Bad Apples in Bad Barrels Revisited: Cognitive Moral Development, Just World Beliefs, Rewards, and Ethical Decision-Making

In this study, we test the interactive effect on ethical decision-making of (1) personal characteristics, and (2) personal expectancies based on perceptions of organizational rewards and punishments. Personal characteristics studied were cognitive moral development and belief in a just world. Using...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business ethics quarterly 2006-10, Vol.16 (4), p.449-473
Main Authors: Ashkanasy, Neal M., Windsor, Carolyn A., Treviño, Linda K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business ethics
Business studies
Cognitive development
Decision making
Descriptive ethics
Environmental ethics
Ethical behavior
Ethics
Kohlbergs stages of moral development
Managers
Moral development
Moral judgment
Morality
Motivation
Organizational behavior
Organizational effectiveness
Pragmatic ethics
Punishment
Scandals
Social ethics
Studies
Work environment
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Summary:In this study, we test the interactive effect on ethical decision-making of (1) personal characteristics, and (2) personal expectancies based on perceptions of organizational rewards and punishments. Personal characteristics studied were cognitive moral development and belief in a just world. Using an in-basket simulation, we found that exposure to reward system information influenced managers' outcome expectancies. Further, outcome expectancies and belief in a just world interacted with managers' cognitive moral development to influence managers' ethical decision-making. In particular, low-cognitive moral development managers who expected that their organization condoned unethical behavior made less ethical decisions while high cognitive moral development managers became more ethical in this environment. Low cognitive moral development managers also behaved less ethically when their belief in a just world was high.
ISSN:1052-150X
2153-3326
DOI:10.5840/beq200616447