THE IMPACT OF MORAL ETHOS ON HOW ETHICAL DILEMMAS ARE EXPERIENCED AND RESOLVED IN SIX HONG KONG COMPANIES

The moral ethos profiles (MEPs) of six Hong Kong companies were investigated via questionnaires and in‐depth qualitative interviews and analyzed according to the Kohlberg stages model. In five of the companies, the MEPs obtained via interviews were consistent with those obtained from the questionnaires. Interviews and questionnaires were also used to investigate how managers in these companies tackled ethical dilemmas (both real work‐based ones of their own and hypothetical ones). In the company with the consistently least virtuous MEP, managers used more lower‐stage ethical reasoning to tackle ethical dilemmas. There was, however, no difference between managers in companies with the most virtuous and moderately virtuous MEPs in terms of the stage‐level of ethical reasoning they used to tackle ethical dilemmas. The study helped to refine a moral ethos questionnaire.