Ethical Decision Making of Gen Z Student Leaders in the Phenomenological-Empirical Context

Abstract

This study investigated the ethical decision-making experienced by the Generation Z student leaders. As student leaders face various ethical problems in the environment and culture that are increasingly complex, multicultural, and ambiguous, there is an increasing focus on the value of their ethical decision-making. Shedding light on this problem, respondents’ lived experiences on ethical decision-making were explored qualitatively using a phenomenological approach. The data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured online interviews and open-ended questioning with the respondents. Although respondents frequently identify the areas of concern as ethical, the thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews revealed nine main themes when they faced moral dilemmas and moral distress. These are: (1) the difficulty in defining and articulating the ethical decision-making process; (2) the costs of making an ethical decision; (3) the frequency and recognition that they were involved in an ethical dilemma; (4) thoughts, feelings/emotions during and after the event; (5) significant influences on the decision making process and the final decision; (6) negative responses due to the stress of making ethical decisions; (7) long-lasting effects of making ethical decisions;(8) barriers to making sound ethical decisions; and lastly, (9) suggestions to make the process of ethical decision making. Several reasons were offered to explain their ethical decision-making during moral dilemmas. Furthermore, the study discovers the cultural laden Transformational-Motivational Framework of ethical decision-making as a novel framework to encapsulate all the themes. Finally, given the scarcity of prior empirical research, the findings of this study need to be validated further.