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Does Honesty Result from Moral Will or Moral Grace? Why Moral Identity Matters

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  • Zhi Xu
  • Hing Ma

Abstract

Does honesty result from the absence of temptation or the active resistance of temptation? The “will’’ hypothesis suggests that honesty results from the active resistance of temptation, while the ”grace” hypothesis argues that honesty results from the absence of temptation. We examined reaction time and measured the cheating behavior of individuals who had a chance to lie for money. In study 1, we tested the “grace” hypothesis that honesty results from the absence of temptation and found a priming effect of moral constructs on increasing honest behavior. In study 2, we investigated the individual’s moral identity in the same context, articulating different mechanisms that lead people to behave ethically. The result confirms that the “grace” hypothesis was valid for people who had a high moral identity, while the “will” hypothesis was accurate for individuals who had a low moral identity. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Zhi Xu & Hing Ma, 2015. "Does Honesty Result from Moral Will or Moral Grace? Why Moral Identity Matters," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 371-384, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:127:y:2015:i:2:p:371-384
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2050-x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Li, Tao & Chen, Yun, 2022. "The obstacle to building a mutual regulation system: Exploring people's intervention intention toward tourists' deviant behavior," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Oyku Arkan & Mahak Nagpal & Tobey K. Scharding & Danielle E. Warren, 2023. "Don’t Just Trust Your Gut: The Importance of Normative Deliberation to Ethical Decision-Making at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(2), pages 257-277, August.
    4. Bilal Afsar & Basheer Al‐Ghazali & Waheed Umrani, 2020. "Retracted: Corporate social responsibility, work meaningfulness, and employee engagement: The joint moderating effects of incremental moral belief and moral identity centrality," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1264-1278, May.
    5. He, Hongwei & Chao, Melody M. & Zhu, Weichun, 2019. "Cause-related marketing and employee engagement: The roles of admiration, implicit morality beliefs, and moral identity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 83-92.

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