International Journal of Sociology and Social PolicyCultural dimensions and moral reasoning a comparative studyWilliam Joseph Wilhelm Panom Gunawong

Article informationTo cite this documentWilliam Joseph Wilhelm Panom Gunawong (2016)Cultural dimensions and moral reasoning acomparative study International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy Vol 36 Iss 56 pp 335 - 357Permanent link to this documenthttpdxdoiorg101108IJSSP-05-2015-0047

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Cultural dimensions and moralreasoning a comparative study

William Joseph WilhelmDepartment of Management Information Systems and Business Education

Scott College of Business Indiana State University Terre HauteIndiana USA and

Panom GunawongFaculty of Political Science and Public Administration

Chiang Mai University Chiang Mai Thailand

AbstractPurpose ndash Moral reasoning research in Western cultures is grounded primarily in Kohlbergiancognitive moral theory Enumerable investigations about the psychological determinants and culturaldimensions of moral reasoning have provided significant insights about Western decision making andcontributed to Western organizational behavioral theory However inquiry about these sameconstructs and how they may interact with moral reasoning in non-Western Southeast Asian tradingpartner countries has not provided comparable insights The purpose of this paper is to remedy that bycomparing predominant cultural dimensions to levels of moral reasoning in student and graduatepopulations in Thailand and the USADesignmethodologyapproach ndash The Defining Issues Test (DIT) measurement of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) and the Values Survey Module (VSM) 2013 (Hofstede and Minkov 2013) weretranslated for the first time into Thai pilot tested and used to gather cultural and moral reasoning datain Thailand The same English version instruments were used to gather comparable data amongsimilarly matched US samples Comparisons are presented in this paper and differences in approachesto moral decision making are discussedFindings ndash Findings indicate that there are both significant psychological and cultural differencesbetween the two nations that affect moral reasoning Predominant status quo moral reasoningpredominates in Thailand while a polarity between self-interest moral reasoning and higher levelabstract idealistic moral reasoning predominates in the USA Potential cultural influences on thesemoral reasoning tendencies are discussedResearch limitationsimplications ndash While findings can be generalized to the sample populationsof Thai and US undergraduate students and graduate students who are in the workplace theconsiderable time required to complete the two survey instruments precluded inclusion of higher levelveteran managers and public policy administrators in the study Alternative survey methods need tobe developed for investigating these subjects in order to make the combined findings more robust andwidely generalizablePractical implications ndash Careful attention to cultural and linguistic variables provided forthorough and effective first-time translations of the DIT and the VSM 2013 from English into theThai language These two instruments are now available to other researchers who wish toinvestigate cultural dimensions and moral reasoning through other research designs The Thai-versionDIT can be obtained from the copyright holder Center for the Study of Ethical Development(httpethicaldevelopmentuaedu) The Thai-version of the VSM can be obtained through the GeertHofstede website (wwwgeerthofstedenl)Social implications ndash These findings can help researchers in Western and non-Western countriesto better understand the foundations upon which moral reasoning in the two countries is groundedand can provide insights about how individuals in quite different cultures perceive ethicaldilemmas in the workplace and public arena and attempt to solve them The findings also serve asanother entry point for business managers and public policy administrators to not only betterunderstand organizational behavior as regards ethical decision making but general decisionmaking as well

International Journal of Sociologyand Social Policy

Vol 36 No 56 2016pp 335-357

copyEmerald Group Publishing Limited0144-333X

DOI 101108IJSSP-05-2015-0047

Received 3 May 2015Revised 28 July 2015

9 August 2015Accepted 11 August 2015

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight atwwwemeraldinsightcom0144-333Xhtm

335

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Cultural dimensions and moralreasoning a comparative study

William Joseph WilhelmDepartment of Management Information Systems and Business Education

Scott College of Business Indiana State University Terre HauteIndiana USA and

Panom GunawongFaculty of Political Science and Public Administration

Chiang Mai University Chiang Mai Thailand

AbstractPurpose ndash Moral reasoning research in Western cultures is grounded primarily in Kohlbergiancognitive moral theory Enumerable investigations about the psychological determinants and culturaldimensions of moral reasoning have provided significant insights about Western decision making andcontributed to Western organizational behavioral theory However inquiry about these sameconstructs and how they may interact with moral reasoning in non-Western Southeast Asian tradingpartner countries has not provided comparable insights The purpose of this paper is to remedy that bycomparing predominant cultural dimensions to levels of moral reasoning in student and graduatepopulations in Thailand and the USADesignmethodologyapproach ndash The Defining Issues Test (DIT) measurement of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) and the Values Survey Module (VSM) 2013 (Hofstede and Minkov 2013) weretranslated for the first time into Thai pilot tested and used to gather cultural and moral reasoning datain Thailand The same English version instruments were used to gather comparable data amongsimilarly matched US samples Comparisons are presented in this paper and differences in approachesto moral decision making are discussedFindings ndash Findings indicate that there are both significant psychological and cultural differencesbetween the two nations that affect moral reasoning Predominant status quo moral reasoningpredominates in Thailand while a polarity between self-interest moral reasoning and higher levelabstract idealistic moral reasoning predominates in the USA Potential cultural influences on thesemoral reasoning tendencies are discussedResearch limitationsimplications ndash While findings can be generalized to the sample populationsof Thai and US undergraduate students and graduate students who are in the workplace theconsiderable time required to complete the two survey instruments precluded inclusion of higher levelveteran managers and public policy administrators in the study Alternative survey methods need tobe developed for investigating these subjects in order to make the combined findings more robust andwidely generalizablePractical implications ndash Careful attention to cultural and linguistic variables provided forthorough and effective first-time translations of the DIT and the VSM 2013 from English into theThai language These two instruments are now available to other researchers who wish toinvestigate cultural dimensions and moral reasoning through other research designs The Thai-versionDIT can be obtained from the copyright holder Center for the Study of Ethical Development(httpethicaldevelopmentuaedu) The Thai-version of the VSM can be obtained through the GeertHofstede website (wwwgeerthofstedenl)Social implications ndash These findings can help researchers in Western and non-Western countriesto better understand the foundations upon which moral reasoning in the two countries is groundedand can provide insights about how individuals in quite different cultures perceive ethicaldilemmas in the workplace and public arena and attempt to solve them The findings also serve asanother entry point for business managers and public policy administrators to not only betterunderstand organizational behavior as regards ethical decision making but general decisionmaking as well

International Journal of Sociologyand Social Policy

Vol 36 No 56 2016pp 335-357

copyEmerald Group Publishing Limited0144-333X

DOI 101108IJSSP-05-2015-0047

Received 3 May 2015Revised 28 July 2015

9 August 2015Accepted 11 August 2015

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight atwwwemeraldinsightcom0144-333Xhtm

335

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Originalityvalue ndash This is the first research study comparing cultural dimensions identifiedby Geert Hofstede and Michael Minkov as measured by the VSM 2013 to moral reasoning as measuredby the DITKeywords National cultures Business ethics Cultural sociology Professional ethicsPaper type Research paper

IntroductionResearch investigations about determinants of moral reasoning based on Kohlbergiancognitive theory (Kohlberg 1969 1981) are numerous in Western society (Trevino et al2014) and have provided significant insights into ethical decision-making theory inWestern organizations The construct of moral reasoning in the Kohlbergian context canbe defined primarily as an individualrsquos assessment of the issues of right and wrong in asocial situation as embodied in judgments about justice individual responsibility andoutward behavior (Kohlberg and Candee 1984) Kohlbergrsquos (1969) theory of moraldevelopment is based on six sequential stages of cognitive reasoning that an individualadvances through in developing higher order moral judgment The Defining Issues Test(DIT) measurement of moral reasoning is based on neo-Kohlbergian ideas advanced byJames Rest et al (1999) but Rest and Narvaez (1979) advanced the notion that thedevelopmental level used by an individual in moral reasoning is context dependentIn different situational contexts an individual may use a higher or lower level or schema(vs Kohlbergrsquos stages) of moral reasoning to judge the ethical issues in a particular situation

Since Western societies engage in complex decision making with trading partnersthroughout the world and many of these decisions involve moral issues it seemsreasonable that investigations into other societiesrsquo determinants of moral reasoning beundertaken for comparative purposes However trying to identify an invariably largenumber of potential determinants of moral reasoning within a culture would be animpossible task without a theoretical basis upon which to focus research GeertHofstedersquos seminal research on dimensions of national cultures and their effects onpeoplesrsquo perceptions of reality and decision making (Hofstede 2001 Hofstede et al2010) have informed many research investigations in international communicationtrade politics and ethics (see Hofstede 2001)

While cultural dimensions of Thai people have been studied by Hofstede and manyother social researchers no published research has focussed on an examination ofcultural dimensions in relation to moral reasoning in Thailand ie moral reasoningbased on neo-Kohlbergian moral development theory as measured by the most widelyused measurement of moral reasoning the DIT (Rest 1986) The present researchinvolved use of the first Thai translations of the DIT2 and the Values Survey Module(VSM) 2013 (Hofstede and Minkov 2013) The different foci of the present study thatmake it distinct from other similar studies is made clear in the theoretical developmentsection The lead researcherrsquos institutional review board (IRB) exempted the study andall respondents participated voluntarily This research was supported in part by agenerous grant from the Delta Pi Epsilon Research Foundation Inc

Purpose of the researchThe purpose of this research is to examine how specific cultural dimensions affectpeople from two very different cultures ndash Thailand and the USA ndash in regard to moralreasoning Cultures for this study were chosen in a systematic theory-guidedfashion (Vijver and Leung 1997) in such a way that they not only representsignificantly different cultural values and dimensions demonstrated in numerous

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studies (Hofstede 1980 2001 Hofstede and Bond 1988 Hofstede and Minkov 2013)but also because Thailand and the USA have a vital trade relationship Thailand one ofthe most developed of the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian NationsEconomic Community has a long history of trade and tourism engagement with theUSA and other Western countries Culturally however there exist significantdifferences between Thailand the USA and other Western countries Further thesecultural differences may influence some of the problems in Thailand that are affectingcontinued trade growth between Thailand and the West Public sector corruptionhuman trafficking and other human rights abuses are problems in Thailand that haveeffectively marginalized the Thai economy from some direct USA and other Westerninvestment and trade Though not devastating to date economically Western tourismto Thailand has also suffered

In the most recent (2014) Transparency International Corruption PerceptionsIndex the USA ranked 17th and Thailand ranked 85th out of 175 nations in the indexIt seems that no anti-corruption fighting scheme or strategy eg anti-corruptioncampaigns laws and anti-corruption organizations have succeeded in reducing levelsof corruption in the public sector In the wake of the military coup drsquoeacutetat in May 2014the constitution is being rewritten by the military-appointed National Reform Council(NRC) and corruption is a major concern Various ideas have been proposed forexample writing a concrete anti-corruption preventative measure into the newconstitution Interestingly the NRC has planned to set up a ldquoNational Council ofMoralsrdquo under the new constitution that would oversee standards of morals ethics andgood governance This organization will be established to promote moral values andfight corruption (Bangprapa and Sattaburuth 2015) Thailandrsquos self-appointed PrimeMinister Prayut Chan-o-cha has indicated that the fight against graft is the core ofnational reform in all areas (Laohong 2015) These dynamics make this investigationof cultural dimensions and ethical reasoning comparisons worthwhile and potentiallyhelpful to public policy and business decision makers

While some previous studies have addressed moral reasoning in Thailand noresearch in Thailand has employed the DIT measurement of moral reasoning(Rest 1986) to assess moral reasoning development based on the widely acceptedtheories of Lawrence Kohlberg and James Rest Further no published research inThailand has focussed on the six cultural dimensions measured by the VSM 2013(Hofstede and Minkov 2013) in relation to moral development This study uses thesetwo instruments (DIT and VSM 2013) for the first time in research in Thailand toinvestigate several important moral reasoning variables and cultural dimensions thatcan be compared to the body of literature extant about these constructs in Westernresearch literature

Research objectives and questionsThe research objective is to develop insights about how culture affects citizens inThailand and the USA in their ethical judgments The measurement of culturaldimensions is the VSM 2013 (Hofstede and Minkov 2013) The measurement of moralreasoning is the revised version of the DIT the DIT2 (Rest et al 1999) Both of theseinstruments have been translated into the Thai language for the first time through thisresearch endeavor Research questions that will be answered sequentially are as follows

RQ1 What are the predominant levels of moral reasoning used by Thai and USrespondent samples

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RQ2 What are the cultural dimensions as measured by the VSM 2013 that correlatewith various levels of moral reasoning within both samples

RQ3 What are the demographic and psychological variables as measured bythe DIT2 that correlate with various levels of moral reasoning withinboth samples

Theoretical developmentThe following sections describe the theories that support this research Moralreasoning based on Kohlbergrsquos and Restrsquos research includes a discussion of themeasurement tool developed by James Rest and his associates the DIT Next a briefdiscussion of each of Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions is presented (Hofstede 2001Hofstede et al 2010) Finally a discussion of other cross-cultural studies focussed onmoral reasoning is presented

Moral reasoning and the DITMoral reasoning is a well-established psychological construct that refers to the set ofcognitive skills an individual uses to resolve moral dilemmas (Elm et al 2001)The best-known model of moral judgment is Kohlbergrsquos (1969 1981) model whichsuggests that an individual progresses through a series of stages in the development ofmoral reasoning capabilities based on the cognitive developmental process postulatedby Jean Piaget (1965) Piaget believed that ldquomorality is the logic of actionrdquo implyingthat as people reflect on the consequences of their action for others and reflect on howto build reciprocal relationships on which cooperation is organized certainnaturally occurring solutions occur to them thus leading to the stages of morality(Rest et al 1999 p 170)

James Restrsquos (Rest and Narvaez 1979) theory of cognitive moral developmentis based on Kohlbergrsquos stages but recognizes developmental levels as more akin toschemata than progressive stages Given the right set of circumstances anindividual may utilize a previous schema to process a dilemma In other wordsa prior schema can be activated (or triggered or elicited) from long-term memory inthe perceiver and thus be utilized to make a decision that is schema arecontent and context related (Rest et al 1999) Rest devised a paper-and-pencilinstrument to measure moral reasoning the DIT The DIT is the most widely usedinstrument for this purpose and the best documented in terms of reliability andvalidity (Rest 1986)

The newer version of the DIT known as the DIT2 (Rest et al 1999) reflects severalimprovements The DIT2 contains moral dilemmas that are more up to date The newN2 index score has a slightly better Cronbachrsquos α internal reliability than the p-scoreand the DIT2 is slightly more powerful on validity criteria Based on a 1995 compositesample (nfrac14 932) the Cronbachrsquos α for the p-index was 078 whereas for the N2 index itwas 083 (Rest et al 1999)

While the preponderance of Kohlbergrsquos moral development literature was developedthrough the use of his Moral Judgment Inventory (MJI) (Colby and Kohlberg 1987) useof the MJI requires special training is demanding and laborious and scoring isintricate Utilization of the MJI in cross-cultural studies is non-existent for comparativepurposes The DIT on the other hand is the most widely used measurement of moralreasoning in Western and now non-Western societies According to Steve Thoma

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Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Ethical Development ldquoAfter 40 yearsthe DIT remains a force in the profession with over 30000 participants using themeasure each yearrdquo (Thoma 2014 p 10) According to Thoma the DIT has been usedto track general population trends in moral judgment development within the USA andthroughout the world

In Asia we have Korean Mandarin Cantonese Traditional Chinese characters(Taiwan) Japanese and Malaysian In Europe we have Spanish (also South Americanvariations) German Italian Norwegian Dutch French (also French Canadian)Macedonian Serbian and Greek In the Middle East we have Turkish Persian andArabic (Egypt) Many of these have multiple versions and cover both DIT-1 and 2 (Personalcommunication June 2 2015)

In addition to reporting levels of moral reasoning (personal interest maintaining normsand principled reasoning) the DIT2 also reports demographic data such as ageeducation level US citizenship and English as primary language Several otherpsychological constructs are also reported political liberalism (a measure of liberalismor conservatism) religious orthodoxy (a proxy measure of adherence to the strictures ofreligious dogma) and humanitarian liberalism (a measure of the consistency withwhich humanitarian decisions are selected in response to DIT questions)

