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Article
Publication date: 16 March 2012

Kantian moral psychology and criminal behavior

Mark D. White

What leads a person to commit a crime, an act which not only violates moral norms and rules but also what are often considered to be among the most serious legal ones? A…

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Abstract

Purpose

What leads a person to commit a crime, an act which not only violates moral norms and rules but also what are often considered to be among the most serious legal ones? A wide variety of social scientists, including psychologists, economists, and sociologists, have offered answers to this question. The current paper aims to take a different approach, offering an explanation drawn from the moral psychology of a pre‐eminent philosopher, Immanuel Kant.

Design/methodology/approach

While best known for his duty‐based ethics and the categorical imperative, Kant had a very rich conception of character, strength, and willpower that can inform the understanding of why persons choose to commit criminal acts. This short paper begins with a brief description of Kant's moral psychology, and then surveys a number of topics within the criminal law to which this can be applied, such as normative considerations in criminal penalties, Hart's distinction between internal and external points of view on the law, mens rea and mental illness, how people regard different criminal prohibitions, and how punishment does and should affect people's choice.

Findings

The paper emphasizes the effect of the normative status of criminal laws and penalties on the choice and action of morally imperfect persons, which contrasts with the overly simplistic models of criminal behavior of other social scientists, which are based on calculations of costs and benefits alone.

Originality/value

The paper introduces Kant's rich but little‐known moral psychology into the discussion of criminal psychology, bringing a different angle to topics such as motivation and responsibility that are primary areas of focus for psychologists, criminologists, and philosophers.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/20093821211210503
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

  • Immanuel Kant
  • Moral psychology
  • Ethics
  • Weakness of will
  • Criminal behaviour
  • Psychology
  • Criminology

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Book part
Publication date: 7 June 2019

Cognitive Moral Development in Ethical Decision-making

Dawn R. Elm

Cognitive moral development, often referred to as moral reasoning, stems from the field of cognitive developmental psychology and moral psychology. Early work done by Jean…

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Abstract

Cognitive moral development, often referred to as moral reasoning, stems from the field of cognitive developmental psychology and moral psychology. Early work done by Jean Piaget studying the cognitive abilities of children to make moral judgments as they grow and mature created the foundation for the later work of Lawrence Kohlberg and James Rest in studying the moral reasoning abilities of adults. Thus, moral reasoning refers to the cognitive process of how a person reasons about ethical situations. This chapter will present the evolution of the use and validity of cognitive moral development/moral reasoning in determining how individuals resolve ethical or moral dilemmas. Further, more recent models and potential measurement of moral reasoning and ethical decision-making including our intuition and emotions will be discussed and suggestions regarding directions for developing methods to measure such cognitive and emotional (or intuitive) means by which individuals make difficult moral choices will be discussed.

Details

Business Ethics
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S2514-175920190000003006
ISBN: 978-1-78973-684-7

Keywords

  • Moral judgment
  • moral psychology
  • ethical decision-making
  • aesthetics
  • intuitionist ethics
  • emotion

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1995

From Self‐Interest to Moral Maturity: The Significance of Moral Developmental Theory for Economics

Marguerite Evans

The essays by Sauer and Cassidy have argued that significant questions can be raised philosophically and historically about the guiding assumptions of economic behaviour…

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Abstract

The essays by Sauer and Cassidy have argued that significant questions can be raised philosophically and historically about the guiding assumptions of economic behaviour. One can also argue that these assumptions offer a partial view of human being with an accompanying loss of the sense of the whole person. Economics tends to reduce the multiform and rich notion of person to simply a datum of economic activity. In this essay, I will argue that there is a need to re‐examine basic assumptions about what it means to be fully human. I will do this from the perspective of developmental psychology, because developmental psychology has empirically based theories that produce expectations about humanity and the future that are very different from those ascribed by economics. This essay will examine developmental theory, particularly that of Robert Kegan, to show its relevance to providing a direction for economics.

