| Drawing on existing research in social cognitive domain theory, entrepreneurship and international business ethics, this study explored ethical dilemmas encountered by American entrepreneurs doing business globally; reasoning patterns used to reconcile the dilemmas; and resources used to manage ethical dilemmas.; The mixed model design consisted of interviews of 23 founders and 23 non-business participants, and a survey measuring factor importance ratings. Findings revealed that entrepreneurs reason about moral and social issues in essentially the same way as do comparison adults in the general population. Reasoning was context dependent with moral reasoning used for general vignettes and conventional reasoning for international business vignettes. The most difficult international business issue and the most difficult ethical issue encountered was payments (bribes). |
