On taking the theoretical substance of outcomes seriously: a meta-conversation

We contend that the field of behavioral ethics in organizations, in large part, has not explicitly attended to the theoretical substance of outcome variables in studies of individuals’ morally relevant judgments, decisions, and behaviors, and that we should do so. We review the recent literature, finding that conceptual definitions of the moral domain are provided in only a small percentage of articles and that the operationalizations employed are drawn from a narrow set, with the majority of studies focusing on cheating or lying. We also review relevant conversations on the theoretical substance of morally relevant outcome variables found largely outside of this literature. We present these conversations in the context of a metaconversation, or a conversation about conversations in which we point to the potential fruitfulness of discussing the theoretical substance of our outcome variables, and the forms that such discussions might take. We conclude with suggestions for carrying the conversation forward within the field of behavioral ethics in organizations.

[1]  Nadine Gottschalk,et al.  How Good People Make Tough Choices Resolving The Dilemmas Of Ethical Living , 2016 .

[2]  R. Sandefur.  Manufacturing Morals: The Values of Silence in Business School Education , 2015 .

[3]  J. Haidt,et al.  Liberals Condemn Sacrilege Too , 2015 .

[4]  Kurt Gray,et al.  Impure or Just Weird? Scenario Sampling Bias Raises Questions About the Foundation of Morality , 2015 .

[5]  Kurt Gray,et al.  Disconfirming Moral Foundations Theory on Its Own Terms , 2015 .

[6]  Shaz Ansari,et al.  What Is a "Fair" Price? Ethics as Sensemaking , 2015, Organ. Sci..

[7]  F. Gino,et al.  Approach, Ability, Aftermath: A Psychological Process Framework of Unethical Behavior at Work , 2015 .

[8]  Carolyn T. Dang,et al.  Moralized Leadership: The Construction and Consequences of Ethical Leader Perceptions , 2015 .

[9]  Kim Ebert,et al.  WHEN ORGANIZATIONS MATTER , 2014, Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race.

[10]  Susan T. Fiske,et al.  Shifting Liberal and Conservative Attitudes Using Moral Foundations Theory , 2014, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[11]  Maurice E. Schweitzer,et al.  Are liars ethical? On the tension between benevolence and honesty , 2014 .

[12]  Isaac H. Smith,et al.  The Moral Ties That Bind . . . Even to Out-Groups: The Interactive Effect of Moral Identity and the Binding Moral Foundations , 2014, Psychological science.

[13]  Tiziana Casciaro,et al.  The Contaminating Effects of Building Instrumental Ties , 2014 .

[14]  Kristin Smith-Crowe,et al.  The Emotion-Evoked Collective Corruption Model: The Role of Emotion in the Spread of Corruption Within Organizations , 2014, Organ. Sci..

[15]  L. Treviño,et al.  (Un)ethical behavior in organizations. , 2014, Annual review of psychology.

[16]  Michael E. Brown,et al.  Moral Intuition , 2014 .

[17]  M. Schweitzer,et al.  Prosocial Lies: When Deception Breeds Trust , 2014 .

[18]  E. Higgins,et al.  Locomotion concerns with moral usefulness: When liberals endorse binding moral foundations. , 2014, Journal of experimental social psychology.

[19]  Adrian F. Ward,et al.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: General The Myth of Harmless Wrongs in Moral Cognition: Automatic Dyadic Completion From Sin to Suffering , 2014 .

[20]  D. Rooney.  Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing , 2013 .

[21]  S. Hannah,et al.  Different Hats, Different Obligations: Plural Occupational Identities and Situated Moral Judgments , 2012 .

[22]  J. Graham,et al.  Moral Foundations Theory: The Pragmatic Validity of Moral Pluralism , 2012 .

[23]  Francesca Gino,et al.  Behavioral Ethics: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Moral Judgment and Dishonesty , 2012 .

[24]  Donald Palmer.  Normal Organizational Wrongdoing: A Critical Analysis of Theories of Misconduct in and by Organizations , 2012 .

