Linking Moral Intensity to Ethical Decision-Making:
A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Future Marketers
Paul Ballantine, University of Auckland
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of moral intensity upon ethical decision-making using data
gathered from 45 Malaysian and 82 New Zealand undergraduate marketing students. Jones’
(1991) moral intensity construct was found to be a significant predictor of ethical intentions in
five of six cases, with the R2 values for the scenarios used in this study ranging between 0.23
and 0.56. Moreover, one component of moral intensity – magnitude of consequences – was
found to be the most consistent predictor of subjects’ ethical intentions. The implications of
these findings are discussed, along with some directions for future research within the field of
marketing ethics.
Introduction
The issue of how the characteristics of a problem situation can affect the ethical decisionmaking process is an area that has often been overlooked in the study of marketing ethics
(e.g., Marshall and Dewe, 1997; Singhapakdi, Vitell, and Kraft, 1996). Consequently, many
studies have failed to acknowledge that for ethical decision-making to occur, an individual
must first be able to recognise that a problem situation contains a moral component. As a
result, some researchers have adopted the construct of moral intensity (Jones, 1991) to help
explain the ethical decision-making process. However, research applying the moral intensity
construct to ethical decision-making has been limited to a handful of articles (e.g., Morris and
McDonald, 1995; Singer, 1996; Singer and Singer, 1997). Moreover, of those authors who
have examined the effects of moral intensity on ethical decision-making, few have used all six
components of Jones’ (1991) original construct. Accordingly, a need exists for more empirical
research to explore what effect moral intensity has upon ethical decision-making behaviour.
Moral intensity is defined as the moral imperative of a situation (Jones, 1991), where the
moral intensity of a situation can be linked to the ethical decision-making behaviour of an
individual. Thus, when issues of high moral intensity are present within a problem situation,
the more likely ethical decision-making is to occur. Moral intensity is a multidimensional
construct, and consists of the following six components: concentration of effect, magnitude of
consequences, probability of effect, proximity, social consensus, and temporal immediacy. In
sum, strong support has been found for the effects of moral intensity upon ethical decisionmaking (e.g., Marshall and Dewe, 1997; Morris and McDonald, 1995; Singer, 1996; Singer
and Singer, 1997; Singhapakdi, Vitell, and Franke, 1999; Singhapakdi, Vitell, and Kraft,
1996; Weber, 1996).
The effects of culture upon ethical decision-making has been another area that has become
popular with researchers, especially during the last decade. In general, the findings of these
studies suggest that cultural differences do occur with respect to ethical decision-making
behaviour (e.g., Armstrong, 1996; Okleshen and Hoyt, 1996; Swinyard, Rinne, and Kau,
1990; Whipple and Swords, 1992). Some authors (e.g., Whipple and Swords, 1992) have also
used these findings to suggest that one culture may be “more ethical” than another. However,
these studies have not examined how the moral intensity of an ethical dilemma can affect the
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decision-making process. Additionally, the issue of what components of moral intensity affect
the ethical decision-making process of people from different cultures remains unknown.
Methodology
To address these issues, a questionnaire consisting of two main sections was employed in this
study. In the first section, three ethical scenarios derived from previous ethics literature were
provided, with a series of questions designed to measure respondents’ perceptions of moral
intensity, and their ethical intentions. In Section Two, a series of demographic questions were
asked to help categorise respondents, and to eliminate those subjects who failed to meet the
criteria for inclusion into the two samples later analysed in this study.
In the first section of the questionnaire, three vignettes from previous ethics literature were
used as stimulus material. The three vignettes used within this research included both the
coercion and control, and physical environment scenarios provided by Fritzsche and Becker
(1984), and a modified version of the software piracy scenario provided by Swinyard, Rinne,
and Kau (1990). The six components of the moral intensity construct were operationalised
using the series of six statements developed by Singhapakdi, Vitell, and Kraft (1996). Each of
the six statements asked the respondent to indicate their agreement or disagreement with the
statement on a nine-point Likert-type scale anchored ‘strongly agree’ – ‘strongly disagree’.
