Is moral intensity applicable to natural environment issues?

Abstract

Previous research about moral intensity has mostly centered on ethical issues related to people, with relatively less exploration of ethical decisions related to the natural environment. Therefore, this study investigated perceptions toward three aspects of business environmental ethics, including natural ecology definition, business ecological role and business environmental protection; as well as the relationship among three aspects of business environmental ethics and moral intensity was investigated. The authors used the data collected from a survey of staffs, trainees, and trainers of a consulting and training institute, which was established more than 40 years ago. After gathering 448 effective responses, we used structural equation model to test the hypotheses. Results showed that moral intensity may be more prone to teleology and therefore cannot be fully supported in this study to apply to natural environment issues. After all, directions for further research and implications for practice were provided.

Managing Biodiversity Through Stakeholder Involvement: Why, Who, and for What Initiatives?

“…First, the impact of human activities on biodiversity loss is one of the main issues of sustainable development and the protection of natural habitats is increasingly considered to be an ethical imperative for decision-makers, especially in natural resource-based economic activities (e.g., SCBD 2010;GRI 2007;Bonini and Oppenheim 2010). The moral intensity of biodiversity issues (Jones 1991;Chieh-Wen and Ming-Chia 2011) requires companies to demonstrate their commitment in this area to stakeholders and to disclose more specific information on the measures implemented (Jones and Solomon 2013;Rimmel and Jonäll 2013;VanLiempd and Busch 2013). Second, institutional pressures to protect biodiversity have increased over the last few years (Jones and Solomon 2013;SCBD 2010).…”