Moral reasoning capacity of management students and practitioners: An empirical study in Australia

The data were collected from a sample of 266 subjects comprising management students and practitioners in Sydney, Australia. The cognitive moral development stages of the subjects were examined using the defining issue test. Consistent with prior research, age, education, religious affiliation and religious commitment were found to have influenced moral judgement of the respondents. Vocation, gender and the firm ownership did not seem to influence the moral judgement levels. Students and practitioners demonstrated the same level of sensitivity to ethical dilemmas. A comparison of the data with similar findings in the USA revealed a marked difference between the Australian and the US subjects. Implication of the findings and directions for future research are discussed in the paper.