Ming Singer

Consideration of Moral Intensity in Ethicality Judgements: Its Relationship with Whistle-blowing and Need-for-Cognition

Within the theoretical framework of the moral intensity model of ethical decision making (Jones, 1991), two studies ascertained the contention that ethicality judgements are contingent upon the perceived intensity of the moral issue. In addition, Study 1 extended the validity of the moral intensity notion to whistle-blowing behaviour; Study 2 addressed the effect of the individual difference variable, need-for-cognition, on differential utilization of intensity dimensions in the ethical decision process. A scenario approach was used in both studies. Results have provided convergent support for the issue-contingency nature of ethical decisions. Study 1 also showed that felt empathy for potential victims predicted the likelihood of whistle-blowing behaviour, and that the perceived overall ethicality of a wrongdoing predicted felt empathy when potential victims are psychologically and physically close. Results of Study 2 further suggested a greater utilization of issue-relevant information by high need-for-cognition individuals in ethical decision making.

Situational constraints on transformational versus transactional leadership behavior, subordinates' leadership preference, and satisfaction

Abstract The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass, 1985) was administered to police officers in New Zealand (Study 1) and to employees of three companies in Taiwan (Study 2). Results showed that siruational constraints affected actual leader behavior, as well as leadership preference scores. The results indicated that mechanistic organizations such as the police force do not necessarily foster transactional leadership. Leadership in the Taiwanese companies was equally transformational and transactional. Preferences for the transformational leadership style were evident in both samples, although Taiwanese employees had a greater liking for transactional leaders. Finally, discrepancy scores between actual and preferred leader ratings may have less efficacy in predicting subordinate satisfaction than scores of actual leader behavior alone.

Transformational vs Transactional Leadership: A Study of New Zealand Company Managers

38 randomly selected New Zealand company managers completed the revised version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire of Bass. Two ratings were obtained, a rating of an ideal leader and a rating of the real immediate superior. For ratings of the real leader, the mean ratings on the transformational factors were more highly correlated than those on the transactional factors with perceived leaders effectiveness and job satisfaction. The discrepancy scores between the ratings of real and ideal leaders were negatively correlated with the measures of effectiveness and satisfaction. In addition, the ratings of ideal leader showed that managers in this study preferred working with leaders who are more transformational than transactional.

Effects of ethnicity, accent, and job status on selection decisions.

The present study investigated the effects of ethnicity, accent, and job status in the selection interview. Two hundred and ten student subjects viewed simulated, videotaped selection interviews in which applicant ethnicity, applicant accent, and job status were manipulated in a completely crossed 3 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Two sets of ratings were obtained, selection decision ratings of the job applicant, and subjective importance ratings based on the previous selection decisions. Significant main effects were obtained for ethnicity and job status in selection decision as predicted. Contrary to predictions however, the main effect for accent was not found significant. Further analysis of the importance ratings indicated a significant main effect for accent, but not for ethnicity. These findings indicated that applicant ethnicity and job status were important in selection interview decision and accent was not. Contrary to this however, subjects considered that accent was important in their selection decision ratings, while ethnicity was not.

Is There Always Escalation of Commitment

The Staw (1976) study and the Bazerman, et al. (1984) study showed that individuals responsible for negative consequences consistently escalated their commitment to the previously chosen course of action. The present study attempted to replicate the escalation of commitment phenomenon. Staws experimental procedures for the condition of high responsibility and negative feedback were followed. The present sample consisted of 93 university students. Analysis showed that there was no escalation of commitment following negative feedback. There was a significant reduction in commitment following the initial allocations to the Industrial Products Division. Possible interpretations for the inconsistent findings were proposed.

Ethical myopia: The case of “framing” by framing

The behavioural decision-theoretic concepts of mental accounting, framing and transaction utility have now been employed in marketing models and techniques. To date, however, there has not been any discussion of the ethical issues surrounding these significant developments. In this paper, an ethical evaluation is structured around three themes: (i) utilitarian justification (ii) the strategic exploitation of cognitive habits, and (iii) the claim of scientific status for the techniques. Some recommendations are made for ethical practices.

Implicit leadership theory : are results generalizable from student to professional samples?

(1990). Implicit Leadership Theory: Are Results Generalizable from Student to Professional Samples? The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 130, No. 3, pp. 407-408.

Profit Without Copyright

An elite consensus appears to have formed around the strengthening of IPR regimes. At the same time, many people, particularly in developing countries, are questioning the idea of paying for what they intuitively sense might possibly be free. In view of the potential for global dissensus on this issue, businesses that produce and distribute explicit knowledge, or digital sequences, would be quite prudent to start making contingency plans for a new form of global capitalism: one characterised by much weaker IPR regimes. Competitive business strategies based upon rival-complementarity (i.e. physical goods and human services that complement digital products) indicate the feasibility of a global economy-of-things, resting upon a freely accessible ecology of knowledge. This might be built in the future, in much the same way that an industrial economy was built, historically, upon a natural ecology of available land and biosystems. Such an arrangement conforms to several rather fundamental political intuitions.

Individual Differences in Adaption-Innovation and the Escalation of Commitment Paradigm

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Justice in preferential hiring

AbstractsThis paper reports studies designed to examine perceptions of preferential selection. Subjects evaluated the fairness of hypothetical cases of selection decisions based on either candidate sex or ethnic origin. A within-subjects design and a between-subjects design yielded convergent results showing that (1) preferential selection was perceived as unfair, irrespective of respondent sex or the basis for the preferential treatment (i.e., candidate sex or ethnic origin), (2) the level of perceived injustice was directly related to the discrepancy in merits between the successful minority candidate and the more qualified yet unsuccessful majority candidate, and (3) the provision of either an “ethical” or “legislative” justification for the selection decisions further exacerbated feelings of injustice. Possible interpretations for the findings and practical implications of the study were then discussed.