Moral Domain Expertise and the Complement Model: The Marriage of Virtue Ethics and Situationism for Business Ethics Programs
Publisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
When a business organization designs an ethics program, should it adopt a situationist conception of moral psychology or a virtue approach to character building? In this dissertation I argue that the answer is, both. The complement model is a recommendation for business ethics programs that blends the best aspects of these two theories in social psychology and philosophy. I start by giving a critique of the experimental literature surrounding situationism and argue that older adults have different prosocial competencies than the younger college-age subjects used in the situationist experiments. I give an explanation of virtue development, which concludes with the claim that older adults are an overlooked resource to be used in formal ethics mentoring programs. I also present the findings from a study I conducted with business ethics professionals, which provided information that I used to formulate the recommendations for the complement model.Type
textElectronic Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Graduate CollegePhilosophy