Moral disengagement and ethical decision-making among medical workers

ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between moral disengagement and ethical decision-making among medical workers and the moderating role of organizational commitment in the relationship.MethodsStratified cluster sampling method was used to investigate medical workers from five large general hospitals in Jiangxi province.SPSS 16.0 was used to perform statistical analyses and to test study hypotheses.ResultsThe average scores of moral disengagement,ethical identity,ethical judgement,ethical intention,and organizational commitment was 88.10±16.78,18.53±3.47,13.47±3.58,30.43±9.95,and 67.28±8.57,respectively,among the medical workers.Moral disengagement and ethical judgment were significantly different among the medical workers with different education level(P<0.05).Ethical identity and judgement were significantly different among the medical workers at various age(P<0.05).The correlation coefficients between moral disengagement and ethical identity,ethical judgement,and ethical intention were-0.349,0.301,and 0.211,respectively.Organizational commitment acted as a moderator between moral disengagement and ethical identity,and had direct effects on ethical judgement and intention.ConclusionMoral disengagement is correlated with ethical decision-making significantly among medical workers,and organizational commitment may act as a moderator between moral disengagement and ethical decision-making.