A multidimensional analysis of disparities between individuals' moral judgments and moral intentions

Abstract

One major issue that needs to be investigated in the area of business ethics is the disparities between individuals' moral judgments and their actual behaviors. Since it is very difficult to measure actual behaviors, moral intentions are measured in the current study, instead of behaviors. A multidimensional approach including the analysis of gender differences and effects of work experience on moral judgments and moral intentions, factors influencing moral judgments, factors preventing unethical behavior and factors influencing people to engage in unethical behavior was followed in the study. Results show that there are disparities between MBA students' and managers' moral judgments and moral intentions in some situations, that there are significant gender differences in some situations (but not enough to make generalizations), that differences in moral judgments mainly stem from differences in value structures, and that MBA students' and managers' perceptions of the importance of factors preventing unethical behavior differ significantly