Cross-cultural ethics: A study of cognitive moral development and moral maturity of United States and Japanese expatriate managers in Taiwan and Taiwanese managers

Globalization has facilitated cross-border business activities and the interaction of people from diverse cultures. As more firms now operate internationally, ethical issues tend to increase, and thus managers nowadays face more complicated situations that challenge their ability to reason morally. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have increasingly realized that different ethical standards across countries and cultures may cause the failure of their international operations. Understanding such differences and thus enabling global firms to prepare their expatriate managers for overseas assignments is of critical importance in cross-cultural contexts.; The research investigated the moral reasoning abilities of top-level business managers of three cultural groups---the U.S. and Japanese expatriate managers in Taiwan, and local Taiwanese managers. Kohlberg's (1969, 1976, 1984b) theory of cognitive moral development (CMD) and Rest's Defining Issues Test Version Two (DIT-2) were used to access the level of ethical reasoning of the above business practitioners. Hofstede's (2001) theory of cultural dimensions was used to described differences among the managers.; A DIT-2 survey packet was sent to 750 managerial and executive level employees at a variety of organizations in Taiwan. Results indicated that personal characteristics (gender, age, education level, ethics courses) and organizational factors (ethics code, ethical training) may not significantly affect one's ethical perception. Conversely, cultural difference may be diminished and possible ethical convergence may appear through acculturation to the local business environment.