Cultural dimensions and the VSMThe influence of national culture and the identification of cultural differences have beenwidely studied in international business (IB) research over the past three decadesTo better understand what culture actually means and its implications on corporateinternational operations several cultural models and taxonomies have been putforward Trompenaarsrsquo Model of National Culture Differences (Trompenaars andHampden-Turner 1997) is a framework of national culture differences consisting ofseven dimensions for cross-cultural communication applied to general business andmanagement that was developed through a large-scale survey of 8841 managersand employees from over 40 countries However the model doesnrsquot offer a convenientmethod for measuring peoplersquos preferences on each dimension

Geert Hofstedersquos (1980) model is generally accepted as the most comprehensiveframework of national cultures values by those studying business culture and hisidentified cultural dimensions have been widely accepted in the IB field and have beenrepeatedly validated over time (eg Christie et al 2003 Sondergaard 1994) These aregroup-level dimensions which describe national tendencies of the entire population in aparticular country By utilizing Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions users can distinguishbetween countries but as Hofstede (2001) has pointed out the differences are not meantto distinguish between individual members of societies

According to a conclusion by Reis et al (2013) in a bibliometric study of over 3600articles published in seven top ranked journals for IB research that focussed on severalcultural models and taxonomies Hofstedersquos (1980) taxonomy on ldquocultural characteristicsis the most cited cultural taxonomy and holds ties to many of the core streams ofIB-related research In fact despite the well-known criticisms there is an increasing useof Hofstedersquos dimensionsrdquo (p 340) For these reasons the Hofstede model of cross-culturalcomparison was chosen by the lead researcher for this study Additionally in a personalcommunication to the lead researcher from Geert Hofstede (August 21 2014) the VSM2013 was recommended for this research study from among the various iterations ofsurvey modules available because it contained the most current adaptations

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Geert Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions are widely known and used inmany research studies therefore this section presents a brief theoreticaldiscussion of six widely researched cultural dimensions common to all nationsidentified by Hofstede and his colleagues (Hofstede 2001 Hofstede and Bond 1988Hofstede et al 2010 Minkov 2007) Each of the six cultural dimensions exist on acontinuum between two polar extremes and were measured in the present study bycalculating responses to a series of questions in the 2013 version of the VSM 2013(Hofstede and Minkov 2013)

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV) Hofstede (2001) defines the individualism-collectivism dimension as follows

Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose Everyone isexpected to look after himherself and herhis immediate family only Collectivism stands for asociety in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groupswhich throughout peoplersquos lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioningloyalty (p 225)

Hofstede (2001) found that the USA ranked first among 50 nations and three regions onthe individualism-collectivism continuum with an IDV index score of 91 Thailandranked 39-41 out of 53 with an IDV index score of 20 Like many Asian countriesThailandrsquos culture on this continuum consistently tends toward collectivist valuesTherefore relationships among members within Thai families and groups are the mainconcern of Thai people The Thai phrase kreng jai refers to an attitude whereby anindividual tries to restrain his or her own interests or desires in situations where thereis the potential for discomfort or conflict and where there is a need to maintain apleasant relationship (Holmes and Tangtongtavy 1995 as cited in Burn andThongprasert 2005) Thais try to avoid confrontation conflict or causing others to loseface Good relationships are seen as securing good feelings Hallinger and Kantamara(2001) also found that Thais are strongly socialized to comply with group normsMaintaining relationships with others is crucial in Thai society

Power distance (PDI) The diverse ways in which societies deal with inequality areextremely culturally dependent (see Hofstede 2001 p 137 footnote 1) Power distanceis ldquothe extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizationswithin a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequallyrdquo (Hofstede2001 p 98) As might be expected in highly individualist cultures like that of the USAperceived power distance is not large compared to other nations The USA ranked38 out of 50 countries and three regions with a PDI index of 40 compared to Thailanda collectivist culture that ranked 21-23 among the 53 with a PDI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) Hofstede (2001) defined uncertainty avoidance asldquoThe extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknownsituationsrdquo (p 161) Uncertainty is a basic fact in human society and fear of theunknown is a common manifestation Tolerance (or intolerance) for uncertainty(ambiguity) is partly a matter of individual personality and partly a matter of collectiveculture The USA ranked 43 out of 50 countries and three regions with a UAI indexof 46 compared to Thailand that ranked 30 among the 53 with a UAI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Masculinity vs femininity orientation (MAS) Hofstede and other researchers found(see Hofstede 2001 pp 279-284) that dominant male-female gender role patterns were a

340

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common trend in both modern and traditional societies and he defined the masculinity-femininity orientation as follows

Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct Men aresupposed to be assertive tough and focused on material success women are supposed to bemore modest tender and concerned with the quality of life Femininity stands for a society inwhich social gender roles overlap Both men and women are supposed to be modest tenderand concerned with the quality of life (p 297)

Since the USA scored as a highly individualist nation (IDV rank no 1) it is no surprisethat it also scored as a very masculine (ego oriented) nation with a MAS ranking of15 out of 50 nations and three regions and a MAS index score of 62 (range 0-100) It isalso no surprise that Thailand as a highly collectivist nation (IDV rank 39-41) ranked44 out of the 53 nationsregions with a MAS index score of 34 low on the masculinityend of the continuum but high on the feminine (social oriented) end

Long-term orientation (LTO) vs short-term orientation Hofstede (2001) defined theLTO vs short-term orientation dimension as follows

Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards inparticular perseverance and thrift Its opposite pole Short Term Orientation stands for thefostering of virtues related to the past and present in particular respect for traditionpreservation of ldquofacerdquo and fulfilling social obligations (p 359)

Among 34 countries representing both Western and Eastern nations Thailand ranked 8on the high end of the LTO scale with an index score of 56 The USA ranked 27 on the lowend of the scale with an index score of 29

Nearly 95 percent of the population of Thailand is Buddhist and several concepts ofBuddhism that are embedded in Thai culture imply that Thai people are concernedwith the long-term consequences of their actions The intentionality of action is acrucial point of Buddhismrsquos ethics (Hughes 2007) Buddhists have their own moralresponsibility for actions not universal immutable truths An individualrsquos moralbehavior in the past moral or immoral affects that personrsquos condition of happinessachievement or suffering in the present future or even the next life (Harvey 2007Hughes 2007 Kaufman 2005 Wright 2004)

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR) According to Hofstede and Minkov (2013)ldquopredictors of happiness at the national level are a perception of life control a feelingthat one has the liberty to live onersquos life more or less as one pleases without socialrestrictions that curb onersquos freedom of choice and second importance of leisure as apersonal valuerdquo (p 281) Thus their definition of indulgence as ldquoa tendency to allowrelatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying lifeand having fun Its opposite pole restraint reflects a conviction that such gratificationneeds to be curbed and regulated by strict social normsrdquo (p 281)

Based on factor scores (scalefrac14 100) from three items in the World Values Survey(Hofstede et al 2010) Thailand ranked 44 ndash in the middle of 93 countries ndash analyzed onthe indulgence ndash restraint orientation (index score 45) The USA tied with Canada andthe Netherlands at a ranking of 15-17 (index score 68)

Cross-cultural studies focussed on moral reasoningWhile many cross-cultural empirical studies on ethical attitudes and ethical behaviorhave been conducted (see eg Christie et al 2003 p 264) few investigations reveal howcultural dimensions influence ethical reasoning and behavior In most cross-cultural

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studies respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes are assessed based on their answers to vignettesdescribing certain questionable business practices such as offering or receiving ldquogiftsrdquoor ldquogratuitiesrdquo questionable marketing tactics software piracy utilization of insiderinformation etc According to Christie et al (2003) ldquoIn most of these studies culture isconsidered as one of the independent variables influencing onersquos ethical attitudes andbehaviorrdquo (p 264) Culture can never be treated as a single independent variableaffecting ethical reasoning for there are many dimensions of culture culture is not asingular construct (Christie et al 2003) A few studies that do link cultural dimensionsto moral reasoning are worth highlighting here

Ho and Lin (2008) used the VSM 94 to assess five cultural dimensions (only fivedimensions surveyed with VSM 94) and the accounting specific DIT (Thorne 2000)measurement of moral reasoning to compare Taiwanese and USA accounting studentsThey found that US students had higher levels of moral reasoning and that onlyuncertainty avoidance (UAI) had a significant correlation with the lower levels of moralreasoning identified in the Taiwanese sample Ho and Lin (2008) found scant attentionpaid to the relationship between multiple cultural dimensions and cognitive moraldevelopment in the literature

In another study conducted by these same Taiwanese researchers (Lin and Ho 2009)using the DIT (Rest and Narvaez 1979) to analyze the moral reasoning capacities ofpurchasing managers in Taiwan and Mainland China they found that all respondentsfocussed more on the conventional level than on the post-conventional level of moraldevelopment and concluded that both of these areas are influenced by Chinese culture

A comparative analysis of ethical reasoning and cultural dimensions was publishedby Tsui and Windsor (2001) that utilized the DIT and Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings ofcultural dimensional differences Chinese mainland and Hong Kong auditors (nfrac14 75)completed the six-story Chinese version DIT and the Australian auditors (nfrac14 48)completed a three-story DIT No primary cultural dimensional data were gathered theauthors instead used Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings for comparative purposes DIT resultsshowed that auditors from Australia had higher ethical reasoning scores than those fromChina consistent with Hofstedersquos Culture Theory predictions The authors deduced thatthe higher ethical reasoning scores found in the Australian sample is consistent withhigher individualism traits ldquoas the post-conventional level (highest ethical reasoninglevel) focuses on personally held principles which emphasize individualism Collectivismis thus not consistent with the highest score of ethical reasoning which focuses onpersonally held principlesrdquo (Tsui and Windsor 2001 p 148)

Christie et al (2003) collected data from 345 business manager participants inexecutive MBA programs in selected business schools in India Korea and the USAusing Hofstedersquos Value Survey 94 and ldquoan instrument designed by the researchers tomeasure respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general andtoward twelve common questionable practices in particular)rdquo (p 263) While notmimicking the DIT the ethical assessment described in the research does seem togauge potential behavioral susceptibilities The findings indicate that there weresignificant differences in ethical attitudes about compliance to a superiorrsquos unethicalorder directly related to higher power distance in Indian and Korean respondents thanUS respondents Higher uncertainty avoidance indexes of the Indian and Koreanrespondents related directly to acceptance of unethical practices of firing olderemployees marketing unhealthy products in domestic markets The less masculinecountries of India and Korea looked at practices that can potentially injure theenvironment as more unethical than the USA The authors concluded that there is a

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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studies (Hofstede 1980 2001 Hofstede and Bond 1988 Hofstede and Minkov 2013)but also because Thailand and the USA have a vital trade relationship Thailand one ofthe most developed of the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian NationsEconomic Community has a long history of trade and tourism engagement with theUSA and other Western countries Culturally however there exist significantdifferences between Thailand the USA and other Western countries Further thesecultural differences may influence some of the problems in Thailand that are affectingcontinued trade growth between Thailand and the West Public sector corruptionhuman trafficking and other human rights abuses are problems in Thailand that haveeffectively marginalized the Thai economy from some direct USA and other Westerninvestment and trade Though not devastating to date economically Western tourismto Thailand has also suffered

In the most recent (2014) Transparency International Corruption PerceptionsIndex the USA ranked 17th and Thailand ranked 85th out of 175 nations in the indexIt seems that no anti-corruption fighting scheme or strategy eg anti-corruptioncampaigns laws and anti-corruption organizations have succeeded in reducing levelsof corruption in the public sector In the wake of the military coup drsquoeacutetat in May 2014the constitution is being rewritten by the military-appointed National Reform Council(NRC) and corruption is a major concern Various ideas have been proposed forexample writing a concrete anti-corruption preventative measure into the newconstitution Interestingly the NRC has planned to set up a ldquoNational Council ofMoralsrdquo under the new constitution that would oversee standards of morals ethics andgood governance This organization will be established to promote moral values andfight corruption (Bangprapa and Sattaburuth 2015) Thailandrsquos self-appointed PrimeMinister Prayut Chan-o-cha has indicated that the fight against graft is the core ofnational reform in all areas (Laohong 2015) These dynamics make this investigationof cultural dimensions and ethical reasoning comparisons worthwhile and potentiallyhelpful to public policy and business decision makers

While some previous studies have addressed moral reasoning in Thailand noresearch in Thailand has employed the DIT measurement of moral reasoning(Rest 1986) to assess moral reasoning development based on the widely acceptedtheories of Lawrence Kohlberg and James Rest Further no published research inThailand has focussed on the six cultural dimensions measured by the VSM 2013(Hofstede and Minkov 2013) in relation to moral development This study uses thesetwo instruments (DIT and VSM 2013) for the first time in research in Thailand toinvestigate several important moral reasoning variables and cultural dimensions thatcan be compared to the body of literature extant about these constructs in Westernresearch literature

Research objectives and questionsThe research objective is to develop insights about how culture affects citizens inThailand and the USA in their ethical judgments The measurement of culturaldimensions is the VSM 2013 (Hofstede and Minkov 2013) The measurement of moralreasoning is the revised version of the DIT the DIT2 (Rest et al 1999) Both of theseinstruments have been translated into the Thai language for the first time through thisresearch endeavor Research questions that will be answered sequentially are as follows

RQ1 What are the predominant levels of moral reasoning used by Thai and USrespondent samples

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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RQ2 What are the cultural dimensions as measured by the VSM 2013 that correlatewith various levels of moral reasoning within both samples

RQ3 What are the demographic and psychological variables as measured bythe DIT2 that correlate with various levels of moral reasoning withinboth samples

Theoretical developmentThe following sections describe the theories that support this research Moralreasoning based on Kohlbergrsquos and Restrsquos research includes a discussion of themeasurement tool developed by James Rest and his associates the DIT Next a briefdiscussion of each of Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions is presented (Hofstede 2001Hofstede et al 2010) Finally a discussion of other cross-cultural studies focussed onmoral reasoning is presented

Moral reasoning and the DITMoral reasoning is a well-established psychological construct that refers to the set ofcognitive skills an individual uses to resolve moral dilemmas (Elm et al 2001)The best-known model of moral judgment is Kohlbergrsquos (1969 1981) model whichsuggests that an individual progresses through a series of stages in the development ofmoral reasoning capabilities based on the cognitive developmental process postulatedby Jean Piaget (1965) Piaget believed that ldquomorality is the logic of actionrdquo implyingthat as people reflect on the consequences of their action for others and reflect on howto build reciprocal relationships on which cooperation is organized certainnaturally occurring solutions occur to them thus leading to the stages of morality(Rest et al 1999 p 170)

James Restrsquos (Rest and Narvaez 1979) theory of cognitive moral developmentis based on Kohlbergrsquos stages but recognizes developmental levels as more akin toschemata than progressive stages Given the right set of circumstances anindividual may utilize a previous schema to process a dilemma In other wordsa prior schema can be activated (or triggered or elicited) from long-term memory inthe perceiver and thus be utilized to make a decision that is schema arecontent and context related (Rest et al 1999) Rest devised a paper-and-pencilinstrument to measure moral reasoning the DIT The DIT is the most widely usedinstrument for this purpose and the best documented in terms of reliability andvalidity (Rest 1986)

The newer version of the DIT known as the DIT2 (Rest et al 1999) reflects severalimprovements The DIT2 contains moral dilemmas that are more up to date The newN2 index score has a slightly better Cronbachrsquos α internal reliability than the p-scoreand the DIT2 is slightly more powerful on validity criteria Based on a 1995 compositesample (nfrac14 932) the Cronbachrsquos α for the p-index was 078 whereas for the N2 index itwas 083 (Rest et al 1999)

While the preponderance of Kohlbergrsquos moral development literature was developedthrough the use of his Moral Judgment Inventory (MJI) (Colby and Kohlberg 1987) useof the MJI requires special training is demanding and laborious and scoring isintricate Utilization of the MJI in cross-cultural studies is non-existent for comparativepurposes The DIT on the other hand is the most widely used measurement of moralreasoning in Western and now non-Western societies According to Steve Thoma

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Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Ethical Development ldquoAfter 40 yearsthe DIT remains a force in the profession with over 30000 participants using themeasure each yearrdquo (Thoma 2014 p 10) According to Thoma the DIT has been usedto track general population trends in moral judgment development within the USA andthroughout the world