[25]  Brian A. Nosek,et al.  Mapping the moral domain. , 2011, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[26]  Francis J. Flynn,et al.  Who's with Me? False Consensus, Brokerage, and Ethical Decision Making in Organizations , 2010 .

[27]  B. Schwartz.  The Limits of Cost-Benefit Calculation: Commentary on Bennis, Medin, & Bartels (2010) , 2010, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[28]  P. Tetlock,et al.  Situated Social Identities Constrain Morally Defensible Choices: Commentary on Bennis, Medin, & Bartels (2010) , 2010, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[29]  Daniel M. Bartels,et al.  Perspectives on the Ecology of Decision Modes , 2010, Perspectives on Psychological Science.

[30]  M. Bazerman,et al.  In Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules Into a Wise Cost-Benefit Analysis—Commentary on Bennis, Medin, & Bartels (2010) , 2010, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[31]  Daniel M. Bartels,et al.  The Costs and Benefits of Calculation and Moral Rules , 2009, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

[32]  David A Harrison,et al.  Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work. , 2010, The Journal of applied psychology.

[33]  D. Garz.  Lawrence Kohlberg - An Introduction , 2009 .

[34]  Joshua D. Greene,et al.  In Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules into a Wise Cost-Benefit Analysis , 2009 .

[35]  Brian A. Nosek,et al.  Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations. , 2009, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[36]  Scott Sonenshein,et al.  Emergence of Ethical Issues During Strategic Change Implementation , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[37]  Nina Mazar,et al.  The Dishonesty of Honest People: A Theory of Self-Concept Maintenance , 2008 .

[38]  Ann E. Tenbrunsel,et al.  13 Ethical Decision Making: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going , 2008 .

[39]  Kristin Smith-Crowe,et al.  Deciding what's right: The role of external sanctions and embarrassment in shaping moral judgments in the workplace , 2008 .

[40]  Scott Sonenshein.  The role of construction, intuition, and justification in responding to ethical issues at work: The sensemaking-intuition model , 2007 .

[41]  M. Tushman,et al.  Research and Relevance: Implications of Pasteur'S Quadrant for Doctoral Programs and Faculty Development , 2007 .

[42]  Jennifer S. Beer,et al.  Deciding versus Reacting: Conceptions of Moral Judgment and the Reason-Affect Debate , 2007 .

[43]  J. Graham,et al.  When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions that Liberals may not Recognize , 2007 .

[44]  L. Treviño,et al.  Behavioral Ethics in Organizations: A Review , 2006 .

[45]  Uri Gneezy,et al.  Deception: The Role of Consequences , 2005 .

[46]  J. Haidt,et al.  Intuitive ethics: how innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues , 2004, Daedalus.

[47]  I. Kant,et al.  Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals , 2002 .

[48]  J. Haidt.  The emotional dog and its rational tail: a social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. , 2001, Psychological review.

[49]  Baron,et al.  Protected Values and Omission Bias. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[50]  Richard A. Shweder,et al.  The "big three" of morality (autonomy, community, divinity) and the "big three" explanations of suffering. , 1997 .

[51]  J. Haidt,et al.  Affect, culture, and morality, or is it wrong to eat your dog? , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[52]  A. Fiske.  The four elementary forms of sociality: framework for a unified theory of social relations. , 1992, Psychological review.

[53]  T. Jones.  Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model , 1991 .

[54]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Toward a theory of the universal content and structure of values: Extensions and cross-cultural replications. , 1990 .

[55]  Anne Colby,et al.  The measurement of moral judgment, Vol. 1: Theoretical foundations and research validation; Vol. 2: Standard issue scoring manual. , 1987 .

[56]  L. Treviño.  Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model , 1986 .

[57]  James R. Rest.  Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory , 1986 .

[58]  Darrel Gene Shaver.  A Longitudinal Study of Moral Development at a Conservative, Religious Liberal Arts College. , 1985 .

[59]  Schmukler Ag,et al.  In a different voice: psychological theory and women's development. Essay review. , 1983, Transactions & studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

[60]  L. Kohlberg.  Moral development and identification. , 1963 .

[61]  M. Schoen.  The Moral Judgment of the Child. , 1933 .