Ethical Decision Making in the Medical Profession: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

The present study applied Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior to the explanation of ethical decision making. Nurses in three hospitals were provided with scenarios that depicted inadequate patient care and asked if they would report health professionals responsible for the situation. Stud...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 1991-02, Vol.10 (2), p.111-122
Main Authors: Randall, Donna M., Gibson, Annetta M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business ethics
Comparative studies
Decision making
Ethical behavior
Ethics
Hospital administration
Hospitals
Implications
Medical ethics
Medical personnel
Medical profession
Morality
Nurses
Patient care
Physicians
Psychology
Questionnaires
Regression analysis
Research ethics
Social research
Theory
Theory of planned behavior
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Summary:The present study applied Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior to the explanation of ethical decision making. Nurses in three hospitals were provided with scenarios that depicted inadequate patient care and asked if they would report health professionals responsible for the situation. Study results suggest that the theory of planned behavior can explain a significant amount of variation in the intent to report a colleague. Attitude toward performing the behavior explained a large portion of the variance; subjective norms explained a moderate amount of the variance; and, perceived behavioral control added little to the explanation of variance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/BF00383614