In Asia we have Korean Mandarin Cantonese Traditional Chinese characters(Taiwan) Japanese and Malaysian In Europe we have Spanish (also South Americanvariations) German Italian Norwegian Dutch French (also French Canadian)Macedonian Serbian and Greek In the Middle East we have Turkish Persian andArabic (Egypt) Many of these have multiple versions and cover both DIT-1 and 2 (Personalcommunication June 2 2015)

In addition to reporting levels of moral reasoning (personal interest maintaining normsand principled reasoning) the DIT2 also reports demographic data such as ageeducation level US citizenship and English as primary language Several otherpsychological constructs are also reported political liberalism (a measure of liberalismor conservatism) religious orthodoxy (a proxy measure of adherence to the strictures ofreligious dogma) and humanitarian liberalism (a measure of the consistency withwhich humanitarian decisions are selected in response to DIT questions)

Cultural dimensions and the VSMThe influence of national culture and the identification of cultural differences have beenwidely studied in international business (IB) research over the past three decadesTo better understand what culture actually means and its implications on corporateinternational operations several cultural models and taxonomies have been putforward Trompenaarsrsquo Model of National Culture Differences (Trompenaars andHampden-Turner 1997) is a framework of national culture differences consisting ofseven dimensions for cross-cultural communication applied to general business andmanagement that was developed through a large-scale survey of 8841 managersand employees from over 40 countries However the model doesnrsquot offer a convenientmethod for measuring peoplersquos preferences on each dimension

Geert Hofstedersquos (1980) model is generally accepted as the most comprehensiveframework of national cultures values by those studying business culture and hisidentified cultural dimensions have been widely accepted in the IB field and have beenrepeatedly validated over time (eg Christie et al 2003 Sondergaard 1994) These aregroup-level dimensions which describe national tendencies of the entire population in aparticular country By utilizing Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions users can distinguishbetween countries but as Hofstede (2001) has pointed out the differences are not meantto distinguish between individual members of societies

According to a conclusion by Reis et al (2013) in a bibliometric study of over 3600articles published in seven top ranked journals for IB research that focussed on severalcultural models and taxonomies Hofstedersquos (1980) taxonomy on ldquocultural characteristicsis the most cited cultural taxonomy and holds ties to many of the core streams ofIB-related research In fact despite the well-known criticisms there is an increasing useof Hofstedersquos dimensionsrdquo (p 340) For these reasons the Hofstede model of cross-culturalcomparison was chosen by the lead researcher for this study Additionally in a personalcommunication to the lead researcher from Geert Hofstede (August 21 2014) the VSM2013 was recommended for this research study from among the various iterations ofsurvey modules available because it contained the most current adaptations

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Geert Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions are widely known and used inmany research studies therefore this section presents a brief theoreticaldiscussion of six widely researched cultural dimensions common to all nationsidentified by Hofstede and his colleagues (Hofstede 2001 Hofstede and Bond 1988Hofstede et al 2010 Minkov 2007) Each of the six cultural dimensions exist on acontinuum between two polar extremes and were measured in the present study bycalculating responses to a series of questions in the 2013 version of the VSM 2013(Hofstede and Minkov 2013)

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV) Hofstede (2001) defines the individualism-collectivism dimension as follows

Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose Everyone isexpected to look after himherself and herhis immediate family only Collectivism stands for asociety in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groupswhich throughout peoplersquos lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioningloyalty (p 225)

Hofstede (2001) found that the USA ranked first among 50 nations and three regions onthe individualism-collectivism continuum with an IDV index score of 91 Thailandranked 39-41 out of 53 with an IDV index score of 20 Like many Asian countriesThailandrsquos culture on this continuum consistently tends toward collectivist valuesTherefore relationships among members within Thai families and groups are the mainconcern of Thai people The Thai phrase kreng jai refers to an attitude whereby anindividual tries to restrain his or her own interests or desires in situations where thereis the potential for discomfort or conflict and where there is a need to maintain apleasant relationship (Holmes and Tangtongtavy 1995 as cited in Burn andThongprasert 2005) Thais try to avoid confrontation conflict or causing others to loseface Good relationships are seen as securing good feelings Hallinger and Kantamara(2001) also found that Thais are strongly socialized to comply with group normsMaintaining relationships with others is crucial in Thai society

Power distance (PDI) The diverse ways in which societies deal with inequality areextremely culturally dependent (see Hofstede 2001 p 137 footnote 1) Power distanceis ldquothe extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizationswithin a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequallyrdquo (Hofstede2001 p 98) As might be expected in highly individualist cultures like that of the USAperceived power distance is not large compared to other nations The USA ranked38 out of 50 countries and three regions with a PDI index of 40 compared to Thailanda collectivist culture that ranked 21-23 among the 53 with a PDI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) Hofstede (2001) defined uncertainty avoidance asldquoThe extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknownsituationsrdquo (p 161) Uncertainty is a basic fact in human society and fear of theunknown is a common manifestation Tolerance (or intolerance) for uncertainty(ambiguity) is partly a matter of individual personality and partly a matter of collectiveculture The USA ranked 43 out of 50 countries and three regions with a UAI indexof 46 compared to Thailand that ranked 30 among the 53 with a UAI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Masculinity vs femininity orientation (MAS) Hofstede and other researchers found(see Hofstede 2001 pp 279-284) that dominant male-female gender role patterns were a

340

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common trend in both modern and traditional societies and he defined the masculinity-femininity orientation as follows

Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct Men aresupposed to be assertive tough and focused on material success women are supposed to bemore modest tender and concerned with the quality of life Femininity stands for a society inwhich social gender roles overlap Both men and women are supposed to be modest tenderand concerned with the quality of life (p 297)

Since the USA scored as a highly individualist nation (IDV rank no 1) it is no surprisethat it also scored as a very masculine (ego oriented) nation with a MAS ranking of15 out of 50 nations and three regions and a MAS index score of 62 (range 0-100) It isalso no surprise that Thailand as a highly collectivist nation (IDV rank 39-41) ranked44 out of the 53 nationsregions with a MAS index score of 34 low on the masculinityend of the continuum but high on the feminine (social oriented) end

Long-term orientation (LTO) vs short-term orientation Hofstede (2001) defined theLTO vs short-term orientation dimension as follows

Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards inparticular perseverance and thrift Its opposite pole Short Term Orientation stands for thefostering of virtues related to the past and present in particular respect for traditionpreservation of ldquofacerdquo and fulfilling social obligations (p 359)

Among 34 countries representing both Western and Eastern nations Thailand ranked 8on the high end of the LTO scale with an index score of 56 The USA ranked 27 on the lowend of the scale with an index score of 29

Nearly 95 percent of the population of Thailand is Buddhist and several concepts ofBuddhism that are embedded in Thai culture imply that Thai people are concernedwith the long-term consequences of their actions The intentionality of action is acrucial point of Buddhismrsquos ethics (Hughes 2007) Buddhists have their own moralresponsibility for actions not universal immutable truths An individualrsquos moralbehavior in the past moral or immoral affects that personrsquos condition of happinessachievement or suffering in the present future or even the next life (Harvey 2007Hughes 2007 Kaufman 2005 Wright 2004)

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR) According to Hofstede and Minkov (2013)ldquopredictors of happiness at the national level are a perception of life control a feelingthat one has the liberty to live onersquos life more or less as one pleases without socialrestrictions that curb onersquos freedom of choice and second importance of leisure as apersonal valuerdquo (p 281) Thus their definition of indulgence as ldquoa tendency to allowrelatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying lifeand having fun Its opposite pole restraint reflects a conviction that such gratificationneeds to be curbed and regulated by strict social normsrdquo (p 281)

Based on factor scores (scalefrac14 100) from three items in the World Values Survey(Hofstede et al 2010) Thailand ranked 44 ndash in the middle of 93 countries ndash analyzed onthe indulgence ndash restraint orientation (index score 45) The USA tied with Canada andthe Netherlands at a ranking of 15-17 (index score 68)

Cross-cultural studies focussed on moral reasoningWhile many cross-cultural empirical studies on ethical attitudes and ethical behaviorhave been conducted (see eg Christie et al 2003 p 264) few investigations reveal howcultural dimensions influence ethical reasoning and behavior In most cross-cultural

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studies respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes are assessed based on their answers to vignettesdescribing certain questionable business practices such as offering or receiving ldquogiftsrdquoor ldquogratuitiesrdquo questionable marketing tactics software piracy utilization of insiderinformation etc According to Christie et al (2003) ldquoIn most of these studies culture isconsidered as one of the independent variables influencing onersquos ethical attitudes andbehaviorrdquo (p 264) Culture can never be treated as a single independent variableaffecting ethical reasoning for there are many dimensions of culture culture is not asingular construct (Christie et al 2003) A few studies that do link cultural dimensionsto moral reasoning are worth highlighting here

Ho and Lin (2008) used the VSM 94 to assess five cultural dimensions (only fivedimensions surveyed with VSM 94) and the accounting specific DIT (Thorne 2000)measurement of moral reasoning to compare Taiwanese and USA accounting studentsThey found that US students had higher levels of moral reasoning and that onlyuncertainty avoidance (UAI) had a significant correlation with the lower levels of moralreasoning identified in the Taiwanese sample Ho and Lin (2008) found scant attentionpaid to the relationship between multiple cultural dimensions and cognitive moraldevelopment in the literature

In another study conducted by these same Taiwanese researchers (Lin and Ho 2009)using the DIT (Rest and Narvaez 1979) to analyze the moral reasoning capacities ofpurchasing managers in Taiwan and Mainland China they found that all respondentsfocussed more on the conventional level than on the post-conventional level of moraldevelopment and concluded that both of these areas are influenced by Chinese culture

A comparative analysis of ethical reasoning and cultural dimensions was publishedby Tsui and Windsor (2001) that utilized the DIT and Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings ofcultural dimensional differences Chinese mainland and Hong Kong auditors (nfrac14 75)completed the six-story Chinese version DIT and the Australian auditors (nfrac14 48)completed a three-story DIT No primary cultural dimensional data were gathered theauthors instead used Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings for comparative purposes DIT resultsshowed that auditors from Australia had higher ethical reasoning scores than those fromChina consistent with Hofstedersquos Culture Theory predictions The authors deduced thatthe higher ethical reasoning scores found in the Australian sample is consistent withhigher individualism traits ldquoas the post-conventional level (highest ethical reasoninglevel) focuses on personally held principles which emphasize individualism Collectivismis thus not consistent with the highest score of ethical reasoning which focuses onpersonally held principlesrdquo (Tsui and Windsor 2001 p 148)

Christie et al (2003) collected data from 345 business manager participants inexecutive MBA programs in selected business schools in India Korea and the USAusing Hofstedersquos Value Survey 94 and ldquoan instrument designed by the researchers tomeasure respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general andtoward twelve common questionable practices in particular)rdquo (p 263) While notmimicking the DIT the ethical assessment described in the research does seem togauge potential behavioral susceptibilities The findings indicate that there weresignificant differences in ethical attitudes about compliance to a superiorrsquos unethicalorder directly related to higher power distance in Indian and Korean respondents thanUS respondents Higher uncertainty avoidance indexes of the Indian and Koreanrespondents related directly to acceptance of unethical practices of firing olderemployees marketing unhealthy products in domestic markets The less masculinecountries of India and Korea looked at practices that can potentially injure theenvironment as more unethical than the USA The authors concluded that there is a

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

345

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

347

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

348

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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RQ2 What are the cultural dimensions as measured by the VSM 2013 that correlatewith various levels of moral reasoning within both samples

RQ3 What are the demographic and psychological variables as measured bythe DIT2 that correlate with various levels of moral reasoning withinboth samples

Theoretical developmentThe following sections describe the theories that support this research Moralreasoning based on Kohlbergrsquos and Restrsquos research includes a discussion of themeasurement tool developed by James Rest and his associates the DIT Next a briefdiscussion of each of Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions is presented (Hofstede 2001Hofstede et al 2010) Finally a discussion of other cross-cultural studies focussed onmoral reasoning is presented

Moral reasoning and the DITMoral reasoning is a well-established psychological construct that refers to the set ofcognitive skills an individual uses to resolve moral dilemmas (Elm et al 2001)The best-known model of moral judgment is Kohlbergrsquos (1969 1981) model whichsuggests that an individual progresses through a series of stages in the development ofmoral reasoning capabilities based on the cognitive developmental process postulatedby Jean Piaget (1965) Piaget believed that ldquomorality is the logic of actionrdquo implyingthat as people reflect on the consequences of their action for others and reflect on howto build reciprocal relationships on which cooperation is organized certainnaturally occurring solutions occur to them thus leading to the stages of morality(Rest et al 1999 p 170)

James Restrsquos (Rest and Narvaez 1979) theory of cognitive moral developmentis based on Kohlbergrsquos stages but recognizes developmental levels as more akin toschemata than progressive stages Given the right set of circumstances anindividual may utilize a previous schema to process a dilemma In other wordsa prior schema can be activated (or triggered or elicited) from long-term memory inthe perceiver and thus be utilized to make a decision that is schema arecontent and context related (Rest et al 1999) Rest devised a paper-and-pencilinstrument to measure moral reasoning the DIT The DIT is the most widely usedinstrument for this purpose and the best documented in terms of reliability andvalidity (Rest 1986)

The newer version of the DIT known as the DIT2 (Rest et al 1999) reflects severalimprovements The DIT2 contains moral dilemmas that are more up to date The newN2 index score has a slightly better Cronbachrsquos α internal reliability than the p-scoreand the DIT2 is slightly more powerful on validity criteria Based on a 1995 compositesample (nfrac14 932) the Cronbachrsquos α for the p-index was 078 whereas for the N2 index itwas 083 (Rest et al 1999)

While the preponderance of Kohlbergrsquos moral development literature was developedthrough the use of his Moral Judgment Inventory (MJI) (Colby and Kohlberg 1987) useof the MJI requires special training is demanding and laborious and scoring isintricate Utilization of the MJI in cross-cultural studies is non-existent for comparativepurposes The DIT on the other hand is the most widely used measurement of moralreasoning in Western and now non-Western societies According to Steve Thoma

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Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Ethical Development ldquoAfter 40 yearsthe DIT remains a force in the profession with over 30000 participants using themeasure each yearrdquo (Thoma 2014 p 10) According to Thoma the DIT has been usedto track general population trends in moral judgment development within the USA andthroughout the world

In Asia we have Korean Mandarin Cantonese Traditional Chinese characters(Taiwan) Japanese and Malaysian In Europe we have Spanish (also South Americanvariations) German Italian Norwegian Dutch French (also French Canadian)Macedonian Serbian and Greek In the Middle East we have Turkish Persian andArabic (Egypt) Many of these have multiple versions and cover both DIT-1 and 2 (Personalcommunication June 2 2015)

In addition to reporting levels of moral reasoning (personal interest maintaining normsand principled reasoning) the DIT2 also reports demographic data such as ageeducation level US citizenship and English as primary language Several otherpsychological constructs are also reported political liberalism (a measure of liberalismor conservatism) religious orthodoxy (a proxy measure of adherence to the strictures ofreligious dogma) and humanitarian liberalism (a measure of the consistency withwhich humanitarian decisions are selected in response to DIT questions)

Cultural dimensions and the VSMThe influence of national culture and the identification of cultural differences have beenwidely studied in international business (IB) research over the past three decadesTo better understand what culture actually means and its implications on corporateinternational operations several cultural models and taxonomies have been putforward Trompenaarsrsquo Model of National Culture Differences (Trompenaars andHampden-Turner 1997) is a framework of national culture differences consisting ofseven dimensions for cross-cultural communication applied to general business andmanagement that was developed through a large-scale survey of 8841 managersand employees from over 40 countries However the model doesnrsquot offer a convenientmethod for measuring peoplersquos preferences on each dimension

Geert Hofstedersquos (1980) model is generally accepted as the most comprehensiveframework of national cultures values by those studying business culture and hisidentified cultural dimensions have been widely accepted in the IB field and have beenrepeatedly validated over time (eg Christie et al 2003 Sondergaard 1994) These aregroup-level dimensions which describe national tendencies of the entire population in aparticular country By utilizing Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions users can distinguishbetween countries but as Hofstede (2001) has pointed out the differences are not meantto distinguish between individual members of societies

