Antecedents, consequences, and mediating effects of perceived moral intensity and personal moral philosophies

This study uses responses from a survey of marketing professionals in a str uctural equation model linking antecedents and consequences of two dimensio ns of personal moral philosophies (idealism and relativism) and perceived m oral intensity (PMI). Mixed support is found for hypothesized effects of ge nder, religiosity, education, experience, salary, and corporate ethical val ues on idealism and relativism. Idealism increases and relativism decreases PMI in four ethical scenarios. PMI increases perceptions of ethical proble ms, which reduce intentions to act unethically. The study tests whether rel ationships between variables are direct or mediated by intervening variable s, revealing that PMI has direct as well as indirect effects on intentions. Intentions are also influenced by gender: women have more ethical intentio ns than men, on average, and this effect is not mediated by other variables in the model.