SpringerLink
Log in

Does Honesty Result from Moral Will or Moral Grace? Why Moral Identity Matters

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Does honesty result from the absence of temptation or the active resistance of temptation? The “will’’ hypothesis suggests that honesty results from the active resistance of temptation, while the ”grace” hypothesis argues that honesty results from the absence of temptation. We examined reaction time and measured the cheating behavior of individuals who had a chance to lie for money. In study 1, we tested the “grace” hypothesis that honesty results from the absence of temptation and found a priming effect of moral constructs on increasing honest behavior. In study 2, we investigated the individual’s moral identity in the same context, articulating different mechanisms that lead people to behave ethically. The result confirms that the “grace” hypothesis was valid for people who had a high moral identity, while the “will” hypothesis was accurate for individuals who had a low moral identity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Experimental design: In an effort to balance treat “order effect”, there were two different treats in our experiment. Within the 30 subjects, 16 of them were in group A (ABBA) and the rest were in group B (BAAB).

References

  • Aarts, H., Custers, R., & Marien, H. (2008). Preparing and motivating behavior outside of awareness. Science, 319(5870), 1639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aquino, K., Freeman, D., Reed, A., I. I., Lim, V. K. G., & Felps, W. (2009). Testing a social-cognitive model of moral behavior: The interactive influence of situations and moral identity centrality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(1), 123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aquino, K., & Reed, A. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 248–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barboza, B. (2010). Recycled cooking oil found to be latest hazard in China. New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/world/asia/01shanghai.html?_r=1.

  • Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being. American Psychologist, 54(7), 462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bargh, J. A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(2), 230–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bargh, J. A., & Ferguson, M. J. (2000). Beyond behaviorism: On the automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychological Bulletin, 126(6), 925.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., & Heatherton, T. F. (1996). Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological inquiry, 7(1), 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bazerman, M. H., & Tenbrunsel, A. E. (2011). Blind spots: Why we fail to do what’s right and what to do about it. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blasi, A. (1984). Moral identity: Its role in moral functioning. In W. Kurtines & J. Gewirtz (Eds.), Morality, moral behavior and moral development (pp. 128–139). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bok, S. (1999). Lying: Moral choice in public and private life. New York: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Branigan, T. (2008). Chinese figures show fivefold rise in babies sick from contaminated milk. The Guardian (London). Retrieved Dec 2, 2008, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/02/china.

  • Bucciol, A., & Piovesan, M. (2011). Luck or cheating? A field experiment on honesty with children. Journal of Economic Psychology, 32(1), 73–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpendale, J. I. (2000). Kohlberg and Piaget on stages and moral reasoning. Developmental Review, 20(2), 181–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, A. M., & Quillian, M. R. (1969). Retrieval time from semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8(2), 240–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Custers, R., & Aarts, H. (2010). The unconscious will: How the pursuit of goals operates outside of conscious awareness. Science, 329(5987), 47–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, M. (2013). Europe finds 4.4% of ‘beef’ really horse. The wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324030704578426622446482126.html.