According to a conclusion by Reis et al (2013) in a bibliometric study of over 3600articles published in seven top ranked journals for IB research that focussed on severalcultural models and taxonomies Hofstedersquos (1980) taxonomy on ldquocultural characteristicsis the most cited cultural taxonomy and holds ties to many of the core streams ofIB-related research In fact despite the well-known criticisms there is an increasing useof Hofstedersquos dimensionsrdquo (p 340) For these reasons the Hofstede model of cross-culturalcomparison was chosen by the lead researcher for this study Additionally in a personalcommunication to the lead researcher from Geert Hofstede (August 21 2014) the VSM2013 was recommended for this research study from among the various iterations ofsurvey modules available because it contained the most current adaptations

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Geert Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions are widely known and used inmany research studies therefore this section presents a brief theoreticaldiscussion of six widely researched cultural dimensions common to all nationsidentified by Hofstede and his colleagues (Hofstede 2001 Hofstede and Bond 1988Hofstede et al 2010 Minkov 2007) Each of the six cultural dimensions exist on acontinuum between two polar extremes and were measured in the present study bycalculating responses to a series of questions in the 2013 version of the VSM 2013(Hofstede and Minkov 2013)

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV) Hofstede (2001) defines the individualism-collectivism dimension as follows

Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose Everyone isexpected to look after himherself and herhis immediate family only Collectivism stands for asociety in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groupswhich throughout peoplersquos lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioningloyalty (p 225)

Hofstede (2001) found that the USA ranked first among 50 nations and three regions onthe individualism-collectivism continuum with an IDV index score of 91 Thailandranked 39-41 out of 53 with an IDV index score of 20 Like many Asian countriesThailandrsquos culture on this continuum consistently tends toward collectivist valuesTherefore relationships among members within Thai families and groups are the mainconcern of Thai people The Thai phrase kreng jai refers to an attitude whereby anindividual tries to restrain his or her own interests or desires in situations where thereis the potential for discomfort or conflict and where there is a need to maintain apleasant relationship (Holmes and Tangtongtavy 1995 as cited in Burn andThongprasert 2005) Thais try to avoid confrontation conflict or causing others to loseface Good relationships are seen as securing good feelings Hallinger and Kantamara(2001) also found that Thais are strongly socialized to comply with group normsMaintaining relationships with others is crucial in Thai society

Power distance (PDI) The diverse ways in which societies deal with inequality areextremely culturally dependent (see Hofstede 2001 p 137 footnote 1) Power distanceis ldquothe extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizationswithin a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequallyrdquo (Hofstede2001 p 98) As might be expected in highly individualist cultures like that of the USAperceived power distance is not large compared to other nations The USA ranked38 out of 50 countries and three regions with a PDI index of 40 compared to Thailanda collectivist culture that ranked 21-23 among the 53 with a PDI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) Hofstede (2001) defined uncertainty avoidance asldquoThe extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknownsituationsrdquo (p 161) Uncertainty is a basic fact in human society and fear of theunknown is a common manifestation Tolerance (or intolerance) for uncertainty(ambiguity) is partly a matter of individual personality and partly a matter of collectiveculture The USA ranked 43 out of 50 countries and three regions with a UAI indexof 46 compared to Thailand that ranked 30 among the 53 with a UAI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Masculinity vs femininity orientation (MAS) Hofstede and other researchers found(see Hofstede 2001 pp 279-284) that dominant male-female gender role patterns were a

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common trend in both modern and traditional societies and he defined the masculinity-femininity orientation as follows

Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct Men aresupposed to be assertive tough and focused on material success women are supposed to bemore modest tender and concerned with the quality of life Femininity stands for a society inwhich social gender roles overlap Both men and women are supposed to be modest tenderand concerned with the quality of life (p 297)

Since the USA scored as a highly individualist nation (IDV rank no 1) it is no surprisethat it also scored as a very masculine (ego oriented) nation with a MAS ranking of15 out of 50 nations and three regions and a MAS index score of 62 (range 0-100) It isalso no surprise that Thailand as a highly collectivist nation (IDV rank 39-41) ranked44 out of the 53 nationsregions with a MAS index score of 34 low on the masculinityend of the continuum but high on the feminine (social oriented) end

Long-term orientation (LTO) vs short-term orientation Hofstede (2001) defined theLTO vs short-term orientation dimension as follows

Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards inparticular perseverance and thrift Its opposite pole Short Term Orientation stands for thefostering of virtues related to the past and present in particular respect for traditionpreservation of ldquofacerdquo and fulfilling social obligations (p 359)

Among 34 countries representing both Western and Eastern nations Thailand ranked 8on the high end of the LTO scale with an index score of 56 The USA ranked 27 on the lowend of the scale with an index score of 29

Nearly 95 percent of the population of Thailand is Buddhist and several concepts ofBuddhism that are embedded in Thai culture imply that Thai people are concernedwith the long-term consequences of their actions The intentionality of action is acrucial point of Buddhismrsquos ethics (Hughes 2007) Buddhists have their own moralresponsibility for actions not universal immutable truths An individualrsquos moralbehavior in the past moral or immoral affects that personrsquos condition of happinessachievement or suffering in the present future or even the next life (Harvey 2007Hughes 2007 Kaufman 2005 Wright 2004)

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR) According to Hofstede and Minkov (2013)ldquopredictors of happiness at the national level are a perception of life control a feelingthat one has the liberty to live onersquos life more or less as one pleases without socialrestrictions that curb onersquos freedom of choice and second importance of leisure as apersonal valuerdquo (p 281) Thus their definition of indulgence as ldquoa tendency to allowrelatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying lifeand having fun Its opposite pole restraint reflects a conviction that such gratificationneeds to be curbed and regulated by strict social normsrdquo (p 281)

Based on factor scores (scalefrac14 100) from three items in the World Values Survey(Hofstede et al 2010) Thailand ranked 44 ndash in the middle of 93 countries ndash analyzed onthe indulgence ndash restraint orientation (index score 45) The USA tied with Canada andthe Netherlands at a ranking of 15-17 (index score 68)

Cross-cultural studies focussed on moral reasoningWhile many cross-cultural empirical studies on ethical attitudes and ethical behaviorhave been conducted (see eg Christie et al 2003 p 264) few investigations reveal howcultural dimensions influence ethical reasoning and behavior In most cross-cultural

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studies respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes are assessed based on their answers to vignettesdescribing certain questionable business practices such as offering or receiving ldquogiftsrdquoor ldquogratuitiesrdquo questionable marketing tactics software piracy utilization of insiderinformation etc According to Christie et al (2003) ldquoIn most of these studies culture isconsidered as one of the independent variables influencing onersquos ethical attitudes andbehaviorrdquo (p 264) Culture can never be treated as a single independent variableaffecting ethical reasoning for there are many dimensions of culture culture is not asingular construct (Christie et al 2003) A few studies that do link cultural dimensionsto moral reasoning are worth highlighting here

Ho and Lin (2008) used the VSM 94 to assess five cultural dimensions (only fivedimensions surveyed with VSM 94) and the accounting specific DIT (Thorne 2000)measurement of moral reasoning to compare Taiwanese and USA accounting studentsThey found that US students had higher levels of moral reasoning and that onlyuncertainty avoidance (UAI) had a significant correlation with the lower levels of moralreasoning identified in the Taiwanese sample Ho and Lin (2008) found scant attentionpaid to the relationship between multiple cultural dimensions and cognitive moraldevelopment in the literature

In another study conducted by these same Taiwanese researchers (Lin and Ho 2009)using the DIT (Rest and Narvaez 1979) to analyze the moral reasoning capacities ofpurchasing managers in Taiwan and Mainland China they found that all respondentsfocussed more on the conventional level than on the post-conventional level of moraldevelopment and concluded that both of these areas are influenced by Chinese culture

A comparative analysis of ethical reasoning and cultural dimensions was publishedby Tsui and Windsor (2001) that utilized the DIT and Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings ofcultural dimensional differences Chinese mainland and Hong Kong auditors (nfrac14 75)completed the six-story Chinese version DIT and the Australian auditors (nfrac14 48)completed a three-story DIT No primary cultural dimensional data were gathered theauthors instead used Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings for comparative purposes DIT resultsshowed that auditors from Australia had higher ethical reasoning scores than those fromChina consistent with Hofstedersquos Culture Theory predictions The authors deduced thatthe higher ethical reasoning scores found in the Australian sample is consistent withhigher individualism traits ldquoas the post-conventional level (highest ethical reasoninglevel) focuses on personally held principles which emphasize individualism Collectivismis thus not consistent with the highest score of ethical reasoning which focuses onpersonally held principlesrdquo (Tsui and Windsor 2001 p 148)

Christie et al (2003) collected data from 345 business manager participants inexecutive MBA programs in selected business schools in India Korea and the USAusing Hofstedersquos Value Survey 94 and ldquoan instrument designed by the researchers tomeasure respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general andtoward twelve common questionable practices in particular)rdquo (p 263) While notmimicking the DIT the ethical assessment described in the research does seem togauge potential behavioral susceptibilities The findings indicate that there weresignificant differences in ethical attitudes about compliance to a superiorrsquos unethicalorder directly related to higher power distance in Indian and Korean respondents thanUS respondents Higher uncertainty avoidance indexes of the Indian and Koreanrespondents related directly to acceptance of unethical practices of firing olderemployees marketing unhealthy products in domestic markets The less masculinecountries of India and Korea looked at practices that can potentially injure theenvironment as more unethical than the USA The authors concluded that there is a

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Ethical Development ldquoAfter 40 yearsthe DIT remains a force in the profession with over 30000 participants using themeasure each yearrdquo (Thoma 2014 p 10) According to Thoma the DIT has been usedto track general population trends in moral judgment development within the USA andthroughout the world

In Asia we have Korean Mandarin Cantonese Traditional Chinese characters(Taiwan) Japanese and Malaysian In Europe we have Spanish (also South Americanvariations) German Italian Norwegian Dutch French (also French Canadian)Macedonian Serbian and Greek In the Middle East we have Turkish Persian andArabic (Egypt) Many of these have multiple versions and cover both DIT-1 and 2 (Personalcommunication June 2 2015)

In addition to reporting levels of moral reasoning (personal interest maintaining normsand principled reasoning) the DIT2 also reports demographic data such as ageeducation level US citizenship and English as primary language Several otherpsychological constructs are also reported political liberalism (a measure of liberalismor conservatism) religious orthodoxy (a proxy measure of adherence to the strictures ofreligious dogma) and humanitarian liberalism (a measure of the consistency withwhich humanitarian decisions are selected in response to DIT questions)

Cultural dimensions and the VSMThe influence of national culture and the identification of cultural differences have beenwidely studied in international business (IB) research over the past three decadesTo better understand what culture actually means and its implications on corporateinternational operations several cultural models and taxonomies have been putforward Trompenaarsrsquo Model of National Culture Differences (Trompenaars andHampden-Turner 1997) is a framework of national culture differences consisting ofseven dimensions for cross-cultural communication applied to general business andmanagement that was developed through a large-scale survey of 8841 managersand employees from over 40 countries However the model doesnrsquot offer a convenientmethod for measuring peoplersquos preferences on each dimension

Geert Hofstedersquos (1980) model is generally accepted as the most comprehensiveframework of national cultures values by those studying business culture and hisidentified cultural dimensions have been widely accepted in the IB field and have beenrepeatedly validated over time (eg Christie et al 2003 Sondergaard 1994) These aregroup-level dimensions which describe national tendencies of the entire population in aparticular country By utilizing Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions users can distinguishbetween countries but as Hofstede (2001) has pointed out the differences are not meantto distinguish between individual members of societies

According to a conclusion by Reis et al (2013) in a bibliometric study of over 3600articles published in seven top ranked journals for IB research that focussed on severalcultural models and taxonomies Hofstedersquos (1980) taxonomy on ldquocultural characteristicsis the most cited cultural taxonomy and holds ties to many of the core streams ofIB-related research In fact despite the well-known criticisms there is an increasing useof Hofstedersquos dimensionsrdquo (p 340) For these reasons the Hofstede model of cross-culturalcomparison was chosen by the lead researcher for this study Additionally in a personalcommunication to the lead researcher from Geert Hofstede (August 21 2014) the VSM2013 was recommended for this research study from among the various iterations ofsurvey modules available because it contained the most current adaptations

339

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Geert Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions are widely known and used inmany research studies therefore this section presents a brief theoreticaldiscussion of six widely researched cultural dimensions common to all nationsidentified by Hofstede and his colleagues (Hofstede 2001 Hofstede and Bond 1988Hofstede et al 2010 Minkov 2007) Each of the six cultural dimensions exist on acontinuum between two polar extremes and were measured in the present study bycalculating responses to a series of questions in the 2013 version of the VSM 2013(Hofstede and Minkov 2013)

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV) Hofstede (2001) defines the individualism-collectivism dimension as follows

Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose Everyone isexpected to look after himherself and herhis immediate family only Collectivism stands for asociety in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groupswhich throughout peoplersquos lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioningloyalty (p 225)

Hofstede (2001) found that the USA ranked first among 50 nations and three regions onthe individualism-collectivism continuum with an IDV index score of 91 Thailandranked 39-41 out of 53 with an IDV index score of 20 Like many Asian countriesThailandrsquos culture on this continuum consistently tends toward collectivist valuesTherefore relationships among members within Thai families and groups are the mainconcern of Thai people The Thai phrase kreng jai refers to an attitude whereby anindividual tries to restrain his or her own interests or desires in situations where thereis the potential for discomfort or conflict and where there is a need to maintain apleasant relationship (Holmes and Tangtongtavy 1995 as cited in Burn andThongprasert 2005) Thais try to avoid confrontation conflict or causing others to loseface Good relationships are seen as securing good feelings Hallinger and Kantamara(2001) also found that Thais are strongly socialized to comply with group normsMaintaining relationships with others is crucial in Thai society

Power distance (PDI) The diverse ways in which societies deal with inequality areextremely culturally dependent (see Hofstede 2001 p 137 footnote 1) Power distanceis ldquothe extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizationswithin a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequallyrdquo (Hofstede2001 p 98) As might be expected in highly individualist cultures like that of the USAperceived power distance is not large compared to other nations The USA ranked38 out of 50 countries and three regions with a PDI index of 40 compared to Thailanda collectivist culture that ranked 21-23 among the 53 with a PDI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) Hofstede (2001) defined uncertainty avoidance asldquoThe extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknownsituationsrdquo (p 161) Uncertainty is a basic fact in human society and fear of theunknown is a common manifestation Tolerance (or intolerance) for uncertainty(ambiguity) is partly a matter of individual personality and partly a matter of collectiveculture The USA ranked 43 out of 50 countries and three regions with a UAI indexof 46 compared to Thailand that ranked 30 among the 53 with a UAI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Masculinity vs femininity orientation (MAS) Hofstede and other researchers found(see Hofstede 2001 pp 279-284) that dominant male-female gender role patterns were a

340

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common trend in both modern and traditional societies and he defined the masculinity-femininity orientation as follows

Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct Men aresupposed to be assertive tough and focused on material success women are supposed to bemore modest tender and concerned with the quality of life Femininity stands for a society inwhich social gender roles overlap Both men and women are supposed to be modest tenderand concerned with the quality of life (p 297)

Since the USA scored as a highly individualist nation (IDV rank no 1) it is no surprisethat it also scored as a very masculine (ego oriented) nation with a MAS ranking of15 out of 50 nations and three regions and a MAS index score of 62 (range 0-100) It isalso no surprise that Thailand as a highly collectivist nation (IDV rank 39-41) ranked44 out of the 53 nationsregions with a MAS index score of 34 low on the masculinityend of the continuum but high on the feminine (social oriented) end

Long-term orientation (LTO) vs short-term orientation Hofstede (2001) defined theLTO vs short-term orientation dimension as follows

Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards inparticular perseverance and thrift Its opposite pole Short Term Orientation stands for thefostering of virtues related to the past and present in particular respect for traditionpreservation of ldquofacerdquo and fulfilling social obligations (p 359)

Among 34 countries representing both Western and Eastern nations Thailand ranked 8on the high end of the LTO scale with an index score of 56 The USA ranked 27 on the lowend of the scale with an index score of 29

