Affiliations: [a] Department of Human Ressources and Organization, Professor of business ethics, École des sciences de la gestion – UQAM, 315, Ste-Catherine Est Street, Montréal (Québec) H2X 3X2, Canada
| [b] Excelia La Rochelle business school - centre de recherche - CRIIM 102 rue de coureilles, 17000 la Rochelle, France
| [c] Aix-Marseille Université – IAE, Chemin de la Quille - Puyricard - CS30063, 13089 Aix-en-Provence cedex 2 France
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Benoit Cherré, Ph.D., Department of Human Ressources and Organization, Professor of
business ethics, École des sciences de la gestion – UQAM, 315, Ste-Catherine Est Street, Montréal
(Québec) H2X 3X2, Canada. Tel.: +1 514 14a87 3000; E-mail: cherre.benoit@uqam.ca.
Abstract: This paper presents a theoretical analysis based of virtue ethics. We examine the individual internal predispositions related to non-virtuous behavior in the context of an ethical dilemma. For Aristotle, the virtuous state of being requires certain dispositions, but the difficult context of a “genuine dilemma” can generate interference and obstacles to achieving a virtuous state. The genuine dilemma is a symptomatic situation that disrupts our ethical identity by the potential biases that affect our personality traits and moral acts. These disturbances cause a phenomenon described by philosophers as “akrasia”. We propose that this “weakness of will” influences the ethical decision-making process, thereby leading to non-virtuous acts. Within the empirical literature, we identify three types of disturbances that feed akrasia: bounded ethicality, denial, and moral cowardice. These ethical biases disrupt one’s moral conscience by moving the individual away from the pursuit of virtue. Understanding these ethical errors contributes to enhancing ethical decision-making models, especially in terms of examining the failure of one’s will to act according to one’s values. We propose a conceptual model that explains non-virtuous attitudes to ethical dilemmas in management.
