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

Zhi Xing Xu*, Hing Keung MA

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)371-384
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Business Ethics
Volume127
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2015

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Business and International Management
  • General Business,Management and Accounting
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Law

User-Defined Keywords

  • Cheating behavior
  • Moral grace
  • Moral identity
  • Moral will
  • Neural activity
  • Reaction time

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