Details

Humanomics, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/eb018761
ISSN: 0828-8666

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Book part
Publication date: 16 April 2014

Religion in organizations: Cognition and behavior

Gary R. Weaver and Jason M. Stansbury

Religious institutions can affect organizational practices when employees bring their religious commitments and practices into the workplace. But those religious…

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Abstract

Religious institutions can affect organizational practices when employees bring their religious commitments and practices into the workplace. But those religious commitments function in the midst of other organizational factors that influence the working out of employees’ religious commitments. This process can generate varying outcomes in organizational contexts, ranging from a heightened effect of religious commitment on employee behavior to a negligible or nonexistent influence of religion on employee behavior. Relying on social identity theory and schematic social cognition as unifying frameworks for the study of religious behavior, we develop a theoretically informed approach to understanding how and why the religious beliefs, commitments and practices employees bring to work have varying behavioral impacts.

Details

Religion and Organization Theory
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20140000041011
ISBN: 978-1-78190-693-4

Keywords

  • Religiosity
  • organizational behavior
  • social identity
  • schema
  • identity salience
  • religious identity

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Article
Publication date: 24 August 2010

Moral conflicts in project‐based learning in ISD

Tero Vartiainen

The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of moral conflicts in information systems development by studying student perceptions in an information systems (IS…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of moral conflicts in information systems development by studying student perceptions in an information systems (IS) project course implemented in close collaboration with information technology firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an empirical case study. Students' perceptions of moral conflicts were gathered through diaries, drawings, and questionnaires; and the analysis was inspired by phenomenography.

Findings

The analysis reveals six types of moral conflicts. Students face conflicts related to their work tasks and to human and outside parties, and inherent in them is an inclination to moral failure in terms of doing something they perceive to be morally wrong, and also the desire for moral success in resolving the conflicts as well as possible. Students practicing the project manager's job confronted the most difficult moral conflicts.

Practical implications

The just IS student project community is suggested as a way of integrating ethics into IS education, and extending the research on moral conflicts to the business context is recommended.

Originality/value

The paper offers two contributions. First, it develops the research on IS and project‐based learning (PjBL) from a moral perspective and second, it facilitates ethics integration into IS education in the PjBL context.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09593841011069167
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

  • Learning
  • Information systems
  • Ethics
  • Project management

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Article
Publication date: 14 May 2018

I am ugly, but I am tender: the dominance of moral character and warmth

Joseph W. Chang

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dominance of athlete endorser characteristics (i.e. moral character vs warmth) on athlete endorser perception and the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dominance of athlete endorser characteristics (i.e. moral character vs warmth) on athlete endorser perception and the influence of tarnished athlete endorsers (i.e. immoral character vs coldness) on brand evaluations from the perspectives of perceiver characteristics, including dispositional tendency, innate moral intuitions, and self-location (SL).

Design/methodology/approach

This research consists of three experimental studies with 135, 72, and 91 participants, respectively. Study 1 compared the dominance of moral character and warmth on athlete endorser perception. Study 2 examined the impact of perceiver characteristics on the cause-and-effect relationship between tarnished athlete endorsers (i.e. immoral character vs coldness) and brand evaluations. Study 3 investigated the cross-cultural generalizability of the US-based research findings in Study 2 for Indians.

Findings

Moral character is more influential than warmth on athlete endorser evaluations. Tarnished athlete endorsers with immoral character exert more negative influence than tarnished athlete endorsers with coldness characteristic on brand evaluations. Except for dispositional tendency, innate moral intuitions and SL moderate brand evaluations. Endorser and perceiver characteristics yield asymmetric patterns of influence on Americans’ and Indians’ brand evaluations.

Research limitations/implications

Future research is needed to verify the causal effects of thinking styles on the relationship between tarnished athlete endorsers and brand evaluations.

Practical implications

The determination of endorsement continuity has to jointly consider the characteristics of endorsers, perceivers, and cultures.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the endorsement research by advancing the research scopes of athlete endorser, perceiver, and culture characteristics.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-12-2016-0078
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

  • Dispositional tendency
  • Holistic tendency
  • Innate moral intuitions
  • Moral character
  • Self-location
  • Tarnished endorser

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Article
Publication date: 20 February 2017

The ethics of professional accountants: an Aristotelian perspective

Andrew West

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Aristotle’s ethics can be applied to the ethics of professional accountants (PAs), in relation to the approach adopted by the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Aristotle’s ethics can be applied to the ethics of professional accountants (PAs), in relation to the approach adopted by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and to consider the reasons that justify the Aristotelian approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper outlines IFAC’s approach and identifies several weaknesses. Three themes of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics are applied to the work of PAs. Reasons why this perspective is more suitable for PAs are then articulated.