  • Davidson, B. I., & Stevens, D. E. (2012). Can a code of ethics improve manager behavior and investor confidence? An experimental study. The Accounting Review, 88(1), 51–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Quervain, D. J. F., Fischbacher, U., Treyer, V., Schellhammer, M., Schnyder, U., Buck, A., et al. (2004). The neural basis of altruistic punishment. Science, 305(5688), 1254–1258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. (1998). Cognitive-experiential self-theory. In D. Barone, M. Hersen, & V. B. Van Hasselt (Eds.), Advanced personality (pp. 211–238). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fishbach, A., & Converse, B. A. (2010). Identifying and battling temptation. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory and applications (Vol. 2, pp. 244–260). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gino, F., Schweitzer, M. E., Mead, N. L., & Ariely, D. (2011). Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 115(2), 191–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, J., & Haidt, J. (2002). How (and where) does moral judgment work? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(12), 517–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, J. D., & Paxton, J. M. (2009). Patterns of neural activity associated with honest and dishonest moral decisions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(30), 12506–12511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814–834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, S. A., & Carlo, G. (2005). Identity as a source of moral motivation. Human Development, 48(4), 232–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, E. T., & Brendl, C. M. (1995). Accessibility and applicability: Some “activation rules” influencing judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 31(3), 218–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, M. L. (1983). Affective and cognitive processes in moral internalization. In E. T. Higgins, D. N. Ruble, & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), Social cognition and social development: A sociocultural perspective (pp. 236–274). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hong, Y. Y., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C. Y., & Benet-Martinez, V. (2000). Multicultural minds. American Psychologist, 55(7), 709–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, T. M. (1994). Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: An issue-contingent model. Academy of Management Review, 16, 366–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development: The nature and validity of moral stages. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lapsley, D. K., & Narvaez, D. (2004). A social-cognitive view of moral character. In D. Lapsley & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Moral development: Self and identity (pp. 189–212). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 633–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClure, S. M., Laibson, D. I., Loewenstein, G., & Cohen, J. D. (2004). Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards. Science, 306(5695), 503–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mead, N. L., Baumeister, R. F., Gino, F., Schweitzer, M. E., & Ariely, D. (2009). Too tired to tell the truth: Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(3), 594–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe, J., & Mischel, W. (1999). A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review, 106(1), 3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muraven, M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2000). Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychological Bulletin, 126(2), 247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myrseth, K. O. R., & Fishbach, A. (2009). Self-control a function of knowing when and how to exercise restraint. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(4), 247–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narvaez, D., & Lapsley, D. (2005). The psychological foundations of everyday morality and moral expertise. In D. K. Lapsley & F. C. Power (Eds.), Character psychology and character education (pp. 140–165). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narvaez, D., Lapsley, D. K., Hagele, S., & Lasky, B. (2006). Moral chronicity and social information processing: Tests of a social cognitive approach to the moral personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(6), 966–985.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Power, F. C. (2004). The moral self in community. In D. Lapsley & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Moral development: Self and identity (pp. 47–64). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qian, M., Wu, G., Zhu, R., & Zhang, S. (2000). Development of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Short Scale for Chinese (EPQ-RSC) (Article written in Chinese). Acta Psychologica Sinica, 32(3), 317–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rand, D. G., Greene, J. D., & Nowak, M. A. (2012). Spontaneous giving and calculated greed. Nature, 489(7416), 427–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, A., I. I., & Aquino, K. F. (2003). Moral identity and the expanding circle of moral regard toward out-groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6), 1270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J. R., & Barnett, R. (1986). Moral development: Advances in research and theory (pp. 89–119). New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, S. J., & Ceranic, T. L. (2007). The effects of moral judgment and moral identity on moral behavior: An empirical examination of the moral individual. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruedy, N. E., & Schweitzer, M. E. (2010). In the moment: The effect of mindfulness on ethical decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 95, 73–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shao, R., Aquino, K., & Freeman, D. (2008). Beyond moral reasoning. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 513–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer, T., Seymour, B., O’Doherty, J., Kaube, H., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C. D. (2004). Empathy for pain involves the affective but not sensory components of pain. Science, 303(5661), 1157–1162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sip, K. E., Roepstorff, A., McGregor, W., & Frith, C. D. (2008). Detecting deception: The scope and limits. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(2), 48–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tangney, J. P., Stuewig, J., & Mashek, D. J. (2007). Moral emotions and moral behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2004). Putting the self into self-conscious emotions: A theoretical model. Psychological Inquiry, 15(2), 103–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turiel, E. (1966). An experimental test of the sequentially of developmental stages in the child’s moral judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3(6), 611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

    Zhi **ng Xu & Hing Keung Ma

  2. Center for Child Development, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

    Hing Keung Ma

Authors
  1. Zhi **ng Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hing Keung Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhi **ng Xu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xu, Z.X., Ma, H.K. Does Honesty Result from Moral Will or Moral Grace? Why Moral Identity Matters. J Bus Ethics 127, 371–384 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2050-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2050-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation