Ethics and Personality: Empathy and Narcissism as Moderators of Ethical Decision Making in Business Students

Many studies have reported that business students have been more apt to act in self-interested ways when compared to their counterparts in other academic fields. Beginning with the premise that ethical behavior derives in part from personality characteristics, the authors tested whether (a) measures of an empathetic or narcissistic personality predicted self-reported ethical decision making in business students and (b) individual business majors have a tendency to exhibit these personality traits. First, findings demonstrate that empathetic and narcissistic personality traits are significant predictors of ethical decision making. Second, they found that finance majors showed a marked and statistically significant tendency to be less empathetic and more narcissistic as compared to other business students.