, Machiavellianism, unethical intentions, and ethical judgment. Using a sample of 276 U.S. marketing professionals, partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to validate the model. Findings reveal that U.S. marketing professionals rationalize their ethically questionable intentions through their: (1) perception of moral intensity (i.e., minimizing the harms on others, perceiving their self-interest as most salient, and indifference to social consensus), (2) reliance on various neutralization techniques, and; (3) judgment of their ethically questionable intentions as ethical. After controlling for the Machiavellian personality trait, Machiavellianism did not have a profound effect on the decision-making process, which implies that marketers, in general, are capable of the cognitive distortions found in this study. The main contribution to knowledge is the synthesis of the techniques of neutralization and the perceived moral intensity construct. Through this amalgamation, knowledge of the intermediary steps in the decision-making process has emerged. A contribution to knowledge involves testing the relationship between Machiavellianism and unethical intentions through the mediating variable of the techniques of neutralization. Through this investigation, it was found that the Machiavellian personality is inconsequential to the decision-making process. As a contribution to managerial knowledge, it was found that through cognitive distortions, marketers are capable of various illicit behaviours, which have been shown to be costly to not only stakeholders, but also to the profitability and reputations of organisations.

In this research, a model for ethically questionable decision-making is developed by amalgamating several decision-making theories. The variables of interest are the techniques of neutralization, perceived moral intensity, Machiavellianism, unethical intentions, and ethical judgment. Using a sample of 276 U.S. marketing professionals, partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to validate the model. Findings reveal that U.S. marketing professionals rationalize their ethically questionable intentions through their: (1) perception of moral intensity (i.e., minimizing the harms on others, perceiving their self-interest as most salient, and indifference to social consensus), (2) reliance on various neutralization techniques, and; (3) judgment of their ethically questionable intentions as ethical. After controlling for the Machiavellian personality trait, Machiavellianism did not have a profound effect on the decision-making process, which implies that marketers, in general, are capable of the cognitive distortions found in this study. The main contribution to knowledge is the synthesis of the techniques of neutralization and the perceived moral intensity construct. Through this amalgamation, knowledge of the intermediary steps in the decision-making process has emerged. A contribution to knowledge involves testing the relationship between Machiavellianism and unethical intentions through the mediating variable of the techniques of neutralization. Through this investigation, it was found that the Machiavellian personality is inconsequential to the decision-making process. As a contribution to managerial knowledge, it was found that through cognitive distortions, marketers are capable of various illicit behaviours, which have been shown to be costly to not only stakeholders, but also to the profitability and reputations of organisations.

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The New Testament as a source of mediated ethical inspiration in literature management bestsellers. Contemporary management literature produced predominantly in the so-called western civilization circle, which is heavily influenced by Christianity. Work is to find and identify ethical inspiration coming mediated from the New Testament of the Bible into the centroid of managerial concepts described in three management bestsellers. As the titles were chosen Good to Great by Jim Collins, Competitive Advantage by Michael E. Porter and Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. The intention is also to achieve overlaps from selected bestseller managers into practical situations and examples that illustrate the elements of business management. The work is to find examples for explaining the positions of the authors in the light of mediated New Testament inspiration. We stand before the question of whether we can demonstrate to the attitudes of the authors the ethical significance of the concept of management and to underpin it by aligning with the ethical principles that we can guess from the interpretations of the New Testament. For selected bestseller, we try to find elements of managerial decision concepts that suggest that they are in agreement with ethical inspiration coming from the New Testament. We...