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Hierarchical Motive Structures and Their Role in Moral Choices

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Abstract

Leader-managers face a myriad of competing values when they engage in ethical decision-making. Few studies help us understand why certain reasons for action are justified, taking precedence over others when people choose to respond to an ethical dilemma. To help address this matter we began with a qualitative approach to disclose leader-managers’ moral motives when they decide to address a work-related ethical dilemma. One hundred and nine military officers were asked to provide their reasons for taking action, justifications of their reasons, and to explain these justifications. We used network analysis techniques to identify a hierarchical motive structure. The motive structure is a cognitive map that identifies ethical motives and perceptions of how these ethical motives relate to each other. The motives identified represent classic conceptualizations of moral behavior; namely, virtue theories, consequentialism, and deontological theories, along with another category that expressed the emotional significance of the moral judgment, which we refer to as emotional empiricism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marketing Group, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, Clinical and Social and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, 701 Tappan Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1234, U.S.A.

    Richard P. Bagozzi

  2. Departments of Management and Psychology, Menlo College, 1000 Camino Real, Atherton, CA, 94027, U.S.A.

    Leslie E. Sekerka

  3. Department of Management, B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, PO Box 41812, Lafayette, LA, 70504, U.S.A.

    Vanessa Hill

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  1. Richard P. Bagozzi
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  2. Leslie E. Sekerka
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  3. Vanessa Hill
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Correspondence to Leslie E. Sekerka.

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Bagozzi, R.P., Sekerka, L.E. & Hill, V. Hierarchical Motive Structures and Their Role in Moral Choices. J Bus Ethics 90 (Suppl 4), 461–486 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0601-3

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