Abstract
The history of ethics often presupposes rationalist thinking on moral issues. An alternative to rationalism has been proposed by the social intuitionist model. This model suggests the bulk of our moral decisions are ‘gut reactions’ or intuitions. Unlike the rationalists, which support reasons and deliberation to draw moral conclusions, intuitionists argue such reasoning is used to support preconceived ethical decisions. This paper provides the first investigation to determine if intuitionism has any validity within business ethics. Using data from the Defining Issues Test and individual journal entries, results indicate discussion-based pedagogy improved the moral reasoning of participants but had very little influence over their beliefs. In short, the social intuitionist model is supported by this study. Most importantly, ethics education that focuses on peer-to-peer discussion can change how students’ reason about moral problems and should be heavily incorporated into classrooms.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The effectiveness of codes of ethics is also suspect when it comes to preventing student cheating. Research has investigated a number of factors that influence student cheating including university codes of conduct, the acceptance and understanding of such codes, being reported by a peer, severity of penalty, and the behaviour of colleagues. Results show peers to be the strongest influencer on student cheating behaviour, in part, because it provides normative support for such actions (McCabe et al. 1996; McCabe and Trevino 2002).
Thanks to Binod Sundararajan, Valerie Trifts, Scott Comber, and David Boutland for helping collecting the data.
Students were not trained on how to discuss ethical cases with others but merely relied on the open-ended questions provided to stimulate conversation. Although, I use dialogue and discussion interchangeably, it should be noted there are differences between the two concepts. The primary goal of discussion is to listen to group member’s opinions about to listen to group member’s opinions about creating understanding. No single person is pressing a particular point or arguing for a position; dialogue is about exploring ideas to create a learning environment for all members (Graybill and Easton Brown 2015). In this sense, dialogue can be more ‘free flowing’; new ideas can be raised without taking defensive positions or feeling like a groups member has lost the debate (Senge 2006).
References
Bandura, A. 1977. Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Bordens, K., and I. Horowitz. 2002. Social psychology. 2nd ed. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum associates.
Clarke, S. 2008. Sim and the city: Rationalism in psychology and philosophy and Haidt’s account of moral judgment. Philosophical Psychology 21 (6): 799. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515080802513250.
Cleek, M.A., and S.L. Leonard. 1998. Can corporate codes of ethics influence behavior? Journal of Business Ethics 17 (6): 619–630. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017969921581.
Crain, W.C. 1985. Theories of development : Concepts and applications. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Dellaportas, S. 2006. Making a difference with a discrete course on accounting ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 65: 391–404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-0020-7.
Ferrell, O.C., and L.G. Gresham. 1985. A contingency framework for understanding ethical decision making in marketing. Journal of Marketing 49 (3): 87–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298504900308.
Gilovich, T. 1993. How we know what isn’t so: The fallability of human reason in everyday life. New York: Free Press.
Gino, F., S. Ayal, and D. Ariely. 2009. Contagion and differentiation in unethical behavior: The effect of one bad apple on the barrel. Psychological Science 20 (3): 393–398. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02306.x.
Gino, F., and A.D. Galinsky. 2012. Vicarious dishonesty: When psychological closeness creates distance from one’s moral compass. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 119 (1): 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.03.011.
Graybill, O., and L. Easton Brown. 2015. The art of dialogue. Educational Leadership 72 (7): http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr15/vol72/num07/The-Art-of-Dialogue.aspx.
Greene, J., and J. Haidt. 2002. How (and where) does moral judgment work? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 6 (12). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)02011-9.
Haidt, J. 2001. The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review 108 (4): 814–834. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.4.814.
Haidt, J. 2007. The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science 316 (5827): 998–1002. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1137651.
Haidt, J., and F. Bjorklund. 2008. Social intutionists answer six questions about moral psychology. In Moral psychology, volume 2, the cognitive science of morality, ed. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, 181–217. MIT Press.
Haidt, J., and C. Joseph. 2004. Intuitive ethics: How innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues. Daedalus 133 (4): 55–66. https://doi.org/10.1162/0011526042365555.
