Epistemology, Moral Philosophy and Optimism: A Comparative Analysis Between Managers and their Subordinates

Abstract

The process of making ethical judgments is much more complex than studying only personal moral philosophy variables (idealism and relativism). The renewed interest in epistemic values (virtue and vice epistemology) in contemporary philosophy has shown significant relevance to understanding ethical behavior and such values may be better predictors than studying only idealism and relativism. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine employees' personal moral philosophies, optimism, epistemic values, and various organizational unethical practices as compared to their managers. We used Rawwas' items of epistemology in this study. The sample consisted Mohammed Y.A. Rawwas is a Professor of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0126.