Triggers of Acute Changes in Ethical Attitude

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

1.1.1 THE ORIGIN OF DECEPTION

1.1.2 DEFINITION OF ETHICS AND MORALE

1.1.3 THE SELF IN THE REGULATION OF BEHAVIOUR

1.1.4 STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

1.1.5 SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY OF MORALITY

1.1.6 INFLUENCING MORAL AWARENESS USING PSYCHOLOGICAL PRIMING

1.1.7 MORAL ATTENTIVENESS, MORAL IDENTITY, AND SOCIAL CONSENSUS

1.1.8 PSYCHOLOGICAL DISSONANCE AND SELF-DECEPTION

1.1.9 MORAL DISENGAGEMENT AND IMMORAL BEHAVIOUR

1.2 PROBLEM DISCUSSION

1.2.1 REASONS FOR DISHONEST BEHAVIOUR IN ECONOMIC CONTEXTS

1.2.2 THE STATE OF RESEARCH IN BUSINESS ETHICS

1.2.3 POTENTIAL REMEDIES AGAINST UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

1.3 PROBLEM FORMULATION AND PURPOSE

1.3.1 PROBLEM FORMULATION

1.3.2 HYPOTHESES DEVELOPED FROM THE LITERATURE REVIEW

1.3.3 STUDY PURPOSE

1.4 DE-LIMITATIONS

1.5 THESIS STRUCTURE

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 TACKLING THE MAIN REASONS FOR UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