Hunt, S.D., and S.J. Vitell. 2006. The general theory of marketing ethics: A revision and three questions. Journal of Macromarketing 26 (2): 143–153. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276146706290923.
Johnson, C. 2007. Ethics in the workplace: Tools and tactics for organizational transformation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc..
Jones, G.E., and M.J. Kavanagh. 1996. An experimental examination of the effects of individual and situational factors on unethical behavioral intentions in the workplace. Journal of Business Ethics 15 (5): 511–523. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00381927.
Kant, I., A.W. Wood, and J.B. Schneewind. 2002. Groundwork for the metaphysics of moral. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
Kaptein, M. 2011. Toward effective codes: Testing the relationship with unethical behavior. Journal of Business Ethics 99 (2): 233–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0652-5.
Keith, N.K., C.E. Pettijohn, and M.S. Burnett. 2003. An empirical evaluation of the effect of peer and managerial ethical behaviors and the ethical predispositions of prospective advertising employees. Journal of Business Ethics 48 (3): 251–265. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BUSI.0000005786.09105.5c.
Kish-Gephart, J.J., D.A. Harrison, and L.K. Trevino. 2010. Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: Meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work. Journal of Applied Psychology 95 (4): 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017103.
Kohlberg, L. 1981. The philosophy of moral development volumes I-III. San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row.
Kohlberg, L. 1984. The psychology of moral development: The nature and validity of moral stages. Vol. II. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Kuhn, D. 1989. Children and adults as intuitive scientists. Psychological Review 96 (4): 674–689. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.96.4.674.
Kunda, Z. 1990. The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin 108 (4): 480–498. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480.
Larson, R.B. 2019. Controlling social desirability bias. International Journal of Market Research 61 (5): 534–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470785318805305.
LoBue, V., T. Nishida, C. Chiong, J.S. DeLoache, and J. Haidt. 2011. When getting something good is bad: Even three-year-olds react to inequality. Social Development 20 (1): 154–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2009.00560.x.
Lord, C.G., L. Ross, and M.R. Lepper. 1979. Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37 (11): 2098–2109. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.2098.
Mayer, D.M., K. Aquino, R.L. Greenbaum, and M. Kuenzi. 2012. Who displays ethical leadership, and why does it matter? An examination of antecedents and consequences of ethical leadership. Academy of Management Journal 55 (1): 151–171. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2008.0276.
Mayhew, Matthew J., and Mark E. Engberg. 2010. Diversity and moral reasoning: How negative diverse peer interactions affect the development of moral reasoning in undergraduate students. Journal of Higher Education 81 (4): 459–488. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2010.11779061.
McCabe, D., and L.K. Trevino. 2002. Honesty and honor codes. Academe 88 (1): 37–41.
McCabe, D., L.K. Trevino, and K. Butterfield. 1996. The influence of collegiate and corporate codes of ethics-related behavior in the workplace. Business Ethics Quarterly 6 (4): 461–476. https://doi.org/10.2307/3857499.
Moore, C., and F. Gino. 2013. Ethically adrift: How others pull our moral compass from true north, and how we can fix it. Research in Organizational Behavior 33: 53–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2013.08.001.
Nickerson, R.S. 1998. Confirmation Bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Review of General Psychology 2 (2): 175–220. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.2.175.
Park, H. 2005. The role of idealism and relativism as dispositional characteristics in the socially responsible decision-making process. Journal of Business Ethics 56 (1): 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-004-3239-1.
Pascual-Ezama, D., D. Dunfield, B. Gil-Gómez de Liaño, and D. Prelec. 2015. Peer effects in unethical behavior: Standing or reputation? PLoS One: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122305.
Pascual-Ezama, D., D. Prelec, and D. Dunfield. 2013. Motivation, money, prestige and cheats. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 93: 367–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2013.03.015.
Pava, M.L. 2009. The exaggerated moral claims of evolutionary psychologists. Journal of Business Ethics 85 (3): 391–401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9778-0.
Pettijohn, C.E., N.K. Keith, and M.S. Burnett. 2011. Managerial and peer influence on ethical behavioral intentions in a personal selling context. Journal of Promotion Management 17 (2): 133–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2011.580694.