Ethical intentions, or the likelihood that a subject would take a specific action was measured
on an eleven-point Likert-type scale anchored ‘definitely would [take the action]’ – ‘definitely
would not [take the action]’. An indication that a subject would take an action signalled less
ethical intentions than a subject that indicated they would not take an action.
In the second section, a number of demographic questions were asked in order to categorise
respondents, and to screen out those subjects who failed to meet the criteria for inclusion into
the two samples later analysed in this study. These questions included the subjects’ gender,
age, country of citizenship, length of residence in this country, ethnic background/race, years
of full and part-time work experience, and year of tertiary education. The culture construct
was operationalised using each subjects’ country of citizenship as a surrogate measure, with a
respondent being required to have spent at least three-quarters of their life within this country
to be included in the cultural group.
Due to the exploratory nature of this research, two convenience samples of Malaysian and
New Zealand undergraduate marketing students were considered suitable for the purpose of
this study. Using data collected from a university in New Zealand, a total of 45 Malaysian and
82 New Zealand questionnaires were suitable for analysis.
Results
The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of perceived moral intensity upon
subjects’ ethical intentions. To determine the strength of this relationship, and to draw out the
relative contribution of each of the six components of the moral intensity construct, regression
analysis was used. Separate regression analyses were run for each of the three vignettes, with
separate analyses also being conducted for both cultural groups. Moreover, using standardised
beta weights (provided in Tables 1 – 3), it was possible to make a cross-cultural comparison
of the relative importance given to each component of the moral intensity construct.
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For the coercion and control scenario (see Table 1), the R2 value for moral intensity was only
found to be significant for New Zealand students (R2 = 0.23, p < 0.01). In addition, only social
consensus was found to be a significant predictor (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) for New Zealanders.
Malaysian
Sample
Moral Intensity Components
Concentration of Effect
Magnitude of Consequences
Probability of Effect
Proximity
Social Consensus
Temporal Immediacy
R2
F
Df
*p < 0.10; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01
-0.16
0.24
0.05
0.17
0.08
0.00
0.21
1.72
(6,38)
New Zealand
Sample
0.21
0.15
0.19
0.07
0.35***
0.16
0.23
3.80***
(6,75)
Table 1 – Results of the Regression Analyses (standardised betas)
for the Coercion and Control Scenario
For the second (physical environment) scenario (see Table 2), moral intensity was found to be
a significant predictor of ethical intentions for both Malaysians (R2 = 0.53, p < 0.01) and New
Zealanders (R2 = 0.53, p < 0.01). Of the six moral intensity components, both magnitude of
consequences (β = 0.44, p < 0.01) and proximity (β = 0.41, p < 0.01) were significant for the
Malaysian sample, while magnitude of consequences (β = 0.26, p < 0.05) and probability of
effect (β = 0.29, p < 0.01) were significant for the New Zealand sample.
Malaysian
Sample
Moral Intensity Components
Concentration of Effect
Magnitude of Consequences
Probability of Effect
Proximity
Social Consensus
Temporal Immediacy
R2
F
Df
*p < 0.10; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01
New Zealand
Sample
0.00
0.44***
-0.01
0.41***
0.04
-0.02
-0.05
0.26**
0.29***
0.12
0.14
0.14
0.53
7.07***
(6,38)
0.53
14.27***
(6,75)
Table 2 – Results of the Regression Analyses (standardised betas)
for the Physical Environment Scenario
Finally, for the software piracy scenario (see Table 3), the R2 value for moral intensity was
significant for both the Malaysian (R2 = 0.43, p < 0.01) and New Zealand (R2 = 0.56, p <
0.01) samples. With regard to the six components of moral intensity, concentration of effect
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(β = -0.48, p < 0.01) and proximity (β = -0.30, p < 0.05) were significant for Malaysians,
while magnitude of consequences (β = 0.38, p < 0.01) and temporal immediacy (β = 0.40, p <
0.01) were significant for New Zealanders.