Nearly 95 percent of the population of Thailand is Buddhist and several concepts ofBuddhism that are embedded in Thai culture imply that Thai people are concernedwith the long-term consequences of their actions The intentionality of action is acrucial point of Buddhismrsquos ethics (Hughes 2007) Buddhists have their own moralresponsibility for actions not universal immutable truths An individualrsquos moralbehavior in the past moral or immoral affects that personrsquos condition of happinessachievement or suffering in the present future or even the next life (Harvey 2007Hughes 2007 Kaufman 2005 Wright 2004)

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR) According to Hofstede and Minkov (2013)ldquopredictors of happiness at the national level are a perception of life control a feelingthat one has the liberty to live onersquos life more or less as one pleases without socialrestrictions that curb onersquos freedom of choice and second importance of leisure as apersonal valuerdquo (p 281) Thus their definition of indulgence as ldquoa tendency to allowrelatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying lifeand having fun Its opposite pole restraint reflects a conviction that such gratificationneeds to be curbed and regulated by strict social normsrdquo (p 281)

Based on factor scores (scalefrac14 100) from three items in the World Values Survey(Hofstede et al 2010) Thailand ranked 44 ndash in the middle of 93 countries ndash analyzed onthe indulgence ndash restraint orientation (index score 45) The USA tied with Canada andthe Netherlands at a ranking of 15-17 (index score 68)

Cross-cultural studies focussed on moral reasoningWhile many cross-cultural empirical studies on ethical attitudes and ethical behaviorhave been conducted (see eg Christie et al 2003 p 264) few investigations reveal howcultural dimensions influence ethical reasoning and behavior In most cross-cultural

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studies respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes are assessed based on their answers to vignettesdescribing certain questionable business practices such as offering or receiving ldquogiftsrdquoor ldquogratuitiesrdquo questionable marketing tactics software piracy utilization of insiderinformation etc According to Christie et al (2003) ldquoIn most of these studies culture isconsidered as one of the independent variables influencing onersquos ethical attitudes andbehaviorrdquo (p 264) Culture can never be treated as a single independent variableaffecting ethical reasoning for there are many dimensions of culture culture is not asingular construct (Christie et al 2003) A few studies that do link cultural dimensionsto moral reasoning are worth highlighting here

Ho and Lin (2008) used the VSM 94 to assess five cultural dimensions (only fivedimensions surveyed with VSM 94) and the accounting specific DIT (Thorne 2000)measurement of moral reasoning to compare Taiwanese and USA accounting studentsThey found that US students had higher levels of moral reasoning and that onlyuncertainty avoidance (UAI) had a significant correlation with the lower levels of moralreasoning identified in the Taiwanese sample Ho and Lin (2008) found scant attentionpaid to the relationship between multiple cultural dimensions and cognitive moraldevelopment in the literature

In another study conducted by these same Taiwanese researchers (Lin and Ho 2009)using the DIT (Rest and Narvaez 1979) to analyze the moral reasoning capacities ofpurchasing managers in Taiwan and Mainland China they found that all respondentsfocussed more on the conventional level than on the post-conventional level of moraldevelopment and concluded that both of these areas are influenced by Chinese culture

A comparative analysis of ethical reasoning and cultural dimensions was publishedby Tsui and Windsor (2001) that utilized the DIT and Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings ofcultural dimensional differences Chinese mainland and Hong Kong auditors (nfrac14 75)completed the six-story Chinese version DIT and the Australian auditors (nfrac14 48)completed a three-story DIT No primary cultural dimensional data were gathered theauthors instead used Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings for comparative purposes DIT resultsshowed that auditors from Australia had higher ethical reasoning scores than those fromChina consistent with Hofstedersquos Culture Theory predictions The authors deduced thatthe higher ethical reasoning scores found in the Australian sample is consistent withhigher individualism traits ldquoas the post-conventional level (highest ethical reasoninglevel) focuses on personally held principles which emphasize individualism Collectivismis thus not consistent with the highest score of ethical reasoning which focuses onpersonally held principlesrdquo (Tsui and Windsor 2001 p 148)

Christie et al (2003) collected data from 345 business manager participants inexecutive MBA programs in selected business schools in India Korea and the USAusing Hofstedersquos Value Survey 94 and ldquoan instrument designed by the researchers tomeasure respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general andtoward twelve common questionable practices in particular)rdquo (p 263) While notmimicking the DIT the ethical assessment described in the research does seem togauge potential behavioral susceptibilities The findings indicate that there weresignificant differences in ethical attitudes about compliance to a superiorrsquos unethicalorder directly related to higher power distance in Indian and Korean respondents thanUS respondents Higher uncertainty avoidance indexes of the Indian and Koreanrespondents related directly to acceptance of unethical practices of firing olderemployees marketing unhealthy products in domestic markets The less masculinecountries of India and Korea looked at practices that can potentially injure theenvironment as more unethical than the USA The authors concluded that there is a

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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Geert Hofstedersquos cultural dimensions are widely known and used inmany research studies therefore this section presents a brief theoreticaldiscussion of six widely researched cultural dimensions common to all nationsidentified by Hofstede and his colleagues (Hofstede 2001 Hofstede and Bond 1988Hofstede et al 2010 Minkov 2007) Each of the six cultural dimensions exist on acontinuum between two polar extremes and were measured in the present study bycalculating responses to a series of questions in the 2013 version of the VSM 2013(Hofstede and Minkov 2013)

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV) Hofstede (2001) defines the individualism-collectivism dimension as follows

Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose Everyone isexpected to look after himherself and herhis immediate family only Collectivism stands for asociety in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groupswhich throughout peoplersquos lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioningloyalty (p 225)

Hofstede (2001) found that the USA ranked first among 50 nations and three regions onthe individualism-collectivism continuum with an IDV index score of 91 Thailandranked 39-41 out of 53 with an IDV index score of 20 Like many Asian countriesThailandrsquos culture on this continuum consistently tends toward collectivist valuesTherefore relationships among members within Thai families and groups are the mainconcern of Thai people The Thai phrase kreng jai refers to an attitude whereby anindividual tries to restrain his or her own interests or desires in situations where thereis the potential for discomfort or conflict and where there is a need to maintain apleasant relationship (Holmes and Tangtongtavy 1995 as cited in Burn andThongprasert 2005) Thais try to avoid confrontation conflict or causing others to loseface Good relationships are seen as securing good feelings Hallinger and Kantamara(2001) also found that Thais are strongly socialized to comply with group normsMaintaining relationships with others is crucial in Thai society

Power distance (PDI) The diverse ways in which societies deal with inequality areextremely culturally dependent (see Hofstede 2001 p 137 footnote 1) Power distanceis ldquothe extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizationswithin a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequallyrdquo (Hofstede2001 p 98) As might be expected in highly individualist cultures like that of the USAperceived power distance is not large compared to other nations The USA ranked38 out of 50 countries and three regions with a PDI index of 40 compared to Thailanda collectivist culture that ranked 21-23 among the 53 with a PDI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) Hofstede (2001) defined uncertainty avoidance asldquoThe extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknownsituationsrdquo (p 161) Uncertainty is a basic fact in human society and fear of theunknown is a common manifestation Tolerance (or intolerance) for uncertainty(ambiguity) is partly a matter of individual personality and partly a matter of collectiveculture The USA ranked 43 out of 50 countries and three regions with a UAI indexof 46 compared to Thailand that ranked 30 among the 53 with a UAI index score of64 (Hofstede 2001)

Masculinity vs femininity orientation (MAS) Hofstede and other researchers found(see Hofstede 2001 pp 279-284) that dominant male-female gender role patterns were a

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common trend in both modern and traditional societies and he defined the masculinity-femininity orientation as follows

Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct Men aresupposed to be assertive tough and focused on material success women are supposed to bemore modest tender and concerned with the quality of life Femininity stands for a society inwhich social gender roles overlap Both men and women are supposed to be modest tenderand concerned with the quality of life (p 297)

Since the USA scored as a highly individualist nation (IDV rank no 1) it is no surprisethat it also scored as a very masculine (ego oriented) nation with a MAS ranking of15 out of 50 nations and three regions and a MAS index score of 62 (range 0-100) It isalso no surprise that Thailand as a highly collectivist nation (IDV rank 39-41) ranked44 out of the 53 nationsregions with a MAS index score of 34 low on the masculinityend of the continuum but high on the feminine (social oriented) end

Long-term orientation (LTO) vs short-term orientation Hofstede (2001) defined theLTO vs short-term orientation dimension as follows

Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards inparticular perseverance and thrift Its opposite pole Short Term Orientation stands for thefostering of virtues related to the past and present in particular respect for traditionpreservation of ldquofacerdquo and fulfilling social obligations (p 359)

Among 34 countries representing both Western and Eastern nations Thailand ranked 8on the high end of the LTO scale with an index score of 56 The USA ranked 27 on the lowend of the scale with an index score of 29

Nearly 95 percent of the population of Thailand is Buddhist and several concepts ofBuddhism that are embedded in Thai culture imply that Thai people are concernedwith the long-term consequences of their actions The intentionality of action is acrucial point of Buddhismrsquos ethics (Hughes 2007) Buddhists have their own moralresponsibility for actions not universal immutable truths An individualrsquos moralbehavior in the past moral or immoral affects that personrsquos condition of happinessachievement or suffering in the present future or even the next life (Harvey 2007Hughes 2007 Kaufman 2005 Wright 2004)

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR) According to Hofstede and Minkov (2013)ldquopredictors of happiness at the national level are a perception of life control a feelingthat one has the liberty to live onersquos life more or less as one pleases without socialrestrictions that curb onersquos freedom of choice and second importance of leisure as apersonal valuerdquo (p 281) Thus their definition of indulgence as ldquoa tendency to allowrelatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying lifeand having fun Its opposite pole restraint reflects a conviction that such gratificationneeds to be curbed and regulated by strict social normsrdquo (p 281)

Based on factor scores (scalefrac14 100) from three items in the World Values Survey(Hofstede et al 2010) Thailand ranked 44 ndash in the middle of 93 countries ndash analyzed onthe indulgence ndash restraint orientation (index score 45) The USA tied with Canada andthe Netherlands at a ranking of 15-17 (index score 68)

Cross-cultural studies focussed on moral reasoningWhile many cross-cultural empirical studies on ethical attitudes and ethical behaviorhave been conducted (see eg Christie et al 2003 p 264) few investigations reveal howcultural dimensions influence ethical reasoning and behavior In most cross-cultural

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studies respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes are assessed based on their answers to vignettesdescribing certain questionable business practices such as offering or receiving ldquogiftsrdquoor ldquogratuitiesrdquo questionable marketing tactics software piracy utilization of insiderinformation etc According to Christie et al (2003) ldquoIn most of these studies culture isconsidered as one of the independent variables influencing onersquos ethical attitudes andbehaviorrdquo (p 264) Culture can never be treated as a single independent variableaffecting ethical reasoning for there are many dimensions of culture culture is not asingular construct (Christie et al 2003) A few studies that do link cultural dimensionsto moral reasoning are worth highlighting here

Ho and Lin (2008) used the VSM 94 to assess five cultural dimensions (only fivedimensions surveyed with VSM 94) and the accounting specific DIT (Thorne 2000)measurement of moral reasoning to compare Taiwanese and USA accounting studentsThey found that US students had higher levels of moral reasoning and that onlyuncertainty avoidance (UAI) had a significant correlation with the lower levels of moralreasoning identified in the Taiwanese sample Ho and Lin (2008) found scant attentionpaid to the relationship between multiple cultural dimensions and cognitive moraldevelopment in the literature

In another study conducted by these same Taiwanese researchers (Lin and Ho 2009)using the DIT (Rest and Narvaez 1979) to analyze the moral reasoning capacities ofpurchasing managers in Taiwan and Mainland China they found that all respondentsfocussed more on the conventional level than on the post-conventional level of moraldevelopment and concluded that both of these areas are influenced by Chinese culture

A comparative analysis of ethical reasoning and cultural dimensions was publishedby Tsui and Windsor (2001) that utilized the DIT and Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings ofcultural dimensional differences Chinese mainland and Hong Kong auditors (nfrac14 75)completed the six-story Chinese version DIT and the Australian auditors (nfrac14 48)completed a three-story DIT No primary cultural dimensional data were gathered theauthors instead used Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings for comparative purposes DIT resultsshowed that auditors from Australia had higher ethical reasoning scores than those fromChina consistent with Hofstedersquos Culture Theory predictions The authors deduced thatthe higher ethical reasoning scores found in the Australian sample is consistent withhigher individualism traits ldquoas the post-conventional level (highest ethical reasoninglevel) focuses on personally held principles which emphasize individualism Collectivismis thus not consistent with the highest score of ethical reasoning which focuses onpersonally held principlesrdquo (Tsui and Windsor 2001 p 148)

Christie et al (2003) collected data from 345 business manager participants inexecutive MBA programs in selected business schools in India Korea and the USAusing Hofstedersquos Value Survey 94 and ldquoan instrument designed by the researchers tomeasure respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general andtoward twelve common questionable practices in particular)rdquo (p 263) While notmimicking the DIT the ethical assessment described in the research does seem togauge potential behavioral susceptibilities The findings indicate that there weresignificant differences in ethical attitudes about compliance to a superiorrsquos unethicalorder directly related to higher power distance in Indian and Korean respondents thanUS respondents Higher uncertainty avoidance indexes of the Indian and Koreanrespondents related directly to acceptance of unethical practices of firing olderemployees marketing unhealthy products in domestic markets The less masculinecountries of India and Korea looked at practices that can potentially injure theenvironment as more unethical than the USA The authors concluded that there is a

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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common trend in both modern and traditional societies and he defined the masculinity-femininity orientation as follows

Masculinity stands for a society in which social gender roles are clearly distinct Men aresupposed to be assertive tough and focused on material success women are supposed to bemore modest tender and concerned with the quality of life Femininity stands for a society inwhich social gender roles overlap Both men and women are supposed to be modest tenderand concerned with the quality of life (p 297)

Since the USA scored as a highly individualist nation (IDV rank no 1) it is no surprisethat it also scored as a very masculine (ego oriented) nation with a MAS ranking of15 out of 50 nations and three regions and a MAS index score of 62 (range 0-100) It isalso no surprise that Thailand as a highly collectivist nation (IDV rank 39-41) ranked44 out of the 53 nationsregions with a MAS index score of 34 low on the masculinityend of the continuum but high on the feminine (social oriented) end

Long-term orientation (LTO) vs short-term orientation Hofstede (2001) defined theLTO vs short-term orientation dimension as follows

Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards inparticular perseverance and thrift Its opposite pole Short Term Orientation stands for thefostering of virtues related to the past and present in particular respect for traditionpreservation of ldquofacerdquo and fulfilling social obligations (p 359)

Among 34 countries representing both Western and Eastern nations Thailand ranked 8on the high end of the LTO scale with an index score of 56 The USA ranked 27 on the lowend of the scale with an index score of 29

Nearly 95 percent of the population of Thailand is Buddhist and several concepts ofBuddhism that are embedded in Thai culture imply that Thai people are concernedwith the long-term consequences of their actions The intentionality of action is acrucial point of Buddhismrsquos ethics (Hughes 2007) Buddhists have their own moralresponsibility for actions not universal immutable truths An individualrsquos moralbehavior in the past moral or immoral affects that personrsquos condition of happinessachievement or suffering in the present future or even the next life (Harvey 2007Hughes 2007 Kaufman 2005 Wright 2004)

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR) According to Hofstede and Minkov (2013)ldquopredictors of happiness at the national level are a perception of life control a feelingthat one has the liberty to live onersquos life more or less as one pleases without socialrestrictions that curb onersquos freedom of choice and second importance of leisure as apersonal valuerdquo (p 281) Thus their definition of indulgence as ldquoa tendency to allowrelatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying lifeand having fun Its opposite pole restraint reflects a conviction that such gratificationneeds to be curbed and regulated by strict social normsrdquo (p 281)

Based on factor scores (scalefrac14 100) from three items in the World Values Survey(Hofstede et al 2010) Thailand ranked 44 ndash in the middle of 93 countries ndash analyzed onthe indulgence ndash restraint orientation (index score 45) The USA tied with Canada andthe Netherlands at a ranking of 15-17 (index score 68)

Cross-cultural studies focussed on moral reasoningWhile many cross-cultural empirical studies on ethical attitudes and ethical behaviorhave been conducted (see eg Christie et al 2003 p 264) few investigations reveal howcultural dimensions influence ethical reasoning and behavior In most cross-cultural