Piaget, J. 1932. The moral judgement of the child. Glenco, Ill.: Free Press.
Quine, W.V., and J.S. Ullian. 1970. The web of belief. New York: Random House.
Reiss, M.C., and K. Mitra. 1998. The effects of individual difference factors on the acceptability of ethical and unethical workplace behaviors. Journal of Business Ethics 17 (14): 1581–1593. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005742408725.
Rest, J.R. 1979. Development in judging moral issues. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
Robinson, S.L., and A.M. O’Leary-Kelly. 1998. Monkey see, monkey do: The influence of work groups on the antisocial behavior of employees. Academy of Management Journal 41 (6): 658–672. https://doi.org/10.2307/256963.
Rozin, P., L. Lowery, S. Imada, and J. Haidt. 1999. The CAD triad hypothesis: A mapping between three moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust) and three moral codes (community, autonomy, divinity). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 76 (4): 574–586. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.4.574.
Saltzstein, H.D., and T. Kasachkoff. 2004. Haidt’s moral intuitionist theory: A psychological and philosophical critique. Review of General Psychology 8 (4): 273–282. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.8.4.273.
Schnall, S., J. Haidt, G.L. Clore, and A.H. Jordan. 2008. Disgust as embodied moral judgment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34 (8): 1096–1109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208317771.
Senge, P.M. 2006. The fifth discipline : The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday/Currency.
Tappan, M.B. 1997. Language, culture, and moral development: A Vygotskian perspective. Developmental Review 17 (1): 78–100. https://doi.org/10.1006/drev.1996.0422.
Tappan, M.B. 1998. Moral education in the zone of proximal development. Journal of Moral Education 27 (2): 141. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305724980270202.
Thoma, S.J. 2006. Research on the defining issues test. In Handbook of moral development, ed. Melanie Killen and Judith Smetana, 67–91. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum associates Inc., publishers.
Thorne, L., and J. Hartwick. 2001. The directional effects of discussion on auditors’ moral reasoning. Contemporary Accounting Research 18 (2): 337–361. https://doi.org/10.1506/Y917-MPRY-PANF-PRVE.
Trevino, L.K. 1986. Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review 11 (3): 601–617. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1986.4306235.
Trevino, K. 1992. Moral reasoning and business ethics: Implications for research, education, and management. Journal of Business Ethics 11 (5/6): 445–459. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25072293.
Trevino, L.K., N.A. den Nieuwenboer, and J.J. Kish-Gephart. 2014. (un)ethical behavior in organizations. Annual Review of Psychology. 65: 635–660. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143745.
Trevino, L.K., and S. Youngblood. 1990. Bad apples in bad barrels: A causal analysis of ethical decision-making behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology 75 (4): 378–385. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.75.4.378.
Turner, V.D., and E.A. Chambers. 2006. The social mediation of a moral dilemma: Appropriating the moral tools of others. Journal of Moral Education 35 (3): 353–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240600874513.
Vygotsky, L.1978. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, ed. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, and E. Souberman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L. 1986. Thought and language, ed. A. Kozulin. MA: The MIT Press.
Weaver, G.R., S.J. Reynolds, and M.E. Brown. 2014. Moral intuition: Connecting current knowledge to future organizational research and practice. Journal of Management 40 (1): 100–129. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206313511272.
Zhang, Y., B. He, and X. Sun. 2018. The contagion of unethical pro-organizational behavior: From leaders to followers. Frontiers in Psychology 9: 1102. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01102.
Code availability (software application or custom code)
Not applicable.
Availability of data and material (data transparency)
Not applicable.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Not applicable.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval (include appropriate approvals or waivers)
Data collection was approved by the Research Ethics Boards of both Mount Royal University and Dalhousie University.
Consent to participate (include appropriate statements)
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants in this study.
Consent for publication (include appropriate statements)
Consent to publish was obtained from all individual participants in this study.
Conflicts of interest/competing interests
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ohreen, D. The role of peers on student ethical decision making: evidence in support of the social intuitionist model. International Journal of Ethics Education 6, 289–309 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-021-00125-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-021-00125-3