Entrepreneurial Ethical Decision Making

Abstract

This chapter looks into determinants and contexts that influence an entrepreneur's decision where ethical judgment is required. By looking into relevant theories and research in the field of ethical decision making, concepts of greed and power and their influence on ethical decision making, cognitive moral development, individual psychological characteristics, ethical ideologies, organizational, environmental, industrial, and moral intensity are discussed through relevant models. The aim is to provide a perspective on understanding ethical decision making in the entrepreneurial context by forming a bridge between our understanding of individual moral psychology and entrepreneurial decision making. This discussion further augments the existing research on entrepreneurship and SME literature within the ethical decision-making context. What is presented in this chapter provides an alternative understanding of reasoning when examining entrepreneurial behaviour.