341

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studies respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes are assessed based on their answers to vignettesdescribing certain questionable business practices such as offering or receiving ldquogiftsrdquoor ldquogratuitiesrdquo questionable marketing tactics software piracy utilization of insiderinformation etc According to Christie et al (2003) ldquoIn most of these studies culture isconsidered as one of the independent variables influencing onersquos ethical attitudes andbehaviorrdquo (p 264) Culture can never be treated as a single independent variableaffecting ethical reasoning for there are many dimensions of culture culture is not asingular construct (Christie et al 2003) A few studies that do link cultural dimensionsto moral reasoning are worth highlighting here

Ho and Lin (2008) used the VSM 94 to assess five cultural dimensions (only fivedimensions surveyed with VSM 94) and the accounting specific DIT (Thorne 2000)measurement of moral reasoning to compare Taiwanese and USA accounting studentsThey found that US students had higher levels of moral reasoning and that onlyuncertainty avoidance (UAI) had a significant correlation with the lower levels of moralreasoning identified in the Taiwanese sample Ho and Lin (2008) found scant attentionpaid to the relationship between multiple cultural dimensions and cognitive moraldevelopment in the literature

In another study conducted by these same Taiwanese researchers (Lin and Ho 2009)using the DIT (Rest and Narvaez 1979) to analyze the moral reasoning capacities ofpurchasing managers in Taiwan and Mainland China they found that all respondentsfocussed more on the conventional level than on the post-conventional level of moraldevelopment and concluded that both of these areas are influenced by Chinese culture

A comparative analysis of ethical reasoning and cultural dimensions was publishedby Tsui and Windsor (2001) that utilized the DIT and Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings ofcultural dimensional differences Chinese mainland and Hong Kong auditors (nfrac14 75)completed the six-story Chinese version DIT and the Australian auditors (nfrac14 48)completed a three-story DIT No primary cultural dimensional data were gathered theauthors instead used Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings for comparative purposes DIT resultsshowed that auditors from Australia had higher ethical reasoning scores than those fromChina consistent with Hofstedersquos Culture Theory predictions The authors deduced thatthe higher ethical reasoning scores found in the Australian sample is consistent withhigher individualism traits ldquoas the post-conventional level (highest ethical reasoninglevel) focuses on personally held principles which emphasize individualism Collectivismis thus not consistent with the highest score of ethical reasoning which focuses onpersonally held principlesrdquo (Tsui and Windsor 2001 p 148)

Christie et al (2003) collected data from 345 business manager participants inexecutive MBA programs in selected business schools in India Korea and the USAusing Hofstedersquos Value Survey 94 and ldquoan instrument designed by the researchers tomeasure respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general andtoward twelve common questionable practices in particular)rdquo (p 263) While notmimicking the DIT the ethical assessment described in the research does seem togauge potential behavioral susceptibilities The findings indicate that there weresignificant differences in ethical attitudes about compliance to a superiorrsquos unethicalorder directly related to higher power distance in Indian and Korean respondents thanUS respondents Higher uncertainty avoidance indexes of the Indian and Koreanrespondents related directly to acceptance of unethical practices of firing olderemployees marketing unhealthy products in domestic markets The less masculinecountries of India and Korea looked at practices that can potentially injure theenvironment as more unethical than the USA The authors concluded that there is a

342

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

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T)

Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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studies respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes are assessed based on their answers to vignettesdescribing certain questionable business practices such as offering or receiving ldquogiftsrdquoor ldquogratuitiesrdquo questionable marketing tactics software piracy utilization of insiderinformation etc According to Christie et al (2003) ldquoIn most of these studies culture isconsidered as one of the independent variables influencing onersquos ethical attitudes andbehaviorrdquo (p 264) Culture can never be treated as a single independent variableaffecting ethical reasoning for there are many dimensions of culture culture is not asingular construct (Christie et al 2003) A few studies that do link cultural dimensionsto moral reasoning are worth highlighting here

Ho and Lin (2008) used the VSM 94 to assess five cultural dimensions (only fivedimensions surveyed with VSM 94) and the accounting specific DIT (Thorne 2000)measurement of moral reasoning to compare Taiwanese and USA accounting studentsThey found that US students had higher levels of moral reasoning and that onlyuncertainty avoidance (UAI) had a significant correlation with the lower levels of moralreasoning identified in the Taiwanese sample Ho and Lin (2008) found scant attentionpaid to the relationship between multiple cultural dimensions and cognitive moraldevelopment in the literature

In another study conducted by these same Taiwanese researchers (Lin and Ho 2009)using the DIT (Rest and Narvaez 1979) to analyze the moral reasoning capacities ofpurchasing managers in Taiwan and Mainland China they found that all respondentsfocussed more on the conventional level than on the post-conventional level of moraldevelopment and concluded that both of these areas are influenced by Chinese culture

A comparative analysis of ethical reasoning and cultural dimensions was publishedby Tsui and Windsor (2001) that utilized the DIT and Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings ofcultural dimensional differences Chinese mainland and Hong Kong auditors (nfrac14 75)completed the six-story Chinese version DIT and the Australian auditors (nfrac14 48)completed a three-story DIT No primary cultural dimensional data were gathered theauthors instead used Hofstedersquos (1997) rankings for comparative purposes DIT resultsshowed that auditors from Australia had higher ethical reasoning scores than those fromChina consistent with Hofstedersquos Culture Theory predictions The authors deduced thatthe higher ethical reasoning scores found in the Australian sample is consistent withhigher individualism traits ldquoas the post-conventional level (highest ethical reasoninglevel) focuses on personally held principles which emphasize individualism Collectivismis thus not consistent with the highest score of ethical reasoning which focuses onpersonally held principlesrdquo (Tsui and Windsor 2001 p 148)

Christie et al (2003) collected data from 345 business manager participants inexecutive MBA programs in selected business schools in India Korea and the USAusing Hofstedersquos Value Survey 94 and ldquoan instrument designed by the researchers tomeasure respondentsrsquo ethical attitudes (attitudes toward business ethics in general andtoward twelve common questionable practices in particular)rdquo (p 263) While notmimicking the DIT the ethical assessment described in the research does seem togauge potential behavioral susceptibilities The findings indicate that there weresignificant differences in ethical attitudes about compliance to a superiorrsquos unethicalorder directly related to higher power distance in Indian and Korean respondents thanUS respondents Higher uncertainty avoidance indexes of the Indian and Koreanrespondents related directly to acceptance of unethical practices of firing olderemployees marketing unhealthy products in domestic markets The less masculinecountries of India and Korea looked at practices that can potentially injure theenvironment as more unethical than the USA The authors concluded that there is a

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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T)

Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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strong relationship between cultural dimensions (individualism and power distance)and ethical attitudes of business managers toward certain questionable businesspractices and that indeed culture has a strong influence on business managersrsquoattitudes While these studies add to the literature about cultural dimensionsrsquo effects onmoral reasoning none specifically focussed on a comparison of the cultural dimensionsidentified by Hofstede and Minkov (2013) in relation to moral reasoning development asdefined by Kohlberg and Rest among Thai and US non-specialized professionalrespondents (ie vs accountants and auditors) This research fills that gap

Research methods and proceduresThe revised version of the DIT2 was used to identify levels of moral reasoning(Rest et al 1999) The VSM 2013 was used for measuring aggregate scores on multiplecultural dimensions Convenience samples were used in the research The respondentswere all either from a public university in Thailand or the USA The lead researcherrsquosIRB exempted the study and all respondents participated voluntarily While matchedsamples were targeted and a certain level of success was realized with regard to theundergraduate students as far as age and gender dispersions the graduate samplewas more difficult to match as discussed below The average age was 20 for theThai undergraduates 19 for the US undergraduates There were 53 male Thaiundergraduates and 58 females and 31 male and 154 female US undergraduates(some completed surveys did not include a response selection for gender) Majors inthe Thai and US samples were not considered relevant because first majors changesecond workplace issues and organizational influences in full-time career positionsare not yet manifest and third cultural influences were the target of the research notcareer-specific workplace issues

Graduates were also targeted in the research The researchers primarily soughtindividuals who had at least three years of work experience in entry-level managerialpositions in business administration and public administration because these two roleswould predictably involve the implementation of established organizational policythrough administrative behaviors that involved subordinates as well as superiorsThus even though cultural influences on moral reasoning were the target of theresearch and not specific organizational values both business administration andpublic administration graduate respondents were targeted The average age was 34 forthe Thai graduates 31 for the US graduates There were 17 male Thai graduates and41 females and 22 male and 23 female US graduates (some surveys did not include aresponse selection for gender)

Prior to gathering data the primary researcher hired a Thai student at hisinstitution to translate the DIT2 into Thai The translated instrument was pilot testedwith students at a public Thai university in 2011 and based on student feedback on anexit survey during the pilot test it was determined that several linguistic and culturalcontextual adjustments needed to be made in the instrument The instrument was thensubmitted to a Thai translator who while not a certified Thai translator was a formallytrained English language expert who had completed English language translations forother international universities and corporations

Changes were implemented to the DIT2 and the instrument was again pilot tested in2014 at a major university in Thailand with 56 undergraduate students (nfrac14 56)After completing the instrument students were surveyed about its understandabilityand cultural relevance using topic statements about completing the instrument withserious intent understandability of written instructions ease of navigation of the

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

345

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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instrumentrsquos layout time allotted and linguistic and cultural relevance of the storytranslations A five-point Likert-type scale with response options ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree was used to tabulate scaled response data In all 85 percentstrongly or somewhat agreed that they took the questionnaire seriously In total56 percent strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the written instructions were clearand understandable with only 15 percent somewhat or strongly disagreeing In all33 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that the layout of theinstrument was easy to navigate while 43 percent disagreed Navigating the layouthowever did not affect the studentsrsquo responses because over 80 percent agreed stronglyor somewhat agreed that they had sufficient time to complete the instrument And61 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that the DIT2 stories were relevant to theirculture Only 8 percent disagreed somewhat or strongly that it was relevant to Thaiculture The findings revealed that the significant majority found that the translation wasunderstandable and that the story narratives were relevant to Thai culture As a resultit was concluded that the instrument could be effectively used in this research

Thai respondents were administered the Thai-version combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument in paper-pencil form The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and incompliance with the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements Adequate time was permittedand instructions were covered orally by the trained administrator The US respondentswere recruited from a Midwestern university and were asked to complete the combinedEnglish version DIT2-VSM survey in online form through Qualtrics Online SurveySolutions software Respondents were asked to access and complete the instrumentwithin a three-week time frame Data were downloaded from the Qualtrics software andanalysis commenced The questionnaire was administered voluntarily and in compliancewith the lead researcherrsquos IRB requirements All instructions were presented in writingand the respondents could return to the survey at a later time to complete it

Cronbachrsquos αrsquos for the Thai translation DIT2 pilot group (nfrac14 56) was 0538 and forthe aggregated test sample (Thai and US respondents nfrac14 403) was 0619 These αrsquosare below the orthodox rule of thumb 070 cutoff for acceptability However whileRest et al (1999) reported a Cronbachrsquos α for N2 at the story level of 081 for DIT2according to Bebeau and Thoma (2003 p 29) ldquoif your sample does not contain theentire range of educational levels (from Junior high to Graduate School) yourCronbach alpha is likely to be lowerrdquo Given that the samples included onlyundergraduates and graduates and further that the USA combined sample Cronbachrsquosα was 0662 the internal reliability of the DIT2 in these applications while not strong isconsidered acceptable

Hofstede and Minkov (2013) address the reliability of the VSM 2013 thus

As country level correlations differ from individual level correlations answers on questionsused to measure a country level dimension do not necessarily correlate across individualsA reliability test like Cronbachrsquos alpha should in this case not be based on individual scoresbut on country mean scores Obviously this presupposes data from a sufficient number ofcountries in practice at least ten For comparison across fewer countries the reliability of theVSM at the country level has to be taken for granted it can indirectly be shown throughthe validity of the scores in predicting dependent variables (p 9)

Data analysisRespondents in the sample groups were organized by educational level and thereforegrouped generally by age For the Thai graduates the average age was 34 For the USgraduates the average age was 31 The average age of the Thai undergraduates was 20

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

345

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

347

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

348

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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and for the US undergraduates the average age was 19 Moral reasoning scoresdemographic variables and psychological constructs were calculated from DIT2responses and six cultural dimensions were calculated from VSM 2013 responses Moralreasoning scores will be discussed first followed by cultural dimensions

Moral reasoning DIT2 scoresMoral reasoning at the three schema levels (personal interest maintaining norms andpost-conventional principled) are all significantly negatively correlated with each other( po0001) Personal interest is negatively related to maintaining norms rfrac14minus362nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000 and to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0495 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000Maintaining norms is negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) minus0347nfrac14 403 p frac14 0000 These correlations indicate that moral reasoning predominantly atone level reciprocally reduces moral reasoning at one or both of the other levels

There were significant differences at all three levels of moral reasoning ( po005)between Thai and the US respondents (see Table I) US respondents scoredsignificantly higher on upper level post-conventional principled (N2 score) moralreasoning (USA x frac14 2512 Thai x frac14 1958) and on the lower level personal interestmoral reasoning (USA x frac14 3177 Thai x frac14 2590) While the higher post-conventionalmean for the US respondents indicates that more US graduates and undergraduates arereasoning at the higher principles-based level than the Thai graduates andundergraduates (confirming the findings of previously discussed cross-culturalmoral reasoning research above) the higher US personal interest average scoreindicates that there is also a tendency for US respondents to reason more at the lowerself-serving level Thai respondents on the other hand consistently scored higher onthe maintaining norms level (Thai x frac14 3821 USA x frac14 3478) indicating a strongerinfluence of Thai societal norms and laws on their moral reasoning

Table II shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for graduates from bothnations US graduates had statistically significantly higher post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts (USA x frac14 3669Thai x frac14 1907) t(103)frac14minus6911 pfrac14 0000 Other reasoning level comparisons showedno statistically significant differences

Table III shows a comparison of moral reasoning scores just for undergraduatesfrom both nations US undergraduates had significantly higher personal interest scores(x frac14 3351) than Thai undergraduates (x frac14 2494) and Thai undergraduates hadsignificantly higher maintaining norms scores (Thai x frac14 3841 USA x frac14 3493)

Analysis of Thai graduates and undergraduates moral reasoning scores showedremarkable similarity Personal interest scores were less than three points different(grads x frac14 2769 undergrads x frac14 2494) Maintaining norms scores were even closer

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 171 2590 1221 093 minus4794 401 0000USA 232 3177 1207 079

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 171 3821 1073 082 2962 401 0003USA 232 3478 1200 079

Principled (N2 score) Thai 171 1958 1063 081 minus4284 401 0000USA 232 2512 1424 093

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IAggregated Thai

and US moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

345

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

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6 (P

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

347

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

348

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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(grads x frac14 3782 undergrads x frac14 3841) Post-conventional principled (N2) reasoningscores were almost identical (grads x frac14 1907 undergrads x frac14 199) These findingsare contrary to most DIT research studies that consistently find higher levels of post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning with higher levels of formal education(Bebeau and Thoma 2003 Rest 1986 Rest et al 1999)

On the other hand significant differences were found when comparing US graduatemoral reasoning scores to undergraduate scores (see Table IV) Graduates scoredsignificantly lower on personal interest scores and significantly higher on post-conventionalprincipled reasoning (N2) scores than undergraduates as would be expected with moreformal education Based on the significant differences in post-conventional principledreasoning scores among the US respondents there was an overall significant positivecorrelation ( po001) of education to moral reasoning rfrac14 0183 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Cultural dimension VSM 2013 scoresThe following is a discussion of the cultural dimension scores as measured by the VSM2013 followed by a discussion of the regression analysis to determine the variables that

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE mean

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 60 2769 1154 149USA 45 2450 1217 181

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 60 3782 1082 140USA 45 3414 1202 179

Principled (N2 score) Thai 60 1907 1123 145USA 45 3669 1491 222

Table IIThai and USgraduate moralreasoning scores

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Thai 111 2494 1250 119 minus6053 296 0000USA 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Thai 111 3841 1073 102 2962 296 0012USA 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Thai 111 1985 1033 098 minus4284 296 0081USA 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IIIThai and USundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