Findings

Several aspects of Aristotle’s ethics can be fruitfully applied to the ethics of PAs. These include the relationship between function, goals and the good, an awareness of the human goal to achieve eudaimonia, the development of both excellences of character and of intelligence, and the significance of non-rational aspects of morality, including emotions, will, responsibility and choice.

Research limitations/implications

This perspective provides an alternative conceptualisation of the ethics of PAs. Although it does not provide concrete guidance regarding what the ethical approach to specific situations may be, it presents a useful counterpoint to existing approaches that are largely deontological and utilitarian.

Practical implications

This paper provides accountants in practice with a more comprehensive and adequate perspective on what it means for a PA to be ethical, and raises several issues related to how ethics is included in the education and training of accountants.

Originality/value

Investigating the philosophical basis for professional ethics approaches professional codes of ethics in a way that it is not typically considered. The paper also provides a more comprehensive application of Aristotelian ethics than previous work.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-09-2015-2233
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Aristotle
  • Flourishing
  • Professional ethics
  • Character
  • Virtue ethics
  • Excellence

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Book part
Publication date: 10 October 2006

Chapter 4: Evidence-based Character Development

Muriel J. Bebeau

This chapter reviews the evidence of the development of ethical decision-making competencies of medical professionals. Selected studies are reviewed that use a theoretical…

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Abstract

This chapter reviews the evidence of the development of ethical decision-making competencies of medical professionals. Selected studies are reviewed that use a theoretical framework that has shown the most promise for providing evidence of character formation. The evidence suggests that entering professionals lack full capacity for functional processes that give rise to morality (sensitivity, reasoning, motivation and commitment, character and competence). Further, following professional education, considerable variations in these abilities persist. Whereas many perceive that role modeling is the most effective way to teach professionalism, there is no empirical evidence to support the role of modeling in professional development. The chapter concludes with suggestions for facilitating character development resistant to influence by negative role models or adverse moral milieu.

Details

Lost Virtue
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3709(06)10004-7
ISBN: 978-1-84950-339-6

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Article
Publication date: 3 February 2020

Facades of morality: the role of moral disengagement in green buying behaviour

Nitika Sharma and Madan Lal

This study aims to presents the article regarding the influential role of moral inefficacy and moral disengagement to address green intention and behaviour gap among…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to presents the article regarding the influential role of moral inefficacy and moral disengagement to address green intention and behaviour gap among consumers, and how they attain self-exoneration because of the moral dilemma if any exist.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study is based on semi-structured interviews, using constructivist grounded theory, which offers a platform to investigate, explore and discover psychosocial mechanism that operates among the consumers regarding the dimension of morality and green practices. In-depth exhaustive dialogues with Indian green consumers are set up to stimulate dialogue on the study.

Findings

Findings of the study shed light on the moral dilemma arising from internal and external inefficacy of consumers and disengagement of morality to save consumers from self-condemnation. Also, the study proffers the potential conceptual framework of moral inefficacy, moral disengagement and green buying behaviour of consumers. Eventually, the study mapped the morality matrix to explore the consequents of moral inefficacy and moral disengagement.

Research limitations/implications

The idiographic nature of qualitative research, particularly grounded theory may be considered as a research limitation as it follows limited generalizability. Moreover, the present research work is exploratory in nature and depends on the candour of researchers’ reactivity and understanding.

Practical implications

The study subjectively concludes the green behaviour of consumers and discusses the rationality behind green intentions and behaviour gap. Marketers can strategize consumer morality as an approach to enhance green buying behaviour of consumers by removing moral inefficacies and disengagements.

Social implications

It is crucial for marketers and society to understand the reasons behind non-green consumerism and accordingly cope up with the situation.

Originality/value

The study has been designed in a way to discuss the philosophy of morality and psychology of consumers on green consumption. To elicit the crux and conceptualization of morality and green purchasing framework using constructivist grounded theory is the exclusivity of this study. This paper explores green consumption pattern using moral orientation and processes in detail.

Details

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, vol. 23 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-03-2019-0030
ISSN: 1352-2752

Keywords

  • Moral disengagement
  • Green buying behaviour
  • Green buying intentions
  • Self-exoneration
  • Consumers’ inefficacy

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 30 April 2019

References

S. J. Oswald A. J. Mascarenhas

Open Access
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Details

Corporate Ethics for Turbulent Markets
Type: Book
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-191-520191015
ISBN: 978-1-78756-192-2

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