Normative Self-Interest or Moral Hypocrisy?: The Importance of Context

Journal of Business Ethics · 2008 · Volume 77 · Issue 3

Abstract

We re-examine the construct of Moral Hypocrisy from the perspective of normative self-interest. Arguing that some degree of self-interest is culturally acceptable and indeed expected, we postulate that a pattern of behavior is more indicative of moral hypocrisy than a single action. Contrary to previous findings, our results indicate that a significant majority of subjects (N= 136) exhibited fair behavior, and that ideals of caring and fairness, when measured in context of the scenario, were predictive of those behaviors. Moreover, measures of Individualism/Collectivism appear more predictive of self-interested behavior than out-of-context responses to moral ideals. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords

moral hypocrisy, normative self-interest, situational variance in moral reasoning

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