2.2 TEACHING ETHICS IN COURSES

2.3 BUSINESS ETHICAL CODES OF CONDUCT (BECC)

2.4 EFFECTS OF BECC ON CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR

2.5 BUSINESS CODES IN LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS

2.6 CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF BUSINESS CODES

3 METHODS

3.1 MEASURING MORALE AND ETHICS

3.1.1 CONTROLLING FOR GENDER, SOCIAL STATUS AND CULTURE FACTORS

3.1.2 METHODS, TESTS, AND SCALES MEASURING ETHICAL VALUES

3.1.3 MDS: MORAL DISENGAGEMENT SCALE

3.1.4 DIT: DEFINING ISSUES TEST

3.1.5 MJT: MORAL JUDGEMENT TEST

3.1.6 EPQ: ETHICS POSITION QUESTIONNAIRE

3.1.7 MACH IV: MACHIAVELLIANISM

3.1.8 MES: THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL ETHICS SCALE

3.1.9 SELECTION OF MOST APPROPRIATE TEST FOR THESIS

3.1.10 VALIDITY OF THE MEASUREMENTS

3.1.11 RELIABILITY OF THE MEASUREMENTS

3.2 DESIGN AND PROCEDURE

3.2.1 SAMPLING OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE EXPERIMENT SURVEY

3.2.2 DESIGN AND EXECUTION OF THE EXPERIMENT SURVEY

3.2.3 PROS AND CONS OF AN ONLINE EXPERIMENT SURVEY

3.3 ANALYSIS AND STATISTICS

4 RESULTS

4.1 PARTICIPANTS’ DEMOGRAPHICS

4.1.1 GENDER

4.1.2 AGE

4.1.3 NATIONALITY

4.1.4 EDUCATION

4.2 EFFECT OF DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE PARTICIPANTS

4.2.1 GENDER COMPARISON

4.2.2 AGE CORRELATION

4.2.3 EDUCATION EFFECT

4.3 MORAL DISENGAGEMENT: 6 STATEMENTS TEST

4.3.1 EXPERIMENT 1: EFFECT OF BECC ON MORAL DISENGAGEMENT

4.3.2 EXPERIMENT 2: EFFECT OF HONEST VERSUS DISHONEST BEHAVIOUR

4.4 COMPARING RESULTS IN EXPERIMENT ONE AND TWO

4.5 MORAL DISENGAGEMENT: 32 STATEMENTS TEST (EXP. 3)

4.5.1 MORAL JUSTIFICATION

4.5.2 EUPHEMISTIC LANGUAGE

4.5.3 ADVANTAGEOUS COMPARISON

4.5.4 DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY

4.5.5 DISPLACEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY

4.5.6 DISTORTING CONSEQUENCES

4.5.7 DEHUMANIZATION

4.5.8 BLAME

4.5.9 COMBINED RESULTS FOR THE 32 QUESTIONS TEST

5 DISCUSSION

5.1 HYPOTHESIS 1: ARE BECC EFFECTIVE?

5.1.1 BECC IN EXPERIMENT 1

5.1.2 BECC IN EXPERIMENT 3

5.2 HYPOTHESIS 2: HONESTY VERSUS DISHONESTY

5.2.1 EXPERIMENT 2

5.2.2 COMBINING RESULTS FROM EXPERIMENT 1 AND 2

5.3 HYPOTHESIS 3: DISENGAGEMENT EXAMINED IN MORE DETAIL

5.3.1 EXPERIMENT 3

5.4 HYPOTHESIS 4: GENDER EFFECTS

5.4.1 MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT AND GENDER

5.5 HYPOTHESIS 5: AGE AND SOCIO-ECONOMICAL EFFECTS

5.5.1 EFFECT OF AGE ON MORAL RATINGS

5.5.2 EFFECT OF SOCIO-ECONOMICS ON ETHICAL RATINGS

6 CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, FUTURE ASPECTS

6.1 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

6.1.1 HYPOTHESIS 1

6.1.2 HYPOTHESIS 2

6.1.3 HYPOTHESIS 3

6.1.4 HYPOTHESIS 4

6.1.5 HYPOTHESIS 5

6.1.6 REVISITING STUDY PURPOSE

6.2 IMPLICATIONS

6.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Objectives and Topics

This thesis examines whether Business Ethical Codes of Conduct (BECC), or honour codes, can trigger acute changes in moral attitude through psychological priming. The research investigates if such codes effectively reduce unethical behaviour in theoretical, online-simulated scenarios and evaluates the influence of demographic factors on these outcomes.

• The effectiveness of Business Ethical Codes of Conduct (BECC) as a tool for improving morality.
• Application of psychological priming and moral disengagement theory in a business context.
• Evaluation of online survey methodology in testing moral attitudes.
• Analysis of the mere-exposure effect on moral judgement.
• Correlation of demographic variables (age, gender, socio-economic status) with ethical values.

Excerpt from the Book

Summary of Chapters

1 INTRODUCTION: This chapter outlines the prevalence of dishonesty in society and business, defines key terms, and establishes the study's focus on whether honour codes can improve morality.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW: This chapter reviews existing research on unethical behaviour, the effectiveness of ethical training, and the application of Business Ethical Codes of Conduct (BECC) in laboratory and real-life settings.

3 METHODS: This chapter describes the research design, including the selection of the Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS), the online survey structure, and the analytical methods used to test the five hypotheses.

4 RESULTS: This chapter presents the demographic data of participants and the quantitative findings from the three experiments regarding the impact of BECCs, moral dilemmas, and demographic factors.

5 DISCUSSION: This chapter interprets the experimental results, explaining the lack of significant impact from BECCs and analyzing the observed mere-exposure effect on moral ratings.

6 CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, FUTURE ASPECTS: This final chapter synthesizes the main findings, concludes that BECCs are not acutely effective, and suggests directions for future research on ethical interventions.

Keywords

Business Ethics, Ethical Codes of Conduct (BECC), Moral Disengagement, Mere-exposure effect, Priming, Dishonesty, Moral Attitude, Psychological Dissonance, Cognitive Dissonance, Online Survey, Moral Reasoning, Demographic Factors, Self-deception, Moral Attentiveness.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core focus of this master thesis?

The research investigates whether Business Ethical Codes of Conduct (BECC) can trigger immediate, acute shifts in an individual's ethical attitude through psychological priming mechanisms.

What are the central thematic areas covered in the work?

The thesis focuses on moral disengagement, the effectiveness of corporate honour codes, psychological theories regarding honesty and deception, and the impact of demographic factors like age and gender on moral decision-making.

What is the primary objective or research question?

The primary goal is to determine if short-term exposure to a Business Ethical Code of Conduct (BECC) effectively improves moral thinking in individuals using an online survey simulation.

Which scientific methodology is employed?

The author uses an experimental, quantitative research design, specifically an online "experiment survey," comparing different groups subjected to varying conditions (reading a BECC vs. a control group vs. responding to moral dilemmas) and analyzing results via Student’s t-test and ANOVA.

What topics are discussed in the main body?

The main body covers the theoretical background of moral psychology, a critical review of existing literature on business codes, the justification for the chosen testing instruments, and a detailed analysis of data retrieved from three separate experiments.

Which keywords best characterize the study?

Key terms include Business Ethics, Moral Disengagement, BECC, Priming, Mere-exposure effect, and Moral Attitude.

Did the study confirm that honour codes are effective?

No, the results indicate that reading a Business Ethical Code of Conduct (BECC) does not have a significant, acute effect on moral disengagement within a theoretical online context.

What is the "mere-exposure effect" mentioned in the study?

It is a psychological phenomenon where repeated or mere exposure to a stimulus (in this case, an ethical dilemma) influences a subject's attitude, often leading to reduced moral sensitivity, which the author identifies as an unexpected finding in the data.

Why did the author use an online survey?

The online format allowed for cost-effective, large-scale data collection and provided a controlled environment to test if theoretical, non-human-contact scenarios could trigger measurable changes in ethical perception.