Malaysian
Sample
Moral Intensity Components
Concentration of Effect
Magnitude of Consequences
Probability of Effect
Proximity
Social Consensus
Temporal Immediacy
R2
F
Df
*p < 0.10; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01
New Zealand
Sample
-0.48***
0.17
0.06
-0.30**
0.23
0.09
-0.13
0.38***
-0.13
0.04
0.10
0.40***
0.43
4.83***
(6,38)
0.56
15.90***
(6,75)
Table 3 – Results of the Regression Analyses (standardised betas)
for the Software Piracy Scenario
Discussion
This study sought to examine the role of perceived moral intensity upon the ethical intentions
of subjects across two cultures. Overall, moral intensity was found to significantly predict
ethical intentions in five of six cases, with the R2 values for the scenarios used in this study
ranging between 0.23 and 0.56. Additional analysis of the regression equations revealed that
of the six components of the moral intensity construct, magnitude of consequences was a
significant predictor in three of six instances, proximity was a significant predictor in two of
six instances, and that concentration of effect, probability of effect, social consensus, and
temporal immediacy were significant predictors in only one of six instances each.
The findings of this research suggest that throughout the process of ethical decision-making,
an individual pays most attention to the overall harm caused by an action. Consequently, if
the objective of an individual or organisation is to both foster and encourage ethical decisionmaking behaviour, other people should be made cognisant of the severity of the consequences
caused by an unethical action. Moreover, for issues of low moral intensity, it may be possible
to encourage ethical decision-making by increasing the negative consequences associated
with an undesirable action.
Practical Implications
The major practical implication to arise from this study is based upon the finding that culture
has some effect on perceptions of moral intensity, and on what components of moral intensity
help predict ethical decision-making behaviour. Specifically, the findings reported within this
study suggest that in different ethical contexts, people from different cultural groups will
differ with regard to what aspects of a moral situation will affect their ethical (or unethical)
behaviour. Thus, the main implication to arise from this study is that to properly understand
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ethical decision-making behaviour in a cross-cultural context, individuals and organisations
need to be aware of how people from different cultural groups evaluate the moral intensity of
an ethical situation, and how these perceptions could subsequently influence their ethical
decision-making behaviour.
Research Limitations
Three limitations were evident with this study. First, the use of student samples may limit the
external validity of the findings presented in this study. Specifically, the scenarios used may
have contained concepts where students, with relatively little work experience, may have had
some difficulty in deciding on which action they should take, or with interpreting the ethical
issues contained in each dilemma. The use of hypothetical scenarios to elicit responses from
subjects is the second limitation of this study, where two problems may have been associated
with the use of vignettes. The scenarios used in this study provided only a limited set of
information, and this may have caused subjects to make a decision that would not reflect their
true judgement in a more realistic and complex setting. Moreover, the student subjects used in
this study may not have had sufficient background or experience to properly interpret the core
issues contained within each scenario. While this problem may have been magnified through
the use of student samples, it is doubtful that even marketing practitioners would have had
experience with all the scenarios and ethical issues presented in this study. Finally, the third
potential limitation of this research is associated with the possibility that social desirability
may have influenced subjects’ responses to the questions asked in this study. As a result,
rather than indicate their true feelings, subjects may have responded to the questionnaire in a
manner perceived as being more socially acceptable.
Future Research Directions
Further examination of Jones’ (1991) moral intensity construct provides the first direction for
future research arising from this study. Specifically, while moral intensity has been examined
by a number of authors, few have investigated the validity of the construct. With the results of
the factor analysis conducted by Singhapakdi, Vitell, and Kraft (1996) suggesting that moral
intensity may contain two dimensions, it is essential that future research properly investigates
the individual components of the construct, so that any components that should be removed or
added to the original construct can be determined. Until this occurs, the empirical validity of
the moral intensity construct should be questioned by academicians conducting research in the
field of marketing ethics.
A more in-depth analysis of how moral intensity affects ethical decision-making behaviour
across cultures provides the final direction for future research. Although this study has made
an important contribution in this area, only three ethical scenarios were examined, thereby
leaving considerable opportunity for future research to investigate what effect other scenario
contexts have upon cross-cultural perceptions of moral intensity, and how these perceptions
then affect ethical decision-making behaviour. The most obvious suggestion is that the range
of scenarios provided by Fritzsche and Becker (1984) that were not used in this study may be
employed. Additionally, a number of different scenario contexts examined by other authors
could also be explored.
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