Reasoning level Nation n Mean SD SE Mean t df Sig (2-tailed)

Personal interest (stage 23) Grads 45 2450 1217 181 minus4695 230 0000Undergrads 187 3351 1141 083

Maintain norms (stage 4) Grads 45 3414 1202 179 minus0395 230 0694Undergrads 187 3493 1203 088

Principled (N2 score) Grads 45 3669 1491 222 6613 230 0000Undergrads 187 2233 1261 092

Note Significant at pfrac14 005

Table IVUS graduate andundergraduate moralreasoning scoresand t-test results

346

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

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Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

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correlate with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning The regressionanalysis included several variables measured by the DIT2 in addition to the six culturaldimensions measured by the VSM 2013 These additional variables include age genderpolitical liberalism (a measure of liberalism or conservatism) religious orthodoxy(a proxy measure for adherence to the strictures of religious dogma) and humanitarianliberalism (a measure of the consistency with which humanitarian decisions areselected in response to DIT questions) Table V shows a summary of the six culturaldimension scores measured by the VSM 2013 for each sample group The variables thatshowed statistically significant correlations with post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) will be discussed in the following sections

A multiple regression was run to predict post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning from age gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy humanitarianliberalism power distance orientation individualism vs collectivism orientationmasculinity vs femininity orientation uncertainty avoidance LTO vs short-termorientation and indulgence vs restraint orientation on the aggregated Thai andUS sample An aggregated sample was used for the regression analysis becauseldquothe dimensions measured by the VSM are based on country-level correlations betweenmean scores of country samplesrdquo (Hofstede and Minkov 2013 p 3)

The variable education was deleted from the regression analysis because of strongcollinearity with age Therefore the assumptions of linearity independence of errorshomoscedasticity unusual points and normality of residuals were met Regressionresults showed that the individual trait of age ( pfrac14 0079) and the cultural dimensionsof individualism vs collectivism ( pfrac14 0090) masculinity vs femininity ( pfrac14 0841) andindulgence vs restraint ( pfrac14 0312) were not statistically significant or were onlymarginally significant with post-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning scoresF(11 381)frac14 5568 po005 adj R2frac14 0114 As is standard practice these variableswere deleted from the final regression model shown in Table VI The individual traits of

Group PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO IVR

Thai grad 7792 5117 5408 5183 5258 5217Thai undergrads 5689 6450 4369 5167 5928 4797USA grad 9156 8656 5933 922 1678 6111USA undergrads 5676 6572 4644 4778 3067 6409

Table VVSM 2013 culturaldimension scoresfor Thai and US

respondents

Variable B SE β t Sig

Intercept 11577 3224 3591 0000Gender 2788 1381 0099 2018 0044Political liberalism 2353 0625 0189 3763 0000Religious orthodoxy minus0666 0245 minus0137 minus2722 0007Humanitarian liberalism 1580 0579 0133 2727 0007Power distance 0038 0013 0145 3002 0003Uncertainty avoidance minus0037 0010 minus0176 minus3585 0000Long- vs short-term orientation minus0026 0012 minus0108 minus2215 0027Notes B unstandardized regression coefficient SE standard error of the coefficient β standardizedcoefficient All significant at po005

Table VISummary of multipleregression analysis

347

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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T)

Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

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gender political liberalism religious orthodoxy and humanitarian liberalism and thecultural dimensions of power distance uncertainty avoidance and LTO vs short-termorientation statistically significantly predicted post-conventional principled moralreasoning (N2) F(7 386)frac14 7643 po005 adj R2frac14 0122

While the regression model shown in Table VI identifies the individual and culturalvariables that statistically significantly predicted the variances in post-conventionalprincipled (N2) moral reasoning scores for the aggregated samples the predictivestrengths are modest Closer examination of these variables in relation to thedisaggregated sample groups at the different levels of moral reasoning follows

AgeThe surprising similarity between Thai graduates and undergraduates in all three ofthe moral reasoning scores discussed previously indicates not only that education wasnot a predictor of higher levels of moral reasoning among Thai respondents but theregression analysis also showed that age was not a predictor However when looking atthe disaggregated samples the differences in moral reasoning levels among the USsamples were predicted by age and education level At the personal interest level ofmoral reasoning education was significantly negatively related to higher levels ofeducation rfrac14minus0333 pfrac14 0000 and at the post-conventional principled (N2) leveleducation was significantly related to moral reasoning rfrac14 0454 pfrac14 0000 There wasa small statistically significant positive correlation of age with higher level post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0297 nfrac14 231 pfrac14 0000

GenderWhile there were no significant gender differences detected within the aggregatednationality samples at any level of moral reasoning (personal interest maintainingnorms and post-conventional principled) nor among the US graduate orundergraduate samples there were differences within the Thai samples Amongthe Thai respondents there were no differences detected at the maintaining normsand the post-conventional principled moral reasoning levels however there was asignificant difference at the personal interest level At this level of reasoning the Thaimale mean score was 2851 and the female score was 2392 significant at pfrac14 005t(167)frac14 2450 pfrac14 0015 The statistical significance was accounted for more by theundergraduate Thai males (x frac14 2800) than their graduate male counterparts(x frac14 3012) t(109)frac14 2528 pfrac14 0013

Political liberalismThe DIT2 measures political liberalism by asking how an individual wouldcharacterize his or her political views on a five-point scale from very liberal (1) tovery conservative (5) There was a small but significant positive correlation of politicalliberalism with post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0130 nfrac14 397pfrac14 0009 Also there was a statistically significant higher level of politicalconservatism (5frac14 very conservative) in the aggregated graduate and undergraduateUS sample (x frac14 299) than in the aggregated Thai sample (x frac14 218) t(395)frac14minus8145pfrac14 0000 Closer examination of un-aggregated samples showed that while there wereno significant differences between Thai graduates (x frac14 219) and undergraduates(x frac14 217) nor between US graduates (x frac14 293) and undergraduates (x frac14 301) withregard to political liberalism US respondents were statistically significantly moreconservative than Thai respondents t(395)frac14minus8145 pfrac14 0000

348

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Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

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Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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6 (P

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of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

IJSSP3656

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July

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6 (P

T)

Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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July

201

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Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

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July

201

6 (P

T)

Religious orthodoxyReligious orthodoxy is measured in the DIT2 on a scale from 0 to 9 with 9 being veryadherent the strictures of religious edicts and dogma in relation to moral decisionmaking While gender did not play a significant role in the differences foundbetween Thai and US respondents as far as religious orthodoxy nationality didshow significant differences There was a statistically significant greater tendencyfor US respondents to manifest religious orthodoxy in their moral analyses(x frac14 458) than was demonstrated by their Thai counterparts (x frac14 185)t(401)frac14minus1156 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significant directcorrelation between religious orthodoxy and maintaining norms moral reasoningrfrac14 0143 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0004 This would be expected given the nature of religiousorthodoxy just noted above However there was also a small significant correlationbetween religious orthodoxy and personal interest moral reasoning rfrac14 0109nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0029

Humanitarian liberalismHumanitarian liberalism is a measure of the consistency with which humanitariandecisions are selected in response to the DIT questions regarding preferred actions inthe five dilemmas and the measure serves as a proxy for a humanitarian liberalperspective on moral issues A respondentrsquos score on this measure can range from 0(no matches) to 5 US respondents scored statistically significantly higher on thismeasure (x frac14 206) than the Thai respondents (x frac14 174) t(401)frac14minus2939 pfrac14 0003There were significant correlations between humanitarian liberalism with all threelevels of moral reasoning The correlations were positive with personal interestreasoning rfrac14 0110 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0028 and with post-conventional principledreasoning (N2) rfrac14 0140 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0005 The correlation was negative with themaintaining norms level of reasoning rfrac14minus0273 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0000

Power distance (PDI)Between the Thai graduates and undergraduates power distance (PDI)was statistically significantly different Thai graduates scored significantly higheron the PDI index (x frac14 7792) than did Thai undergraduates (x frac14 5689)t(169)frac14 2711 pfrac14 0007 Similarly there was a significant difference found in PDIscores between US graduates and undergraduates The US graduates scoredsignificantly higher on the PDI index (x frac14 9156) than US undergraduates(x frac14 5676) t(230)frac14 4266 pfrac14 0000 There was a small statistically significantcorrelation between PDI and post-conventional principled moral reasoningrfrac14 0136 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0006

Individualism vs collectivism (IDV)While there was no significant difference in IDV detected between the aggregated Thaiand US samples through the regression model and none detected in a t-test comparisonof Thai undergraduates to US undergraduates there was a significant differencedetected in IDV between Thai graduates (x frac14 5117) and US graduates (x frac14 8656)t(103)frac14minus3993 pfrac14 0000 There was a small positive correlation betweenindividualism and post-conventional principled moral reasoning rfrac14 0118 nfrac14 403pfrac14 0018 This positive correlation is supported by Hofstedersquos (2001) findings thatindividualistic cultures tend to support equal basic liberties for all citizens more thanhighly collectivist societies

349

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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July

201

6 (P

T)

Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

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630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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July

201

6 (P

T)

of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

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630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

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rsity

of

Ala

bam

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Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

IJSSP3656

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rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Masculinity vs femininity (MAS)There were no significant differences found in the MAS index either through themultiple regression analysis or in several t-test comparisons Also MAS did notsignificantly correlate with any of the three levels of moral reasoning

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)Following the regression analysis that identified a statistically significant difference inthe uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAI) t-tests were used to analyze males andfemales in the sample groups to identify where the differences lie Among the Thaisamples while there were no significant differences in UAI index scores found in thecombined Thai undergraduate-graduate sample and no significant difference amongthe Thai undergraduates there was a statistically significant difference found in theThai graduate sample Among the males and females in the Thai graduate samplemale Thai graduates had significantly less aversion to uncertainty (x frac14 2441)compared to their female counterparts who had a mean UAI index score of 6695t(56)frac14minus2509 pfrac14 0015

Among the US samples there was no significant difference found in the graduateUAI scores but a large significant difference was found among the undergraduate UAIscores While the mean UAI score for male undergraduates was 1742 theundergraduate female mean score was significantly higher at 5481 t(183)frac14minus3232pfrac14 0001 As would be expected uncertainty avoidance correlated positively withmaintaining norms moral reasoning rfrac14 0117 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0019 and negatively withpost-conventional principled (N2) moral reasoning rfrac14minus0163 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0001These findings seem to indicate that females are more affected by uncertainty thanmales but while this seems the case more with working Thai females after graduationit seems to be the younger undergraduate females with higher uncertainty avoidancetendencies in the USA

LTO vs short-term orientationt-Test comparisons of the two nationalities showed that Thai respondents had astatistically significant higher mean LTO index (x frac14 5693) compared to the USrespondents (x frac14 2797) t(401)frac14 5364 pfrac14 0000 Similar LTO index scores werereported by Hofstede (2001) Thailand (x frac14 56) and USA (x frac14 29) Correlation analysisfound that higher LTO index scores were significantly negatively related to post-conventional principled (N2) reasoning rfrac14minus0105 nfrac14 403 pfrac14 0034 Reasoning moreat the personal interest andor maintaining norms levels reciprocally reducesengagement in post-conventional principled reasoning

Indulgence vs restraint orientation (IVR)While the regression analysis on the aggregated Thai and USA combined sample didnot show IVR as a significant predictor of post-conventional principled (N2) moralreasoning because of the close relationship of the LTO with the social value of restraint(Hofstede et al 2010) t-tests were used to analyze possible differences between thesample groups on IVR Analysis revealed that the US aggregated graduate andundergraduate sample had a statistically significant higher IVR (x frac14 6351) than theaggregated Thai sample (x frac14 4944) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030 And while there wereno significant differences found between US graduates and undergraduates asignificant difference was found between Thai graduates (x frac14 4944) and Thaiundergraduates (x frac14 6391) t(401)frac14minus2172 pfrac14 0030

350

IJSSP3656

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630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

Dow

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630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Discussion and recommendationsConsistently strong maintaining norms scores among Thai respondents compared toUS scores supports previous research (Hofstede 2001) that emphasized a pronouncedtendency for citizens of Thailand to support collective social mores norms and lawsmore strongly than citizens in many individualist Western countries (see discussion ofLTO below) The research shows that there are several factors that correlate with thisdominance of maintaining norms reasoning A strong LTO supports status quothinking according to Hofstede et al (2010) and would therefore reciprocally reduce anindividualrsquos engagement in post-conventional principled reasoning Correlationanalysis indeed found that higher LTO index scores were significantly negativelyrelated to post-conventional principled reasoning in the Thai samples It is thereforereasonable to conclude that the Thai LTO supports strong reasoning at themaintaining norms level and less at the post-conventional principled reasoning level

The lower indulgence vs restraint (IVR) score for the Thai samples indicates anorientation more toward restraint than the US samples Indulgence supports reasoningmore at the personal interest level as was found in the US samples But indulgencealso supports desires for individual rights Additionally the lower IVR score for theThai graduates indicates an orientation more toward restraint than their younger Thaiundergraduate counterparts Perhaps this difference derives in part from working in ahierarchical authoritarian environment

Formal education does not advance Thais beyond the maintaining norms level ashas been demonstrated in DIT research in other Western cultures Cultural dimensionssuch as the Thai LTO and restraint orientation support decision making based onmaintaining the social order and higher power distance perspectives support attitudesabout respecting established authority and not disrupting the status quo

The preponderance of Buddhist believers in Thailand likely also plays a role inpredominant Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level In Buddhism the conceptof majjhimā pat

˙ipadā or ldquothe middle wayrdquo refers to a path of moderation between

various extremes eg the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification orausterity This is the noble path to achieve nirvana (Harvey 2007 Soka GakkaiInternational 2001) People sometimes misunderstand the middle way concept to meanto compromise in everything It is true that Thai people are inclined to avoidconfrontation through compromise and the consideration of the feelings of others andin doing so refer to the middle way However in the cultural perspective Hallingerand Kantamara (2001) state that ldquopeople act on feelings more than on logic in Thai tolsquounderstandrsquo each other is to lsquoenter each otherrsquos heartsrsquordquo (p 213) When conflict arisesthey attempt to employ negotiation and compromise to achieve win-win situationstaking care that people not lose face In a hierarchical society such as Thailand peoplewho are in higher positions are respected and obliged by their subordinatesThai vocabulary presents this relationship as Bhun Khun which is often construed asonersquos required forbearance from expressing onersquos ideas and opinions to onersquossupervisors or bosses (Burn and Thongprasert 2005) It may be that these religious andcultural constructs together support behavior in people to acquiesce and remaincompliant to perceived norms and dictates of authority figures in society instead ofusing personal cognitive initiative to challenge such norms and dictates Thisacquiescence can result in moral myopia

Singhapakdi et al (2008) surveyed managers enrolled in executive MBA programs(non-degree graduate programs) from eight public and five private universities inThailand Their research focussed on the respondentrsquos ability to perceive the existence

351

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

of an ethical problem in everyday business situations They postulated that moralsensitivity was indirectly related to the influence of moral relativism on the respondentTheir research confirmed that relativism (the belief that the context of a situationdictates the ethicality of the action(s) taken) significantly influence the ability of peopleto perceive an ethical problem On the other hand their findings confirmed thatidealism (the belief that certain immutable moral principles should apply in allsituations regardless of context) positively influences perceived importance of ethicsand onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem James Rest (Rest and Narvaez 1979)characterized onersquos ability to perceive an ethical problem as moral sensitivity

Relativistic beliefs of right and wrong perpetuated by a status quo moral sensibilitymay provide an insight into the higher maintaining norms scores for the Thai samplesfound in this research According to Rest et al (1999 p 41) ldquoat the maintainingnorms level conventions are inviolate and the last stand against anarchyupholding convention defines the moral for conventional moralityrdquo Conversely atthe post-conventional principled level rights and duties ldquofollow from the moral purposebehind the conventions not as at the conventional level from de facto normsrdquo (p 41)Further investigation into the prevalence of maintaining norms moral reasoning inThai society may also provide insights about the prevalence of and acquiescence topublic and private sector corruption that permeates Thai society

