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Measuring moral judgment: The Moral Judgment Interview or the Defining Issues Test?

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Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts two distinct techniques for measuring moral judgment: The Moral Judgment Interview and the Defining Issues Test. The theoretical foundations, accompanying advantages and limitations, as well as appropriate usage of these methodologies are discussed. Adaptation and use of the instruments for business ethics research is given special attention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Management Department, University of St. Thomas, 55105, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Dawn R. Elm & James Weber

  2. Department of Management, Marquette University, 53233, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Dawn R. Elm & James Weber

Authors
  1. Dawn R. Elm
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  2. James Weber
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Additional information

Dawn Elm is currently an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Elm has written and published articles on ethical decision-making, moral reasoning, defining and measuring honesty, and women's studies and ethics. She also has research interests in socialization to work, gender bias imagery in teaching business, and parental leave policies.

James Weber is currently an Assistant Professor of Management at Marquette University. He has published articles focusing on managerial values and moral reasoning, teaching of ethics, and methodological issues in business ethics research inResearch in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Human Relations, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Journal of Business Ethics.

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Elm, D.R., Weber, J. Measuring moral judgment: The Moral Judgment Interview or the Defining Issues Test?. J Bus Ethics 13, 341–355 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871762

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