Early Determinants of Ethical Decision-Making

Early Determinants of Ethical Decision-Making Stephen Murphy Center for Applied Social Research University of Oklahoma ORI Conference Tampa Bay, FL 12/02/06 Collaborative Effort  Professors:   Dr. Michael Mumford Dr. Lynn Devenport Ethan Waples Alison Antes   Dr. Shane Connelly Dr. Ryan Brown Jason Hill  Graduate Students:    Also like to acknowledge the National Institutes of Health and Office of Research Integrity for funding this research Decision-Making in Ethical Dilemmas  Decision-making in ethical dilemmas is a complex process:     Competing values, causes, and goals Emotions are at play Situational cues often conflict Outcomes are uncertain An illustrative example May have a number of different influences  Choices in ethical decision-making:   Final action follows a sequence of choices  Causes of Misconduct: Organizational Climate versus Career Experiences  Individual factors  Organizational Climate:   Shared perceptions of the organization Expectations of social interactions  Career   Experiences: Direct specific experiences or incidents Experiences provide information Method   Participants:  102 first-year doctoral students Social Biological Health Organizational Climate inventory Career Experiences measure Ethical decision-making Sampled from 3 graduate sciences:     Measures:    Organizational Climate Survey  Example  items:  A wide variety of viewpoints are expressed here Distribution of rewards and credits is fair here  Factor     Analysis: Equity Interpersonal Conflict Occupational Engagement Work Commitment Career Experiences Measure  Example Items:   How often has a professor asked you a question about class readings that you were unable to answer? How often has your group challenged itself to develop unique research ideas or products? Professional Leadership Poor Coping Lack of Rewards Limited Competitive Pressure Poor Career Direction  Factor Analysis:      Ethical Decision-Making Measure work simulation  Taxonomy of four broad domains of misconduct:      Low-fidelity Data management Study conduct Professional practices Business practices  Scored  on ethicality Moderate (2) Low (1) High (3) Ethical Decision-Making Measure During graduate school, Langston developed a new methodological approach for analyzing data, with guidance from his advisor. He trained several graduate students on the use of this approach before he graduated. At a recent professional conference, Langston heard a student present preliminary results from her Master’s thesis in which she used the data analytic approach. He noticed a potentially serious error in the interpretation of the data, attributable to improper use of the approach. He mentions this possibility after the presentation. Ethical Decision-Making Measure A month after the conference, one of Langston’s colleagues shows him a manuscript written by the student and Langston’s former advisor. It has been submitted for publication and contains the same information and errors he observed at the conference. He tells his former advisor that he’s sure the analytic approach was applied improperly and can demonstrate this. What should Langston’s former advisor do? Choose two from the following: (H) Retract the submitted manuscript (M) Submit new analyses and interpretations indicating that the wrong version of the manuscript was submitted (L) Wait for reviews and do additional analyses if indicated Results Block One Data Study Conduct β Equity Interpersonal Conflict -.06 -.13 β .07 -.03 Professional Practices β Business Practices β -.02 -.22* -.09 -.29* Occupational Engagement Work Commitment R .11 .01 .14 .19 .02 .20 .19 .24 .07 .31* .24* .37* Note: * sig. p<.05 Results Block One Data Study Conduct β Professional Leadership Poor Coping .12 -.28* β .00 .01 Professional Practices β .14 -.12 Business Practices β -.02 -.05 Lack of Rewards Limited Competitive Pressure Poor Career Direction R Note: * sig. p<.05 -.16 .09 -.13 -.16 -.34* .18 -.03 .10 .04 .37* .16 .27 .11 .47* .25* .33* Results Block One Data β Equity Interpersonal Conflict Occupational Engagement Work Commitment Block Two Professional Leadership Poor Coping Lack of Rewards Limited Competitive Pressure Poor Career Direction R .14 -.33* -.15 .08 -.05 .00 -.10 .11 .13 -.18 -.35* .14 -.02 -.05 .03 .04 -.08 .02 .06 .00 Study Conduct β .07 .05 .05 .18 Professional Practices β -.16 -.06 .14 .04 Business Practices β -.02 -.20 -.17 .23* -.07 .40* .16 .33 .04 .51* .17 .43* Summary  Compelling evidence for the influence of Organizational Climate and Career Experience on the choices people make influences on Ethical Decisionmaking:   Early Organizational Climate: • Influence of interpersonal conflict  Career experience: • Impact of poor coping and lack of rewards Discussion  Organizational but… Climate remains critical,  More attention focusing on experiences in the work environment the relationship between direct experiences and perceptions of organizational climate  Study