When organizational identification elicits moral decision-making: A matter of the right climate

When organizational identification elicits moral decision-making: A matter of the right climate

To advance current knowledge on ethical decision-making in organizations, the researchers integrate two perspectives that have thus far developed independently:

• the organizational identification perspective and
• the ethical climate perspective.

The authors illustrate the interaction between these perspectives in two studies (Study 1, N = 144, US sample; and Study 2, N = 356, UK sample), in which they presented participants with moral business dilemmas.

Specifically, the researchers found that organizational identification increased moral decision-making only when the organization’s climate was perceived to be ethical. In addition, they disentangle this effect in Study 2 from participants’ moral identity. The authors argue that the interactive influence of organizational identification and ethical climate, rather than the independent influence of either of these perspectives, is crucial for understanding moral decision-making in organizations.