Moral reasoning skills: Are entrepreneurs different?

Drawing on existing theory in the fields of business ethics, entrepreneursh ip, and psychology, this research provides an initial empirical exploration of whether entrepreneurs use cognitive reasoning processes which reflect a higher level of moral development than the level of moral development that has been empirically observed either in middle-level managers or in the ge neral adult population. The Defining Issues Test was used to measure the le vel of moral reasoning skill of the entrepreneurs in this study. Although t he study was limited by a small sample size and the inherent difficulty of making accurate comparisons across other empirical studies, the results of this study suggest that entrepreneurs may exhibit moral reasoning skills at a slightly higher level than middle-level managers or the general adult po pulation.