Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T06:16:08.656Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of Organizational Forces on Individual Morality: Judgment, Moral Approbation, and Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Thomas M. Jones  and
Lori Verstegen Ryan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

To date, our understanding of ethical decision making and behavior in organizations has been concentrated in the area of moral judgment, largely because of the hundreds of studies done involving cognitive moral development. This paper addresses the problem of our relative lack of understanding in other areas of human morality by applying a recently developed construct—moral approbation—to illuminate the link between moral judgment and moral action. This recent work is extended here by exploring the effect that organizations have on ethical behavior in terms of the moral approbation construct.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 1998 , pp. 431 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristotle, . 1934. Nicomachean ethics. Trans. by Rackham, H. Revised ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Asch, S. E. 1951. Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In Guetzkow, H. S. (ed.), Groups, leadership and men: 177–190. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.Google Scholar
Asch, S. E. 1955. Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193: 31–35.Google Scholar
Asch, S. E. 1956. Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs, 70(9), No. 416: 1–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A. 1977. Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. 1986. Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Bird, F. B. and Waters, J. A. 1989. The moral muteness of managers. California Management Review. 321(1): 73–88.Google Scholar
Blasi, A. 1980. Bridging moral cognition and action: A critical review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 88: 1–45.Google Scholar
Blasi, A. 1984. Moral identity: Its role in moral functioning. In Kurtines, W. M. and Gewirtz, J. L. (eds.), Morality, moral behavior, and moral development: 128–139. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Butterfield, K. D., Treviño, L. K., and Weaver, G. R. 1996. Moral awareness in organizations: A socialization perspective. Paper presented at the Academy of Management annual meeting, Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Cohen, D. V. 1995. Creating ethical work climates: A socioeconomic perspective. Journal of Socio-Economics, 24(2): 317–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowie, M. 1977. How Ford put two million firetraps on wheels. Business & Society Review, 23(3): 46–55.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. 1973. The self-concept revisited: Or a theory of a theory. American Psychologist, 28(5): 404–416.Google Scholar
Ferrell, O.C. and Gresham, L. G. 1985. A contingency framework for understanding ethical decision making in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 49(3): 87–96.Google Scholar
Frankena, W. F. 1968. Relations of morality and religion. In Childress, J. F. and Macquarrie, J. (eds.), Westminster dictionary of Christian ethics: 400–403. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press.Google Scholar
Gautschi, F. H. and Jones, T. M. (1998). Enhancing the ability of business students to recognize ethical issues: An empirical assessment of the effectiveness of a course in business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 17: 205–216.Google Scholar
Gioia, D. A. 1992. Pinto fires and personal ethics: A script analysis of missed opportunities. Journal of Business Ethics, 11: 379–389.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. 1976. Empathy, role taking, guilt, and development of altruistic motives. In Lickona, T. (ed.), Moral development and behavior: 124–143. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Hunt, S. D. and Vitell, S. 1986. A general theory of marketing ethics. Journal of Macromarketing, 6(1): 5–16.Google Scholar
Hyman, H. H. 1942/1980. The psychology of status. New York: New York Times Company.Google Scholar
Jackall, R. 1988. Moral mazes. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, T. M. 1991. Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: An issue-contingent model. Academy of Management Review, 16(2): 366–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, T. M., and Ryan, L. V. (1997). The link between ethical judgment and action in organizations: A moral approbation approach. Organization Science, 8(6): 663–680.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. 1984. The nature of the child. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Kohlberg, L. 1976. Moral stages and moralization: The cognitive-development approach. In Lickona, T. (ed.), Moral development and behavior: Theory, research and social issues: 31–53. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Milgram, S. 1974. Obedience to authority. New York, Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Reis, H. T. 1981. Self-presentation and distributive justice. In Tedeschi, J. T. (ed.), Impression management theory and social psychological theory: 269–291. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rest, J R. 1979. Development in judging moral issues. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Rest, J R. 1986. Moral development: Advances in research and theory. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Schlenker, B. R. 1980. Impression management: The self-concept, social identity, and interpersonal relations. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Smith, A. 1759/1982. The theory of moral sentiments. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Classics.Google Scholar
Smith, H. R., and Carroll, A. B. 1984. Organizational ethics: A stacked deck. Journal of Business Ethics, 3: 95–100.Google Scholar
Stephens, C. U., and Lewin, A. Y. 1992. A cross-level model of the determinants of ethical choice in organizations. In Ludwig, D. and Paul, K. (eds.), Contemporary issues in the business environment. Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Stone, C. D. 1975. Where the law ends. New York, Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Tetlock, P. E. 1985. Toward an intuitive politician model of attribution processes. In Schlenker, B. R. (ed.), The self and social life: 203–234. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Thoma, S.J. and Rest, J. R. 1986. Moral judgment, behavior, decision making, and attitudes. In Rest, J. R. (ed.), Moral development: Advances in research and theory: 133–175. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K. 1986. Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review, 11: 601–617.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K., and Victor, B. 1992. Peer reporting of unethical behavior: A social context perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 35(1): 38–64.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K., and Weaver, G. R. 1996. Barriers to and facilitators of moral perception: The case of competitive intelligence practitioners. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Vandivier, K. 1972. The aircraft brake scandal. Harper’s Magazine, April: 45–52.Google Scholar
Victor, B. and Cullen, J. B. 1988. The organizational bases of ethical work climates. Administrative Science Quarterly, 33: 101–125.Google Scholar
Waterman, A. S. 1988. On the uses of psychological theory and research in the process of ethical inquiry. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3): 283–298.Google Scholar
Williams, M. A. 1970. Reference groups: A review and commentary. Sociological Quarterly, 11: 545–554.Google Scholar