Personality and ethical decision: An empirical investigation of personality traits and moral philosophy.

摘要

The main objective of this project is to identify whether personality traits relate to the major moral categories of Deontology and the two subcategories of Teleology, namely Egoism and Utilitarianism. Chronological Age, the three personality traits of Allocentrism, Machiavellianism and Long-Term Orientation, and the moderating variable of Biological Sex were analyzed with multinomial logistic regression to predict a respondent's justification of moral philosophy across three different scenarios. Although none of the variables were significant predictors across all three scenarios, Machiavellianism significantly predicted a respondent's choice in a confidentiality scenario, and the interaction between Allocentrism and Biological Sex were partially significant predictors for a personal income tax evasion scenario, and Chronological Age was a significant predictor for a bribery scenario and a partially significant predictor for the personal income tax evasion scenario. The results suggest that personality traits can act as significant predictors for the justification of moral acts in specific situations, but the significance of predictability depends on difference contexts.