Organizing through Empathy (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society) by Kathryn Pavlovich

Author:Kathryn Pavlovich [Kathryn Pavlovich]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-09-10T16:00:00+00:00

Example 2: The Role of Empathy in Moral Disengagement

Detert et al. (2008) conducted a multiwave survey study to assess the role of empathy and moral disengagement (i.e., processes through which individuals justify unethical behaviors) on unethical decision making. Students participated in the three surveys spanning two semesters. Surveys 1 and 2 aimed to measure participants’ individual differences, including their levels of empathy and moral disengagement. Empathy was measured in Survey 1 using the sympathy scale from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) (e.g., Goldberg et al., 2006). To assess participants’ level of moral disengagement, the authors adapted the measure developed by Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, and Pastorelli (1996). Survey 3 aimed to collect data on participants’ unethical decision making. Participants were asked to read eight ethically charged scenarios and had to indicate how likely they would engage in the behaviors described in each of the scenarios.

Detert et al. (2008) proposed that empathy was related to unethical decision making through moral disengagement, such that empathy was negatively related to moral disengagement, which in turn would have a negative effect on the ethicality of decisions. Their argument was that empathic individuals are able to imagine how a person is affected by a situation and are concerned about how the person feels, and, hence, are less likely to morally disengage. Furthermore, the link between moral disengagement and unethical behavior could be explained by a lack of self-censure and reduced feelings of guilt under conditions of high moral disengagement. The findings of their study supported these predictions. More precisely, they found an effect of empathy on moral disengagement and an effect of moral disengagement on unethical decision making. Results also provided evidence of the mediating effect of moral disengagement on the relationship between empathy and unethical decision making.

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