A Study of the Validity of the Moral Ethos Questionnaire and its Transferability to a Chinese Context

This paper begins by comparing and contrasting the Moral Climate Questionnaire (MCQ) and the Moral Ethos Questionnaire (MEQ), and identifies differences in their theoretical orientations. It argues that they seek to measure different things and should not be seen as competing instruments. The MEQ is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teaching business ethics (Dordrecht) 1999-01, Vol.3 (4), p.361
Main Authors: Snell, Robin S, Taylor, Keith F, Jess Wai-han Chu, Drummond, Damon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian students
Business ethics
Climate
Comparative studies
Decision making
Morality
Principles
Questionnaires
Students
Validity
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Summary:This paper begins by comparing and contrasting the Moral Climate Questionnaire (MCQ) and the Moral Ethos Questionnaire (MEQ), and identifies differences in their theoretical orientations. It argues that they seek to measure different things and should not be seen as competing instruments. The MEQ is based on Kohlbergian assumptions, regards the 6 individual stages of moral development as having equivalents within organizational moral atmosphere, and measures the relative strength of these organizational 'stages' or forces. In validating the MEQ, one problem is its ranks-based questionnaire format, making standard assessments of reliability and validity difficult. The researchers investigated the MEQ's cross-cultural transferability and comprehensibility, by assessing how accurately three groups of 60 undergraduate business students, two Hong Kong Chinese and one Australian, assigned MEQ items to their designated stages. The Australian group met the comprehensibility criterion of 50% stage assignments (hits), but the Chinese did not.
ISSN:1382-6891
1573-1944