Mixed Motives and Ethical Decisions in Business

Journal of Dynamic Decision Making, 2021

To explore how "salient others" influence economic decisions, we tested the impact of moral motives on economic decision-making in three relationally different situations: (a) anonymous social one-shot interactions, where individuals should draw on situational cues to infer information about how to interpret their relationship to a salient other due to the absence of other sources of social information, (b) non-anonymous social situations within an ongoing interaction, in which the moral motive established in the relationship should override situational cues about moral motives, and (c) anonymous non-social one-shot interactions, in which moral motives should not have an effect given the absence of a salient other. In an experiment (N = 94 participants), we varied these relationally different decision situations and the moral motive framing (unity vs. proportionality). As hypothesized, the two moral motive framings influenced decision behavior, but only in the anonymous social one-shot interaction. By replicating that moral motives matter in economic decision-making and showing that people infer information about morally acceptable behavior in anonymous social situations from moral cues provided by the situation and from prior interactions in case of an ongoing relationship, we offer a moral-psychological explanation for why individuals decide differently in economic decision situations depending on the relationality of the situation.

2019

The paper presents some antecedents to individual ethical judgment, a crucial component of ethical behaviour and ethical decision making in general and in particular within business context. The model of ethical judgment is presented, comprised of individual’s evaluative ethical framework and the institutions that shape it. The purpose of the paper is to elucidate on the components of the model and its use in shaping the ethical behaviour in business.

2011

How do business leaders make ethical decisions? Given the significant and wide-spread impact of business people’s decisions on multiple constituents (e.g., customers, employees, shareholders, competitors, suppliers), how they make decisions matters. Unethical decisions harm the decision makers themselves as well as others, whereas ethical decisions have the opposite effect. Based on data from a study on strategic decision making by 16 effective chief executive officers (and three not-so-effective ones as contrast), I propose a model for ethical decision making in business in which reasoning (conscious processing) and intuition (subconscious processing) interact through forming, recalling and applying moral principles necessary for long-term success in business. Following the CEOs in the study, I employ a relatively new theory, rational egoism, as the substantive content of the model and argue it to be consistent with the requirements of long-term business success. Besides explaining the processes of forming and applying principles (integration by essentials and spiraling), I briefly describe rational egoism, and illustrate the model with a contemporary moral dilemma of downsizing. I conclude with implications for further research and ethical decision making in business. Key words: ethical decision making; integration by essentials; intuition; moral principles; rational egoism; reason

Journal of Dharma, 2020

As the business activity is an integral part of our social life, building an ethical society must include, among others, ensuring the ethical conduct of this activity. The concept of ethical business, however, has always been controversial especially in light of the alleged incompatibility of the profit motive with the motive of benevolence. Accordingly, it is thought that the profit motive is essentially selfish which thereby contradicts the selfless motive of benevolence. A standard strategy for reconciling these two motives takes the profit motive as a means to perform benevolent acts, which, however, only separates the business act from the ethical one. This essay advances an alternative strategy in which said motives occur simultaneously as motives for performing the same act. After demonstrating its possibility through a case involving General Motors, the essay shows how this strategy can be ethically justified using the Kantian moral principle of respect for persons.

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 1990

A Q-analysis of 13 motives for ethical decision-making by 1 7 professional journalists and 49 mass communications students showed that most were "mainstream" ethicists whose ethical concerns centered on credibility, their personal sense of morality, the public's need to know, and the standards of their field and their employer. A small number of respondents in each of the two samples seemed motivated by knowledge as power and were mildly unconcerned about knowledge of ethics. They were willing to use their work in a punitive way. >The authors are all journalism teachers.

Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik, 2019

The economist Josef Wieland propounded a well-developed theory of business ethics, which includes a mechanism of allocation for the ›economy and ethics‹ ratio that he considers as an alternative to hierarchic and dualistic concepts. Despite its many strengths, some concerns are raised about Wieland’s theoretical approach and some proposals are made for developing his work further. The key objectives of this paper are: 1) to restate the objection of instrumentalization to Wieland’s program, 2) to discuss it under consideration of arguments in favor of and against so-called moral incentives, and 3) to address the question, under what conditions Wieland might succeed in rejecting any hierarchy between economics and ethics within his Ethics of Governance framework, without damaging the concept of morality.

She has earned a gold medal in M.A, COT scholarship PhD degree and HEC funding for Post Doc. She is an active researcher who has published more than 40 papers in renowned journals and has participated in numerous research conferences. Her research interests include micro-econometric analysis, rural finance and business ethics.

Understanding the role of the determinants of the ethical decision making in business organizations has become increasingly appealing to the field of business ethics. Various ethical decision making models put more emphasis on a narrow set of determinants. In concert with other contextual factors, these determinants appear to drive the ethical decision making in business organizations. However, in the literature there seems to be room for a more holistic set of determinants, which can explain effectively and holisti-cally the diverse ethical rationales underlying the decision making more effectively. In this paper, the authors set out several ethical models and extract the predominant determinants. After portraying the main literature, the authors conclude that the most recent models are based on the first generation of ethical models, which tend to be more theoretical than empirical. They note the lack of empirical research in this area, which can be explained by both the nature and the intricateness of business ethics. They find that empirical analysis, when it exists, tends to focus on specific variables. The authors highlight at the end of the paper the need for integrative ethical models, which tackle not only the " how " but also the " why " of ethical decision making.

Journal of Business Ethics, 2005

Contemporary economic thought presumes that individuals in a society always act according to their self-interest or private economic incentives, while important ethical motivations for action, such as a concern for others and public interest, are largely ignored. This paper is based on my experience of teaching an undergraduate course that highlighted the divergence between economic incentives and ethical motives for action in present-day life and business. Teaching tools such as lectures, case and group discussions were employed to address important ethical dilemmas of individuals and managers in contemporary societies. Readings underscored the evolving relationship of business ethics and economic incentives, and the relevance of ancient ethical principles (e.g., Ethics of Interdependence, and Ethics of Prudence and Self-Development) to present-day business ethics. The course emphasized the imminent need in contemporary societies to reduce the divergence between economic incentives and ethical motives for action, and called for a greater understanding of business ethics today, given the complex ethical concerns that managers confront in the current global environment.

As the globalization developed rapidly, every individual plays much more important role in modern society. It is seems there are many people realizing that live in forming communities is better than live in an isolation island. In the highly level society, people more likely get their needs efficiently and easier to enhance their life quality. The problem for every forming community or other social group’s members is when people make decisions, especially when they focus on their own needs and face temptations, if they prefer make decision in a selfish way.