Clarity Under Pressure: A Structural Model of Moral Stability Under Entrepreneurial Pressure

Entrepreneurial leadership unfolds under uncertainty, time pressure, and personal attribution of responsibility. Business ethics research intensively examines normative models of responsible leadership and the mechanisms of moral failure; it leaves open which inner structures stabilise moral judgment under real high-pressure conditions. Stress and behavioural-ethics studies show in parallel that cognitive processing narrows under load and that moral aspects recede in economically framed decisions. This article develops the model Clarity Under Pressure: moral stability as the result of an integrated decision architecture. Three interdependent levels form its scaffold — cognitive clarity as the precondition of reflective information processing, Stoic control orientation as normative self-structuring that decouples integrity from outcome, and meaning orientation as an existential framing that relativises short-term success and threat logics. By connecting stress research, virtue ethics, and meaning approaches, the model shifts the discussion from normative demands on leadership toward a structural analysis of moral decision stability under uncertainty. A testable architecture with mediation and moderation pathways, together with a structured research agenda, completes the contribution.