Indeed a recent study conducted under the auspices of the Office of the AuditorGeneral of Thailand (Suntharanurak nd) in which 115 respondents (of 155) fromseveral of Thailandrsquos anti-corruption agencies were surveyed about the state ofcorruption in Thailand found that 4435 percent believed that the root causeof corruption in Thailand was derived from culture customs and habitsOver 75 percent of the respondents in that study ranked corruption in public sectorprocurement contracts as the greatest probability This would seem to indicate that thepublic administration sector of Thai society is a worthy target for more research aboutthe cultural influences on bribe taking and receiving and increased educational effortsfocussed on ethical reasoning rather than simply prescriptive ldquodorsquosrdquo and proscriptiveldquodonrsquotsrdquo Research using the DIT has shown that interventions designed to teach moralreasoning through dilemma analysis and discussion can stimulate moral developmentand have indicated a moderate effect size (Thoma 2014)

Therefore it is reasonable to recommend that policy makers in Thailand specificallyat the recently created National Ethics Assembly and the National Anti-CorruptionCommission mandate that all institutions of higher education provide instruction inethical reasoning that teaches students how to use a framework for ethical decisionmaking Recent initiatives undertaken by Thai governmental agencies still focus ondefining and enforcing ethical and moral standards for public officials (Bhromsuthi2015) without providing education about how to think through ethical dilemmas so asto arrive at just decisions The National Anti-Corruption Commission partners with theuniversity network in sharing ideas on how to fight corruption To find practical andeffective solutions the commission should provide case studies and lessons learnedfrom contemporary corruption cases to aid universities in creating effective curriculaas well as invite scholars to conduct more research in finding solutions suitable for aThai context

In addition a student or youth network supporting anti-corruption effortsis also important The establishment of this network would provide a chance forstudents to exercise what they have learned from classes The United NationsDevelopment Programme has launched Advancing Anti-Corruption Efforts in

352

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Thailand ndash A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (AAA) project (UNDP Thailand nd) thataims to fight corruption in Thailand A Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Networkcomprises a main part of this program and has made significant progressThe government should embrace and support this network integrating it into along-range educational policy

The education mandate described above should also be extended to public sectoremployee training The requirement to teach moral reasoning in higher education is notnew Business schools throughout the world that are accredited by the Association forthe Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) have been required toinstitute ethical decision-making education since the AACSB standard was firstrecommended shortly after the Enron scandal (AACSB International 2004) andmandated shortly thereafter (AACSB International 2007)

Additionally research should be conducted to investigate if and how ethics iscurrently taught in Thai universities Wilhelm published research from such a study ofthe top-50 American business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics education in 2005 andfound that the institutions reviewed were quite consistent in approaching ethicseducation through the use of an ethical decision-making framework and case analysesDo extant ethics education programs in Thai institutions engage students in decision-making analysis or simply prescribe ldquogoodrdquo behaviors and proscribe ldquobadrdquo behaviors

Given that nearly 95 percent of Thais are Buddhists the National Office of Buddhismin Thailand should coordinate with the more than 33000 temples (and theirapproximately 300000 monks) nationwide to promote an anti-corruption campaign byemphasizing that all individuals in Thai society must practice conscious awareness ofprecept no 2 not taking the not-given and the concept of Karma (corruption creates badKarma and ultimately results in suffering and stress) in all daily transactional activity

And to encourage social sanctioning the public must be provided with detailedinformation on the severe effects of corruption for example hindrance of nationaldevelopment decreased productivity unfair competition that hurts consumers andmarginalization of the poor It can be argued that in collective societies people aregreatly concerned with their positions in related groups and communities acceptanceby other members is crucial In contrast rejection and avoidance by group members isconsidered punishment As a collective society Thailand can employ a socialsanctioning strategy as a forceful tool in combating corruption

US respondents in this research study on the other hand do reason more at thehigher post-conventional principled level but also more at the lower personal interestlevel of moral reasoning These tendencies are supported by data in this research thatshows formal education to have a greater impact on US respondents The strongerhumanitarian liberalism ideals held by US respondents supports higher level moralreasoning as does US individualist orientation Individualistic beliefs present in the USsamples mirror beliefs of equal basic liberties for all principles of post-conventionalprincipled moral reasoning Data also show that US respondents have both a shorter-term orientation and a more self-indulgent orientation While both of these culturaldimensions may indeed support more reasoning at the self-serving personal interestlevel these orientations can also strengthen idealistic beliefs in individual rights for allcitizens now Future research similar to the present study but with the inclusion of adichotomous variable of prior ethics education could potentially shed light on thedifferences in American studentsrsquo levels of moral reasoning discussed above

These research findings while suggesting some interesting insights into howculture affects moral decision making have also generated additional questions

353

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

Dow

nloa

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rsity

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Ala

bam

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Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

of

Ala

bam

a at

Tus

calo

osa

At 1

630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Is Thai reasoning at the maintaining norms level consistent across other segments of Thaipopulation Does the preponderance of Buddhist beliefs consistently and significantlyaffect this tendency toward status quo moral reasoning While US respondents do indeedreason at higher levels of moral reasoning than their Thai counterparts why do they alsodemonstrate more self-serving motivation in their moral reasoning How can moralreasoning education be better designed and integrated into both cultures

LimitationsThis study has several limitations While the researchers attempted to select closelymatched samples among Thai and US respondents one limitation was that the number ofrespondents in each of the graduate career categories (public administration and businessadministration) were limited in number and therefore not distinguishable statistically bycareer category and were combined into single ldquobusiness administratorrdquo or ldquopublicadministratorrdquo categories A second limitation was that the combined DIT2-VSM surveyinstrument was lengthy and the time needed for completion was longer than manyrespondents were willing to devote There were a significant number of incompleteprotocols that had to be discarded thus reducing the sample sizes The number of graduatefull-time workers surveyed is inadequate to generalize the results on the relationshipbetween their ethical attitudes (public administrators and business administrators) andHofstede and Minkovrsquos six cultural dimensions beyond inferences based on the findings

It would seem reasonable to shorten the DIT from five stories to four or even threestories and to replicate the survey among a larger group of Thai public service andbusiness administration professionals The DIT is designed to be adjusted in just sucha manner While sacrificing some robustness by reducing the number of stories used inthe DIT by choosing three of four stories which had strong internal reliability scores asmeasured by individual Cronbachrsquos αrsquos the best combination of stories for a shorterversion DIT can be chosen Another adjustment could be to have respondents completethe DIT and the VSM 2013 at separate times thus reducing the fatigue factor Finallysince the researchers planned this as a first iteration of a broader study of Thai moraldecision making these findings can be used to generate more interest in this type ofresearch among public service officials and educational administrators and otheracademic researchers to increase the size of sample groups in future research

References

AACSB International (2004) ldquoEthics education in business schools report of the EthicsEducation Task Force to AACSB Internationalrsquos Board of Directorsrdquo AACSBInternational Tampa FL available at wwwaacsbedu~mediaAACSBPublicationsresearch-reportsethics-educationashx (accessed November 4 2014)

AACSB International (2007) ldquoEligibility procedures and accreditation standards for businessaccreditationrdquo AACSB International Tampa FL January 31 available at wwwaacsbeduaccreditationprocessdocumentsAACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan07pdf (accessedNovember 4 2014)

Bangprapa M and Sattaburuth A (2015) ldquoNRC plans lsquonational morals councilrsquo ethics body tocheck public office-holdersrdquo (The) Bangkok Post January 1 available at wwwbangkokpostcomprint453546 (accessed January 17 2015)

Bebeau MJ and Thoma SJ (2003) Guide for DIT-2 Center for the Study of EthicalDevelopment University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN

354

IJSSP3656

Dow

nloa

ded

by U

nive

rsity

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630

27

July

201

6 (P

T)

Bhromsuthi K (2015) ldquoOpinions divided on ethics assemblyrdquo The Nation March 9 available atwwwnationmultimediacompoliticsOpinions-divided-on-Ethics-Assembly-30255608html(accessed November 4 2015)

Burn J and Thongprasert N (2005) ldquoA culture-based model for strategic implementation ofvirtual education deliveryrdquo International Journal of Education and Development Using ICTVol 1 No 1 pp 32-52

Christie P Kwon I Stoeberl P and Baumhart R (2003) ldquoA cross-cultural comparison of ethicalattitudes of business managers India Korea and the United Statesrdquo Journal of BusinessEthics Vol 46 pp 263-287

Colby A and Kohlberg L (1987) The Measurement of Moral Judgment Theoretical Foundationsand Research Validation Vol 1 Cambridge University Press New York NY

Elm DR Kennedy EJ and Lawton L (2001) ldquoDeterminants of moral reasoning sex roleorientation gender and academic factorsrdquo Business and Society Vol 40 No 3 pp 241-265

Hallinger P and Kantamara P (2001) ldquoLearning to lead global changes in local culturesdesigning a computer-based simulation for Thai school leadersrdquo Journal of EducationalAdministration Vol 39 No 3 pp 197-220

Harvey P (2007) ldquolsquoFreedom of the Willrsquo in the Light of Theravāda Buddhist teachingsrdquoJournal of Buddhist Ethics Vol 14 pp 35-98

Ho Y and Lin C (2008) ldquoCultural values and cognitive moral development of accounting ethicsa cross-cultural studyrdquo Social Behavior and Personality Vol 36 No 7 pp 883-892

Hofstede G (1980) Cultures Consequences International Differences in Work-Related ValuesSage Publications Beverly Hills CA

Hofstede G (1997) Cultures and Organizations Software of the Mind McGraw Hill London

Hofstede G (2001) Cultures Consequences Comparing Values Behaviors Institutions andOrganizations Across Nations 2nd ed Sage Publications Beverly Hills CA

Hofstede G and Bond MH (1988) ldquoThe confucius connection from cultural roots to economicgrowthrdquo Organizational Dynamic Vol 16 No 4 pp 4-21

Hofstede G and Minkov M (2013) ldquoValues Survey Module 2013 manualrdquo available atwwwgeerthofstedeeuvsm2013 (accessed November 4 2014)

Hofstede G Hofstede J and Minkov M (2010) Cultures and Organizations Software of theMind McGraw Hill New York NY

Hughes J (2007) ldquoBuddhist bioethicsrdquo in Ashcroft RE et al (Eds) Principles of Health CareEthics 2nd ed John Wiley amp Sons Ltd Hoboken NJ pp 127-134

Kaufman W (2005) ldquoKarma rebirth and the problem of evilrdquo Philosophy East and West Vol 55No 1 pp 15-32

Kohlberg L (1969) ldquoStage and sequence the cognitive developmental approach to socializationrdquoin Goslin D (Ed)Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research Rand McNally ChicagoIL pp 347-480

Kohlberg L (1981) Essays on Moral Development The Philosophy of Moral DevelopmentHarper amp Row New York NY

Kohlberg L and Candee D (1984) ldquoThe relationship between moral judgment to moral actionrdquoin Kohlberg L (Ed) Essays on Moral Development The Nature and Validity of MoralStages Vol 2 Harper amp Row San Francisco CA pp 498-581

Laohong K (2015) ldquoCorruption fight takes centre stagerdquo (The) Bangkok Post Post PublishingPCL January 6 available at wwwbangkokpostcomnewsgeneral454617corruption-fight-takes-centre-stage (accessed January 6 2015)

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630

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July

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6 (P

T)

Lin C and Ho Y (2009) ldquoCultural influences on moral reasoning capacities of purchasingmanagers a comparison across the Taiwan Straitrdquo Social Behavior and Personality Vol 37No 2 pp 203-208

Minkov M (2007) What Makes Us Different and Similar A New Interpretation of the WorldValues Survey and Other Cross-Cultural Data Klasika i Stil Sofia

Piaget J (1965) The Moral Development of the Child Free Press New York NYReis N Ferreira M Santos J and Serra F (2013) ldquoA bibliographic study of the cultural models

in international business researchrdquo BASE ndash Revista de Administraccedilatildeo e Contabilidade daUnisinos Vol 10 No 4 pp 340-354 (accessed June 10 2015)

Rest JR (1986) Moral Development Advances in Research and Theory Praeger PublishersNew York NY

Rest JR and Narvaez D (1979) Development in Judging Moral Issues University of MinnesotaPress Minneapolis MN

Rest JR Narvaez D Bebeau M and Thoma SJ (1999) Postconventional Moral ThinkingA Neo-Kohlbergian Approach Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Mahwah NJ

Singhapakdi A Gopinath M Marta J and Carter L (2008) ldquoAntecedents and consequences ofperceived importance of ethics in marketing situations a study of Thai businesspeoplerdquoJournal of Business Ethics Vol 81 pp 887-904

Soka Gakkai International (2001) ldquoThe middle wayrdquo Soka Gakkai International Tokyo available atwwwsgiorgbuddhismbuddhist-conceptsthe-middle-wayhtml (accessed January 15 2015)

Sondergaard M (1994) ldquoHofstedersquos consequences a study of reviews citations and replicationsrdquoOrganization Studies Vol 15 No 3 pp 447-456

Suntharanurak S (nd) ldquoEvaluation of current situation of fraud and corruption in ThailandrdquoOffice of the Auditor General of Thailand Bangkok available at wwwgooglecomurlsafrac14tamprctfrac14jampqfrac14ampesrcfrac14sampsourcefrac14webampcdfrac144ampvedfrac140CDMQFjADampurlfrac14http3A2F2Fwwwcnaogovcn2Fcnao_asosai2Fdownload2Fpresentation-2nd2FCountry2520Report2520-2520SAI2520Thailandpptampeifrac14BYSMVaOibBsfxoAT-nZmYBampusgfrac14AFQjCNFW2DNbny08ynA4d8YYXmVwsLwI4wampsig2frac14Pl2DV-id_a-3CHFy8K15Qg(accessed June 23 2015)

Thoma S (2014) ldquoMeasuring moral thinking from a neo-Kohlbergian perspectiverdquo Theory andResearch in Education pp 1-19 available at tresagepubcomcontentearly201408071477878514545208 (accessed November 4 2015)

Thorne L (2000) ldquoThe development of two measures to assess accountantsrsquo prescriptive anddeliberative moral reasoningrdquo Behavioral Research in Accounting Vol 12 pp 139-170

Trevino LK den Nieuwenboer NA and Kish-Gephart JJ (2014) ldquo(Un)ethical behaviorin organizationsrdquo The Annual Review of Psychology Vol 65 pp 635-660 available athttppsychannualreviewsorg

Trompenaars F and Hampden-Turner C (1997) Riding the Waves of Culture UnderstandingDiversity in Global Business McGraw-Hill New York NY

Tsui J and Windsor C (2001) ldquoSome cross-cultural evidence on ethical reasoningrdquo Journal ofBusiness Ethics Vol 31 pp 143-150

UNDP Thailand (nd) United Nations Development Programme Bangkok available at wwwthundporgcontentthailandenhomeoperationsprojectsdemocratic_governanceanti-corruption_projecthtml (accessed November 4 2014)

Vijver F and Leung K (1997) Methods and Data Analysis for Cross-cultural ResearchSage Thousand Oaks CA

Wright DS (2004) ldquoCritical questions towards a naturalized concept of karma in BuddhismrdquoJournal of Buddhist Ethic Vol 12 pp 77-93

356

IJSSP3656

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630

27

July

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6 (P

T)

Further readingBond M Leung K Au A Tong K de Carrasquel S Murakami F Yamaguchi S Bierbrauer G

Singelis T Broar M Noen F Lambert S Ferreira M Noels K Van Bavel J Safadar SZhang J Chen L Solcova I and Stetovska I (2004) ldquoCulture-level dimensions of socialaxioms and their correlates across 41 countriesrdquo Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology Vol 35No 5 pp 548-570

Cochran WG (1963) Sampling Techniques 2nd ed John Wiley and Sons Inc New York NYHolmes H and Tangtongtavy S (1997) Working with the Thais A Guide to Managing in

Thailand White Lotus Co Ltd BangkokJeffrey C (1993) ldquoEthical development of accounting students non-accounting business

students and liberal arts studentsrdquo Issues in Accounting Education Vol 8 No 1 pp 86-96Wilhelm W (2005) ldquoA review of the top fifty US business schoolsrsquo approaches to ethics

educationrdquo Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives Vol 31 No 1 pp 203-217

Corresponding authorWilliam Joseph Wilhelm can be contacted at wwilhelmindstateedu

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article please visit our websitewwwemeraldgrouppublishingcomlicensingreprintshtmOr contact us for further details permissionsemeraldinsightcom

357

Culturaldimensionsand moralreasoning

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by U

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6 (P

T)