Managerial Morality and Philanthropic DecisionMak

Authors: ChengLi Huang JuLan Tsai

Publish Date: 2014/09/02

Volume: 132, Issue: 4, Pages: 795-811

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Abstract

While previous authors have broadly examined the motivations and outcomes of the philanthropic activities of organizations the present study extends Miska et al’s J Bus Ethics 1–12 2013 rationalistic approach to examine the degree to which managerial philanthropic decisionmaking behaviour is dominated by morality This study also tackles the question of whether this relationship is moderated by the strength of the geographical proximity and amount of the donation within an agency framework To probe the radical agency problem and the effect of intervention an alternative heuristic scenario is also developed to provide evidence that managers under the same moral level show significant differences in donation intention under a variety of agency conditions The results indicate a significant difference between the existence and nonexistence of agency problems in charitable decisionmaking by managers high in idealism and relativism however at the same time philanthropic behaviour is intertwined with various dilemmarelated contexts These findings bridge the gap in the literature on ethics and corporate social responsibility and challenge current thinking on corporate governance mechanisms in this area by offering researchers and practitioners an integrated model that responds to a strong sceptical bias or a high premium placed on moralityYou are a donation project manager and acting as a junior project manager with a growing industry reputation for managing donation projects You have recently received an informal job offer from another company involving a promotion and substantial salary increase and it will be helpful for the offer if you make a decision to continue the philanthropic programme In addition all information on the generosity of the offer geographical proximity donation amount and donation purpose are known only to the donation project manager and will never be published3 You are a donation project manager and acting as a senior project manager with a solid industry reputation for managing donation projects over a number of years The decision to discontinue the philanthropic programme will not damage your wellestablished reputation In addition donation information is available to the public to ensure that stakeholders’ interests are met4Your company decides to allocate 1 of its current profit 10 of its current profit to 200 disadvantaged students in South Africa 50 disadvantaged students in Taiwan to support educational activities and express their social responsibilities and concerns These charitable donations also offer some tax advantages Open image in new window

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