The impact of moral intensity dimensions on ethical decision making: Assessing the relevance of orientation.

During last decade, calls for increasing emphasis of ethics in individual and corporate decision making have come from many diverse sources including public interest groups, political and religious leaders, and general public. An acute awareness of potential and actual business abuses has generated increased attention focused on identifying causes of unethical business behaviors (Akaah, 1997; Dubinsky and Loken, 1989; Fritzsche, 1995; Wyld and Jones, 1997). With such a wide range of support, ethical decision making is an area which has experienced increased levels of interest and research (see Low et al., 2000, for an excellent review of empirical studies on ethical decision making). The existing literature on ethical decision making often narrowly focuses on moral decisions involved in a specific business such as ethics of marketing decisions (Dubinsky and Loken, 1989; Hunt and Vitell, 1986; Robin et al., 1996; Singhapakdi et al., 1996). As illustrated in Low et aL 's (2000) review, t he need for research in arena of ethical decision making is still very strong. In a significant step toward understanding many components involved in ethical decision making, Jones (1991) integrated existing theoretical models of individual decision making, many of which, when considered alone, appeared incomplete. Noting that explicit consideration of characteristics of issue itself was missing from all models, Jones offered an issue-contingent model of ethical decision making. Jones identified six characteristics of an issue, which he collectively labeled moral intensity, that must be considered in an ethical decision. Finally, Jones argued that moral intensity influences every step of ethical decision-making process. Some empirical research to date has explored concept of moral intensity in ethical decision making (e.g., Davis et al., 1998; Marshall and Dewe, 1997; Singer and Singer, 1997; Weber, 1996). However, additional research is needed to better understand elements which play a role in this complicated process (Ford and Richardson, 1994). The purpose of this study is to determine whether moral intensity of an issue, which Jones (1991) argued can and does vary from issue to issue, does, in fact, impact perceived ethicality of an issue. First, impact of three of dimensions of moral intensity on an ethical decision--concentration of effect, probability of effect, and proximity--is considered. Second, strength of effect of moral intensity on an ethical decision across three unique orientations (self, other, organization) is examined. This work is important for both research and practice. There has been no research conducted on influence of orientation to ethical decision-making p rocess, and this information may help explain process. In addition, information regarding this effect would benefit managers in their attempt to improve ethical behavior of those who are making decisions for their company. In order to set stage for this study, a background of ethical decision making will be presented, followed by specific detail and research on Jones' (1991) model. This will be followed by a detailed explanation of current study, including a discussion of three dimensions of moral intensity included in study and importance of orientation in ethical decision-making research. Next, methods section includes details of current study, followed by a presentation of results. The final section includes a discussion of findings of current study, including impact on future research. Ethical Decision Making Before an in-depth discussion of Jones' (1991) model is presented, some general groundwork must be laid. Specifically, ethics and ethical decision making must be defined. Ethics refers to the rules or principles that define right and wrong conduct (Davis and Frederick, 1984: 76). …